Author Archives: ICLMG CSILC

Remembering and confronting the legacy of the “War on Terror,” 24 years on

This year marks the 24th anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Today, we remember the thousands killed that day, but also the millions killed since because of the decades-long “War on Terror” and its ongoing legacy that continues to be used by governments, including Canada, to justify and carry out serious human rights abuses, targeted attacks and mass killings around the world.

The idea of a “War on Terror” may no longer be as prominent, but the policies, actions and logic that underpinned it continue to reverberate today, and must still be confronted, including:

  • Using the justification of “fighting terrorism” to defend and excuse Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people, and crackdowns on protesters worldwide
  • The ongoing legacy of death and destruction in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries attacked and occupied in the wake of 9/11
  • The exponential expansion of mass surveillance worldwide, supercharged now by AI systems exploited by national security agencies in secret and with little to no regulation
  • The tightening of borders and increased criminalization of and violence towards migrants and refugees, under the guise of protecting “national security”
  • Racism, racial profiling, xenophobia and colonialism that underpins so much of anti-terrorism and national security measures
  • The justification for unlawful, indefinite detention, abuse and torture, including at Guantanamo Bay, in Northeast Syria, and many more
  • The erosion of fundamental rights, including free expression, freedom of movement, and privacy rights, and attack civic space
  • The rapid increase in police and intelligence agencies’ powers – including the use of anti-terrorism laws for other purposes – accompanied by a lack of effective accountability or oversight mechanisms
  • Counter-terrorist financing laws blocking humanitarian aid and international assistance, and being used to target, investigate and shut down humanitarian organizations and international solidarity organizations
  • Recent dangerous moves to combine the “war on drugs” and the “war on terror”, already leading to extrajudicial killings and signalling a troubling new intersection of two of the most misguided and deadly policies of the past decades

Over the past 23 years, our coalition has worked collectively to push back against these developments in Canada and, to the degree we can, internationally. Today especially, we call on governments to abandon these policies.

As concrete steps, the Canadian government must immediately withdraw Bill C-2, act to address systemic racism, roll back surveillance powers, introduce greater accountability mechanisms, increase funding and powers for independent oversight bodies, do all in its power to stop the genocide in Gaza, and take further steps toward dismantling government counter-terror and national security apparatus overall.

You can find out more about our work in our 20th anniversary publication, looking back on two decades of confronting anti-terrorism overreach in Canada: https://iclmg.ca/20years/

To help us continue in this work, we need your support. We are a non-partisan organization that does not take government funding and relies on our members and the public to support our work. To donate, visit: iclmg.ca/donate

Since you’re here…

… we have a small favour to ask. Here at ICLMG, we are working very hard to protect and promote human rights and civil liberties in the context of the so-called “war on terror” in Canada. We do not receive any financial support from any federal, provincial or municipal governments or political parties. You can become our patron on Patreon and get rewards in exchange for your support. You can give as little as $1/month (that’s only $12/year!) and you can unsubscribe at any time. Any donations will go a long way to support our work.panel-54141172-image-6fa93d06d6081076-320-320You can also make a one-time donation or donate monthly via Paypal by clicking on the button below. On the fence about giving? Check out our Achievements and Gains since we were created in 2002. Thank you for your generosity!
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Submission to the Financial Action Task Force in regard to the Fifth Mutual Evaluation of Canada

In August 2025, ICLMG made a submission in advance of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) upcoming on-site review of Canada’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) regime.

In 2021, the ICLMG published, “The CRA’s Prejudiced Audits: Counter-Terrorism and the Targeting of Muslim Charities in Canada,” one of the first reports to analyze the government’s implementation of counter-terrorist financing measures and identifying serious concerns about the profiling and targeting for sanctions charities based in the Muslim community in Canada. It detailed how the Canadian government’s approach to countering terrorist financing was targeting Muslim-led charities was biased, disproportionate, unduly secretive and unequal and selective in its application. This included an analysis of Canada’s 2015 National Inherent Risk Assessment and Canada’s approach to monitoring and auditing charities for CTF purposes.

In that report, we found that Canadian national security agencies and the charities regulator, since at least 2003, had been targeting Muslim-led charities for surveillance and investigation based on approaches to countering terrorism that viewed Muslim and other racialized communities as inherently at-risk for abuse by, or engaging in, terrorist activities.

Our research demonstrated that this approach, as in other counter-terrorism measures, was not supported by facts, but rather opinion, conjecture and accusations based in bias and prejudice (both conscious and unconscious), including possible Islamophobia.

The findings were bolstered by a report from the Senate of Canada issued in November 2023, finding that the Canadian Revenue Agency’s counter-terrorist financing “work to date – regardless of the intentions of its employees – has demonstrated structural bias against Muslim charities” and recommended a full review of the counter-terrorist financing division of the CRA.

Moreover, testimony from CRA staff during Senate hearings confirmed that of 12 of the 14 charities that have had their status revoked following investigations by the CRA’s counter-terrorist financing division were Muslim-led, which supports our previous finding that at least 75% of charities targeted by the CRA were in the Muslim community. Importantly, none of these charities or their directors have been formally charged with terrorist financing or related infractions.

We also identified significant concerns in Canada’s National Inherent Risk Assessment (NIRA) from 2015, which unduly labeled the NPO sector as medium to high risk, again with a particular focus (without evidence) on Muslim and racialized NPOs operating both domestically and internationally. Overall risk appeared exaggerated, there were no efforts to address risk mitigation, and the NPO sector was not consulted in the sectoral evaluation.

However, this version of the NIRA persisted until 2023, well after new guidance was issued by the FATF. Unfortunately, similar concerns continue to persist with the 2023 NIRA, and the forthcoming 2025 NIRA.

There have also been significant concerns with the impact of Canada’s CTF regime on the work of humanitarian and international assistance NPOs. In particular, following the take-over of the Afghanistan government by the Taliban in 2021, the Canadian government issued an interpretation of its CTF laws that prohibited any activity in Afghanistan that could provide material support to the Taliban government. This included any taxes, tariffs or other fees that aid organizations would be required to pay to the government in order to carry out humanitarian activities. This was a clearly disproportionate application of Canada’s counter-terrorism laws and violated international humanitarian law. With sustained pressure from NPOs, the Canadian government passed legislation to create a humanitarian exemption to CTF measures and an authorization regime for international assistance activities deemed to be non-humanitarian; however, the program is significantly flawed and continues to result in limitations on international aid.

These issues are explored in more detail in the rest of the submission. Read it in full here.

Since you’re here…

… we have a small favour to ask. Here at ICLMG, we are working very hard to protect and promote human rights and civil liberties in the context of the so-called “war on terror” in Canada. We do not receive any financial support from any federal, provincial or municipal governments or political parties. You can become our patron on Patreon and get rewards in exchange for your support. You can give as little as $1/month (that’s only $12/year!) and you can unsubscribe at any time. Any donations will go a long way to support our work.panel-54141172-image-6fa93d06d6081076-320-320You can also make a one-time donation or donate monthly via Paypal by clicking on the button below. On the fence about giving? Check out our Achievements and Gains since we were created in 2002. Thank you for your generosity!
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Webinar: Stop Bill C-2!

The “Strong Borders” Act makes all of us less safe

Watch to learn everything you need to know to stop Bill C-2!

We hosted a webinar on August 27 on Bill C-2 featuring some of Canada’s leading civil society voices on humanitarian issues and your rights!

Speakers included:

  • Adam Sadinsky, Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers
  • Kate Robertson, The Citizen Lab
  • Sarom Rho, Migrant Rights Network
  • Matt Hatfield, OpenMedia
  • Moderator: Tim McSorley, International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group

Bill C-2, Mark Carney’s so-called “Strong Borders” Act, is cruel, useless and dangerous. Experts are calling it the most anti-privacy legislation since Harper’s C-51, and comparable to – and in some ways, even worse than – the Trump administration’s anti-migrant and refugee measures. The Government and the bill’s supporters say we need strong borders to protect our safety; but C-2’s flagrant attacks on our rights are so broad, it will make all of us less safe. Yet unless we mobilize in force now, Bill C-2 will likely pass into law this fall.

This webinar, attended by hundreds, covered the essentials you need to know to understand what’s wrong with Bill C-2, and the “elbows down” political context that’s driving Carney’s proposal. Attendees were able to:

  • ask privacy and migrant rights experts your questions about the details of the bill
  • take action during the webinar and/or leave with a full tool set to make your voice heard and help stop this harmful legislation
  • poser vos questions en français

Co-organized by: International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, Migrant Rights Network, OpenMedia, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, Canadian Council for Refugees

Co-presented by: Amnesty International Canada (english speaking section), BC Civil Liberties Association, Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, Centre for Black Development Options Canada, Clinique pour la justice migrante, HIV Legal Network, Ligue des droits et libertés, Refugee Lawyers’ Association of Ontario

If you’re ready to take action, cllick below but make sure to come back to watch the webinar and share!

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Since you’re here…

… we have a small favour to ask. Here at ICLMG, we are working very hard to protect and promote human rights and civil liberties in the context of the so-called “war on terror” in Canada. We do not receive any financial support from any federal, provincial or municipal governments or political parties. You can become our patron on Patreon and get rewards in exchange for your support. You can give as little as $1/month (that’s only $12/year!) and you can unsubscribe at any time. Any donations will go a long way to support our work.panel-54141172-image-6fa93d06d6081076-320-320You can also make a one-time donation or donate monthly via Paypal by clicking on the button below. On the fence about giving? Check out our Achievements and Gains since we were created in 2002. Thank you for your generosity!
make-a-donation-button