Reg Whitaker, Prism, 12 Aug 2011

The recent leak to La Presse of an alleged CSIS document implicating Adil Charkaoui and Abousfian Abdelrazik in a plot to bomb an airliner raises the most serious issues.

These emphatically do not include the specific allegation nor the implication that either man represents an actual terrorist threat. These are without substance, as the government’s own conduct of the Charkaoui security certificate appeal and its handling of Abdelrazik’s case clearly demonstrate.

The real issues surround the behaviour of Canadian security agencies in apparently violating the Security of Information Act to defame individuals whom they have been unable to convict in the courts

The real issues surround the behaviour of Canadian security agencies in apparently violating the Security of Information Act to defame individuals whom they have been unable to convict in the courts; media complicity with such behaviour; and finally the potential responsibility of high government officials in either deliberately failing to investigate and charge the leakers, or by covertly authorizing such actions by their appointees.

Mariam Sheibani, 29 May 2009, Toronto Star

The difference between accurate and objective reporting and inaccurate and biased reporting is essentially the difference between informing the public and misleading the public. Accurate, objective, investigative and independent news media is our country's best defence against corruption and (the) abuse of power.

Maher Arar's name is well-known to most Canadians – the story of his rendition by the United States, his torture in Syria, the O'Connor inquiry that exonerated him and, of course, the government's apology and compensation.

However, little attention has been paid to the role that the media played in Arar's case. Few journalists have been as brave as Haroon Siddiqui, the Toronto Star journalist who professed: "media credibility was no less tattered by these episodes than that of the security establishment."

by Justin Podur, 1 March 2009

On February 20, the Federal Court of Canada dropped most of the conditions it had placed on one of the prisoners of its “security certificate” regime, Adil Charkaoui. While much of his life is still lived in the rights-free zone widened under the “war on terror”, his struggles over the years have won him back some parts of his life. (For the decision see here)

Building Up the Domestic Security Apparatus

Roberto Lovato, Public Eye, 14 April 2008

Most explanations of the relentless pursuit of undocumented immigrants since 9/11 view it as a response to the continuing pressures of angry, mostly white, citizens. The "anti-immigrant climate" created by civic groups like the Minutemen, politicos like (name the Republican candidate of your choice) and media personalities like CNN's Lou Dobbs, we are told, has led directly to the massive -- and growing -- government bureaucracy for policing immigrants.

Last month's edition of No one is illegal radio carried important interviews with two people at the forefront of the continuing campaign to abolish security certificates:

• Latifa Charkaoui, mother of Adil Charkaoui, speaking at the International Women's Day Conference in Montreal;

• Adil Charkaoui, one of five persons under a "security certificate", speaking at length about the "new" security certificate law.

LISTEN to the inverviews.

by Justin Podur, January 05, 2008, ZMAG

The phrase "defend the border" wasn't always a metaphor. And it isn't just a metaphor in many parts of the world, even today: some states do have to worry about overland military invasions.

Open letter published in Vancouver by a dozen community organizations

On December 15th, the Vancouver Sun published an article with a quote from a Sikh religious leader that was clearly homophobic. The framework and premise of the article, however, was clearly racist, implying- including through its headline- that immigrants are eroding Canadian values. It attempts to relegate homophobia to immigrant communities only and also attempts to stereotype an entire community based on the statements of one individual.

Bill C-3: Undemocratic and unjust

In 2002, a public campaign against immigration security certificates (ss. 33 and 77-85 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act – IRPA) and in solidarity with security certificate detainees began to gather speed. Although security certificates have been around since the 1970’s in some form or other, in the context of the so-called war on terror, they have become the object of a debate of national importance which has spread from targeted communities and their allies to the broader public, media, NGOs, the legal and academic communities, and politicians.

Download PDF version of backgrounder.

by Markus Euskirchen, Henrik Lebuhn, and Gene Ray, Monthly Review, November 2007

All along the European border, the year 2006 set new records: Spanish authorities reported 6,000 refugees dead, drowned in the Atlantic Ocean while trying to reach the Canary Islands, off West Africa.1

Fuse Magazine, October 22, 2007

Over the past several years, groups and movements have coalesced around themes like "No One is Illegal," "Solidarity Across Borders," and "Open the Borders." In their day-to-day work of organizing with and for migrants, such groups are working against increasingly restrictive immigration policies, the heightened detention and deportation of migrants and the repressive national security apparatus that discriminates against racialized migrants, for example through the use of Security Certificates.