By Max Halparin, The McGill Daily, February 18, 2008

Harper delayed introducing bill, then rammed it through Parliament.

Despite voicing strong reservations regarding the constitutionality of the revised security certificate legislation, Bill C-3, Canada’s Senate approved the bill Tuesday, leaving just the ceremonial procedure left before it becomes law.

Advocacy groups and security certificate detainees were shocked that the bill was rushed through without substantial amendments.

“It’s enraging that it not only got through [the House of Commons] with just a few minimal, really meaningless changes, and then pushed through Senate with barely even a gesture into making it a legitimate-looking process,” said Mary Foster, a spokesperson for the support group Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui, who attended the Senate hearings.

Charkaoui – a Moroccan-born French teacher who has lived in Montreal with his family since 1995 – spent two years in prison after being detained under a security certificate in 2003, and has lived under strict house arrest since his release in 2005.

Security certificates allow the federal government to indefinitely detain non-citizens without charge under threat of deportation. Detainees are not permitted to view the evidence against them.

In observations to its Tuesday report, the Special Senate Committee on Anti-terrorism expressed many concerns regarding the bill and the inclusion of the Special Advocate process.

According to Foster, the committee acknowledged that none of the recommendations it made were included in the new bill.

“The Committee would have appreciated more time to reflect upon all aspects of this bill and the views of those concerned, given the life-altering effects that security certificates have on those named in them, and the reflection the process has on Canadian society and values,” the observations to the committee’s report stated.

Last Monday the Committee heard from 24 groups – of over 100 that applied following the call for witnesses the previous Thursday – in a single 10-hour session. In the final debate before the bill was passed, Saskatchewan Conservative Senator and committee member David Tkachuk said that under normal conditions the hearings would last between four and five weeks.

Justice detained

Mohamed Harkat, another one of five Canadians still named under a security certificate, pleaded that the Senators not allow the revised legislation to pass, and that the restrictions placed on him have ruined his and his family’s lives.

“This grave injustice and torture has no end in sight. My family was totally humiliated and exposed to the national media,” Harkat said.

“If you were in my shoes, would you accept this process? As a human being in this country, I was expecting justice. Today, I am demanding justice.”

Lawyers who spoke at Monday’s Senate hearing explained that several significant flaws persist with the inclusion of the Special Advocates, such as the provision that the government-approved lawyers can receive information from judges that they cannot otherwise disclose to the detainee.

The U.K. uses a Special Advocate system. Three years ago, two lawyers for detainees resigned, partially due to the fact that Special Advocates cannot ask the detainees pointed questions about the selected information they receive.

McGill Law II student Meagan Johnston said she was disappointed that the federal government ignored the Supreme Court’s concerns and the public outcry that resulted from community groups who contacted their MPs to protest the bill.

“They had every opportunity to change this. To me, it’s just one more indication that our democracy is a bit of a farce,” Johnston said.

Shirking responsibility

On February 23, 2007, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled the security certificate law unconstitutional, and gave the government one year to rectify the problem with judicial approval of certificates, or it would have “no force or effect.”

Foster claims that the Harper government used the notion of this deadline to push the bill through unchanged, disregarding the multitude of groups who noted that discussing the bill after February 23 would have no negative consequences.

“What deadline were they talking about? The Supreme Court gave a grace period...nothing would have happened,” Foster said.

“Democracy in Canada – if it existed – would not have ended. The absolute worst case scenario would be that, if they really think these men are risks, they’d just have to keep watching them,” she added.

According to Foster, Stockewell Day, Minister of Public Safety – the only one at Monday’s hearings to speak in favour of Bill C-3 – persuaded the committee to approve the bill and make amendments after its ratification.

“In the last minute came this really cheap ploy saying, ‘Pass the law, take your time in the next few months, send us suggested changes,’” Foster said.

“They took that as their way out.”

Bill C-3 received Royal Assent Thursday, and should officially become law before February 23.

Foster explained that although the future is uncertain, it is likely that the five men who continue to live under security certificates in Canada will be issued new ones.

Harkat was arrested again on January 29 at his Ottawa home for allegedly breaching his bail conditions, though his supporters vehemently deny this. Another detainee, Hassan Almrei, lives in solitary confinement in a jail north of Kingston, Onatrio.

No charges under criminal code have been filed against any of the five men.

with files from Nick Taylor-Vaisey (CUP)