#GivingTuesday is a global movement for giving and volunteering, taking place each year after Black Friday. It provides a platform to encourage people to donate their time, resources and talents to make the world a better place for everyone.

In the spirit of this day, we would like to say thank you to our very generous supporters and donors, without which our work of protecting civil liberties from the negative impact of national security would not be possible, as we receive no government or corporate funds. If you would also like to support our work, click the button below.

Your support will allow us to continue to:

• Fight for the protection of our civil liberties
• Push for the National Security Act of 2017, Bill C-59, to be heavily amended
• Work to end deportations to torture and to keep Mohamed Harkat in Canada
• Call for a public inquiry into the case of Dr. Hassan Diab
• Abolish Canada’s No-Fly List and prevent the US No-Fly List from being applied to Canadian flights that do not go to the US
• Ensure civil liberties are front and center in the 2019 federal election
• Publish our weekly News Digest
• And much more!

Thank you for your help protecting civil liberties in Canada!

– Xan & Tim

On Monday November 5, ICLMG National Coordinator, Tim McSorley, appeared in front of the Senate Standing Committee on National Security and Defence regarding Bill C-21, an Act to Amend the Customs Act, which allows the sharing of Canadian travelers’ exit data between the US and Canada. In short, we told the Senate Commitee:

We believe the best solution would be to not collect travelers’ data en-masse, since restrictions in C-21 could be negated by powers granted in other legislation. Instead, we believe that security agencies should focus efforts on improving data collection on an as-needed basis. We therefore are opposed to the provisions of Bill C-21 that would lead to the default collection of all travelers’ information by the CBSA.

Here is Tim’s full presentation:

Thank you to the Committee for inviting me to present on behalf of the 45 member organizations of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group coalition.

While we recognize that there are three overarching reasons for Bill C-21 – national security, law enforcement and social policies – our focus is on national security.

Over the past 15 years, the ICLMG has been critical of proposals that further integrate Canadian border security with United States border security, which has been a near constant project since Sept. 11, 2001. In particular, we have paid attention to the impact that increasing border security can have on Canadians’ rights and freedoms, including around privacy rights, the right to movement and freedom of expression.

While we are not opposed to cooperation on security, we believe that such intensive security harmonization undermines Canada’s ability to set security policies according to Canadians’ priorities and concerns, and to adequately protect Canadians’ civil liberties as set out by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The concerns have not been unfounded, as we have seen instances of security and border agreements that either follow the United States’ lead and/or are negotiated with little public input or debate.

The bill must also be considered in the context of Canada’s ever growing information collecting and sharing regimes, both domestically and internationally. The Canadian government now collects more data on its residents than ever before, and participates in unprecedented international intelligence sharing partnerships, such as the Five Eyes alliance. Such expansion gives rise to greater concerns over privacy protections and at a minimum, a chill on other rights. Continue reading →

Canada’s report on its implementation of the Convention Against Torture will be examined by the United Nations’ Committee Against Torture (CAT) during its 65th session from November 12 to December 7, 2018.

The ICLMG asserts that several Canadian policies, practices and cases contravene multiple provisions of the Convention Against Torture. We thus submitted a report to the CAT and urged the Committee to use it in formulating questions, comments, observations and recommendations in its evaluation of Canada’s report.

Our report contains concerns regarding:

• Anti-terrorism and national security legislation.
• The security certificate regime – notably the urgent situation of Mohamed Harkat, who faces deportation to Algeria where he risks detention, torture and death.
• The ministerial directives on information obtained through torture.
• Consular services – notably the case of Canadian Abousfian Abdelrazik who was detained at the request of Canadian agents and allegedly tortured in Sudan, and who is currently attempting to obtain justice and redress through a civil suit that the federal government recently managed to delay indefinitely.
• The extradition law – notably the case of Hassan Diab, who is now seeking an independent public inquiry into his ordeal.
• The case of Omar Khadr – notably that Canada has not yet provided the full redress recommended by the Committee and required by the Convention. ICLMG and Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) have sent a joint submission specifically about Omar Khadr. You can read it here.
• Accountability mechanisms for state security agencies.
• The ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture.

Read our full report here.