Today, October 21st, is the last hearing on Bill C-20, An Act establishing the Public Complaints and Review Commission and amending certain Acts and statutory instruments, at the Standing Senate Committee on National Security, Defence and Veterans Affairs.

For the Senate committee study, ICLMG, alongside eight other prominent civil society organizations, have submitted a joint brief. You can read the brief in full here.

Several of the signatories to this joint brief will be speaking to it this afternoon at the Senate. Here is what we stand for:

Our organizations, with decades of expertise in the areas of immigration and refugee law, criminal law, human rights, international law, civil liberties, and national security, are coming together to ensure that the Public Complaints and Review Commission (PCRC), to be established through Bill C-20, sets up an effective, independent, fair and accessible accountability process, from start to finish, in regard to the activities of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

While we were pleased to see important changes made when Bill C-20, An Act establishing the Public Complaints and Review Commission and amending certain Acts and statutory instruments, was considered by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, additional changes are needed to ensure the Bill’s effectiveness.

Such changes must:

1. Ensure access and remove barriers for complainants and their advocates;
2. Allow complaints about patterns of behaviour;
3. Require the Commission to investigate complaints of a serious nature;
4. Allow the Commission to recommend interim protective measures and ensure redress for well-founded complaints; and
5. Remove limitations on judicial review.

Our organizations have proposed specific amendments to Bill C-20 to address our concerns in Annex A. Annex B shows the proposed amendments implemented into the Bill.

SIGNED BY:

Amnesty International Canada (English Section)
British Columbia Civil Liberties Association
Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers
Canadian Civil Liberties Association
Canadian Council for Refugees
Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association
Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association
Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council
International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group

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On Tuesday, October 15, 2024, the Canadian government placed the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network on Canada’s terrorist entities list.

While ostensibly a tool to protect the safety and security of people in Canada and internationally, the terrorist entities list is an arbitrary political tool that undermines freedom of association, freedom of expression and due process in the courts. Its effectiveness as a national security tool has never been demonstrated in a manner that justifies its use.

Due to the deep flaws in the terrorist entity listing process, the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG) has consistently called for the regime to be abolished since the Canadian coalition’s founding in 2002.

Placing an organization on the list is a secret, discretionary process through which the government can consider any information – including untested intelligence. The listing allows the government to circumvent criminal charges or trial, placing the burden on the listed entity to challenge the supporting information, much of which is kept secret for “security reasons.” Nor is there a coherent process in place to challenge such a listing. The result is an effective violation of due process and the presumption of innocence.

The consequences of listing are severe. Assets are frozen, any use of property owned or controlled by the listed organization is a crime, as is providing any form of financial or in-kind support. Moreover, there is the stigmatization of being listed, tagging the organization, and anyone accused of being associated with it as being a “terrorist,” regardless of their personal actions, without ever laying criminal charges or proving guilt in court.

In the 24 hours since this announcement, there have already been calls on social media to label any individual attending an event, or associating with individuals linked to Samidoun, as terrorists or terrorism supporters.

Because it is illegal to support a listed entity in any way, including financially, it means that the organization cannot fundraise or pay a lawyer to mount a defense and challenge the terrorist listing in court. This renders it incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to be removed from the list, once again violating the right to a fair trial.

The terrorist entities list is a political instrument, often used in discretionary ways to further the geopolitical interests of Canada and its allies.

Historically, the listing serves to deflect from state-enacted violence by governments on their own populations, and on people in other countries, through military action and repression by national security forces and police, as has been the recurring experience during the long “War on Terror.” The list reinforces a double standard of allowing violence and the repression of civil liberties, in the name of fighting terrorism, on the part of Canada and its allies, while criminalizing reaction to that violence, or even peaceful criticism of that violence.

If the Canadian government believes organizations and individuals pose a threat to the public, that evidence should be presented in open court, where the accused can appropriately defend themselves against the accusations.

ICLMG reiterates its call for the abolition of Canada’s terrorist entities list regime. The use of secretive listing processes needs to end.

The ICLMG is a national coalition of 44 Canadian NGOs, unions, professional associations, faith groups, environmental organizations, human rights and civil liberties advocates, as well as groups representing immigrant and refugee communities in Canada. Our mandate is to defend civil liberties and human rights in the context of the so-called “War on Terror.”