Following recent changes to Canada’s refugee determination system, it may be tougher to protect refugees in Canada. Join us in showing Canadians and the world why we are still proud to protect refugees and refugee rights.

The Canadian Council for Refugees is suggesting that refugee advocates and allies find some way to show this publicly under the banner ‘Proud to protect refugees’ in Canada. Help send a positive message about refugees, in the face of the negative discourse and restrictive changes.

Get involved and show your pride in protecting refugees in Canada. Here are some ideas of actions and activities to get you started.

Dozens of people were interrogated, arrested, and detained by the Canadian Border Services Agency. One of them was my husband.  Shockingly, some of these traumatic experiences were filmed for a reality TV show "Border Security" which airs on National Geographic Channel.  

While intimidated and in custody, they were given consent forms to sign so their footage could be aired on TV. My husband refused to sign these forms because he recognized it was wrong, but other people who he is being detained with - some who speak little English - could not stand up to this coercion and signed under duress.  National Geographic claims to be "inspiring people to care about the planet" but with this show they are simply profiting off of human suffering and degradation.

The responsibility for this show falls on National Geographic Channel (owned by Shaw Media in Canada), Force Four Entertainment, and the Canadian Border Services Agency, which takes its orders from Public Safety Minister Vic Toews.

We are urging National Geographic Channel and Force Four Entertainment (the show’s production company), to cancel the show "Border Security" immediately, and for the Canadian Border Services Agency to stop participating in this program and conducting violent deportations.

Sign the petition now!

Mohammad Mahjoub is one of three Muslim men who are currently targetted by an immigration security certificate in Canada.

Mr. Mahjoub came to Canada as a refugee from the Mubarak regime in Egypt; he was granted refugee status in 1996. He was arrested under a security certificate in June 2000. Never charged, he was imprisoned for a total of eight years, including years in solitary confinement, placed under house arrest for another four and a half years and currently remains under intrusive conditions of surveillance and control.

The security certificate process was declared unconstitional by the Supreme Court of Canada in the 2007 Charkaoui ruling. A new certificate was issued against Mr. Mahjoub in February 2008 under this new process and he was forced to begin the process all over again. The Federal Court has not yet ruled on the ‘reasonability’ of the new certificate against him.

In the context of these new security certificate proceedings, Mr. Mahjoub was subject to an unprecedented violation of his rights. The present fund-raising initiative is aimed at obtaining a permanent stay of the unfair proceedings against him in light of this unprecedented violation.

Donate now

Join the Hundred for Hassan campaign and be one of 100 people of conscience who make a statement of support for Dr. Hassan Hassan by contributing $20 (or more) a month to cover the cost of his electronic/GPS monitoring. This is our way of taking a public stand and saying it is just wrong to make Hassan pay for his own surveillance.

Dr. Diab is an Ottawa professor who is accused of a crime that took place in Paris in 1980. He has been ordered extradited by Justice Minister Rob Nicholson based on the flimsiest of evidence – evidence so weak that a Canadian judge declared that it would not stand in a fair trial. In a perverse twist, Canada has forced Dr. Diab to pay $2,000 per month for the cost of his own surveillance – a GPS device he is required to wear – or be imprisoned.

To join the HUNDRED FOR HASSAN campaign, send an email to diabsupport@gmail.com indicating how much you wish to pledge monthly, for how many months, and whether you would like to add your name to the above statement. We will respond and give you details on how to make your monthly contribution. 

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We have grave concerns regarding the continued use of sections 9, 76-87 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which allow for the imprisonment in Canada of refugees and permanent residents under the authority of a “Security Certificate”.

We believe that the existing Security Certificate process is undemocratic; violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; and violates fundamental human rights, to which the government of Canada has committed itself through the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Convention on Refugees, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the UN Convention on Torture.

Accordingly, we demand that the Security Certificate process be abolished.

For those currently detained under security certificates, we demand:

• That their certificates be removed, and, if any case against them actually exists, that they be allowed to defend themselves in open, fair and independent trials with full disclosure of the case against them.

• That they not be deported.

Sign the statement now!

December 10, 2012 has marked  the 10th anniversary of Mohamed Harkat's arrest under a Security Certificate. Click on the "Download" link below to learn many more ways you can support Mohammed Harkat and his fight against Secret Trials!