Audio from a press conference organized by the Coalition on 21 February 2008, to respond to the new security certificate law:

Adil Chakaoui

Marie-Ève Lamy, member of the Coalition Justice pour Adil Charkaoui

Me. Johanne Doyon, l'avocate de Adil Charkaoui and member of the Quebec Criminal Lawyers Association (l'AQAADI)

14 February 2008, Thomas Walkom, Toronto Star

Hassan Almrei has been in jail in Canada for more than six years although he's never been charged with any crime. Mohamed Harkat, another man never charged with a crime, was finally granted a particularly rigorous form of conditional release after four years in detention. Surveillance cameras installed in and around his home monitor everything he and his Canadian-born wife do; family members who visit must obtain government permission; in the few instances when he is allowed outside, armed agents escort him everywhere – even to the washroom.

Two weeks ago, when the government learned that Harkat's mother-in-law was no longer living at his home, agents swooped in, arrested him in the shower and bundled him off to jail (a judge eventually sent him home).

13 Feb 2008, Maude Barlow, Roch Tassé and Sameer Zuberi, Toronto Star

With the support of the Liberals, the Harper government is trying to rush a bill through the Senate that would put security certificates back into Canada's anti-terror lexicon as a legitimate means of apprehending and deporting people suspected of being threats to national security.

The security certificate is a citizenship and immigration process that was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada on Feb. 23, 2007, because it involves secret hearings and because it denies the suspects the ability to know and to meet the cases against them. At the time of the ruling, five Muslim men had been in detention, or under house arrest, without charge for a combined 26 years.

11 February 2008, Ziyaad Mia, Ottawa Citizen

Someone must have been telling lies about Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning.

That sentence opens Franz Kafka's The Trial, which is the story of a man who finds himself arrested and increasingly tangled in a web of absurdity as he struggles unsuccessfully to find out why he has been arrested.

Joseph K.'s tale is not unlike that of five men detained on "security certificates," for whom absurdity has been a hallmark of their lives for several years. Under the security certificate process, the substance of the proceedings is undertaken in absence of the detainee and his lawyer.

Secrecy is antithetical to the rule of law and accountable government. In our system, the adversarial process is a shield against both outright abuse of power and well-intentioned mistakes by the state.

Arguments against the new security certificate legislation using the case of Adil Charkaoui.

Download PDF version.

We have just learned that the new security certificate legislation not only passed House of Commons today, but has passed through First Reading in Senate. Apparently they have decided to fast-track in Senate. So this makes this appeal URGENT!

Be one of the organizations, individuals, unions and faith-groups across Canada requesting an appearance before the Senate committee scheduled to discuss new secret trials legislation

WHO: You, an organization or an individual, concerned that there is new "security certificate" legislation that will continue the scheme of secret hearings, two-tier justice, indefinite detention without charge, draconian house arrest, and deportation to torture.

Below is a list of shame, individuals who voted in Parliament on 6 February 2008 for secret trials, two-tier justice, indefinite detention without charge, invasive surveillance and control orders, and deportation to torture. Note that many Liberals, who had the choice to vote no or abstain, chose to vote yes. Among those who will still try to campaign on the "we love the Charter" hypocrisy are Navdeep Bains, Carolyn Bennett, Irwin Cotler, Michael Ignatieff, and many others.

Abbott
Ablonczy
Albrecht
Allen
Allison
Ambrose
Anders
Anderson
Bagnell
Bains
Baird
Barnes
Batters
Bélanger
Bell (North Vancouver)
Bennett
Benoit
Bernier
Bevilacqua
Bezan
Blackburn
Blaney
Bonin
Boshcoff
Boucher
Breitkreuz
Brison
Brown (Leeds—Grenville)
Brown (Barrie)

Cristin Schmitz, Lawyers Weekly, February 2008

Fifty lawyers have answered the federal government's call to join a roster of "special advocates" for immigration security certificate cases, but the legitimacy of their proposed new role is still hotly debated.

Lawyers remain split over whether the proposed independent counsel regime contemplated by Bill C-3 will improve the lot of detained foreign nationals and permanent residents accused of being security threats based on secret government evidence, or whether special advocates will be mere window-dressing for a legislative scheme that the Canadian Bar Association and other legal groups have slammed as "seriously flawed" and constitutionally dubious.

Security certificate changes not 'sufficient' to safeguard rights

Richard Foot, The Ottawa Citizen, Friday, February 01, 2008

The Conservative government hasn't done enough with its revised security certificate legislation to bring the law in line with the Charter of Rights, says Paul Cavalluzzo, the Toronto lawyer and former lead counsel of the Maher Arar inquiry.

Mr. Cavalluzzo, one of the country's most prominent constitutional lawyers, says Bill C-3 -- legislation aimed at fixing flaws in the controversial anti-terror provision -- still won't adequately protect the rights of people arrested and facing deportation to a foreign country.

"I don't think C-3 is sufficient to meet the standards of the Constitution," he says.

Montreal CBC Radio Noon held a call in show about C3 on 24 January, with Noel St Pierre, Sophie Lamarche Harkat, Mona Elfouli as well as MP Dave McKenzie, to give the Conservative position and Liberal spokesperson, Ujjal Dosanjh. The latter said the Bill was deficient, repeatedly stating that it was not ideal, but must still be voted for.

Listen to the show (bottom of the page, Thursday, January 24).