For childcare or translation please call QPIRG (514-398-7432) 48 hours in advance.

The secret hearing in the case of Adil Charkaoui is due to begin on 27 October.

After the Supreme Court agreed with Charkaoui that the security certificate law was unconstitutional, Canadian parliament enacted a new law, virtually identical to the old one. The major difference is the introduction of a "special advocate", a state-selected and state-paid lawyer whose role it is to attend secret hearings from which the security certificate detainees and their lawyers are excluded, and defend the interest of the detainees. However, they cannot communicate with the detainee after they have looked at the secret evidence, so have limited means of verifying the information in the secret files. In Charkaoui's case, the two special advocates have already been inducted into secrecy, and are scheduled to begin meeting secretly with the judge and government lawyers on 27 October.

The special advocate system introduces a new model into the legal system, threatening a greater legitimization of the use of secrecy by the state. In a climate where claims of national security are being allowed to sweep aside the most basic human rights, the development is dangerous to all who are concerned with human dignity and justice.

ADIL CHARKAOUI was arrested in May 2003 under an immigration security certificate. Since then, he and his family have been trapped in a seemingly endless struggle to have their most basic rights respected. Though he has twice won at the Supreme Court, little has changed. He and his entire family remain under draconian court orders.

COALITION JUSTICE FOR ADIL CHARKAOUI was formed days after Charkaoui's arrest in Montreal. The Coalition calls for the immediate liberation of the five security certificate detainees, a fair trial, the abolition of security certificates, an end to deportation proceedings against the five, and an end to the scape-goating of Muslim and Arabs in the name of the so-called "war on terror".

This event is organized by the Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui as part of Culture Shock. Culture Shock is a collaborative effort by the McGill Anti-Racist Coalition (MARC), Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG McGill), and Student Society of McGill University (SSMU).

More information on Culture Shock:
www.qpirgmcgill.org
qpirg@ssmu.mcgill.ca
tel. 514 398 7432