Conseil central du Montréal métropolitain (CSN) supports Charkaoui
At its General Assembly on 4 June, the Conseil central du Montréal métropolitain (CSN) invited Mr. Adil Charkaoui, threatened with deportation from Canada under a Federal government-issued security certificate, a measure of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).
After listening with a lot of emotion to Adil Charkaoui describe his ordeal with the federal government since his arrest in 2003, the delegates of the union affiliates resolved to support this young Canadian resident originally from Morocco.
According to a letter written by the CCMM (CSN) to all their union affiliates following this resolution,
"The conseil central denounces the way in which Adil Charkaoui has been treated for many years. We have intervened many times with the federal government in this affair.This past spring, with the Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui and other human rights organizations, we participated in a press conference in order to denounce the modification made to the security certificates by Bill C-3. La proposed change, which followed a Supreme Court ruling that security certificates were unconstitutional, did not in any way address the injustice of security certificates. On the contrary ! Mr. Charkaoui must now begin the legal proceedings all over again, whch will bring him once more before the highest court in the country. This time, he will not be able to count on the support of the Court Challenges Programme, because the Harper government decided to cancel it in 2006. Without financial resources, he must once again embark on the costly route before the courts.
Throughout this entire story, the force of character of this young man must be recognized. As union activists, we can only show him our solidarity. His determination and courage are sources of inspiration. The persistance of the federal authorities has brought about a military dimension to neoliberal globalisation, feeding fear of one against another. We cannot be unaware nor close our eyes to this."
Lettre envoyé aux syndicats affiliés.