News from ICLMG

Event: Challenging security inadmissibility in Canada’s immigration system

 

In this event, our three resource persons discussed how Canada labels non-citizens as security threats based on broad and vague grounds, the severe impacts that this has on individuals, and ways we can challenge the provisions and fix the system through the courts and through public advocacy.

Take action to stop the deportation of Abdelrahman El Mady!

As mentioned during the webinar, the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) will be moving forward with efforts to raise awareness about these situations of injustice, and to press for systemic change. If you would like to be part of ongoing discussions on how to advance advocacy, or know of affected people whose profiles could be shared, or just have some suggestions to share, please email my colleague Olivia at okostin-cohen@ccrweb.ca. Thanks!

Resource persons

Sharry Aiken, Associate Professor at Queen’s Law and former CCR President, will present an overview of the ongoing, and long-standing, problems with Canada’s security inadmissibility system.

Warda Shazadi Meighen, refugee, immigration and human rights lawyer, and partner at Landings Law, will present the legal challenge in the case of Abdiaziiz Mohamed Ali. Warda is representing the Canadian Council for Refugees and the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, public interest parties in the case. Mr. Ali arrived in Canada in 2015 when he was barely 19 years old, as a refugee claimant. As an ethnic Somali living in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, he faced persecution by Ethiopian authorities for his support of Ogaden opposition movements, but has been found inadmissible by Canada based on a scant association with an organization deemed to have committed terrorist acts.

Washim Ahmed, refugee and immigration lawyer and co-founder of OWS Law, will present the case of Abdelrahman El Mady, an Egyptian national who arrived in Canada as a refugee claimant in 2017. Mr. El Mady fled persecution by Egypt’s military government for his participation in protests against the former Mubarak dictatorship and his membership in the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP). The FJP won the first democratic elections in Egypt’s history in 2011, before being deposed in a military coup by the current government.

More details

Among those most affected by security inadmissibility are refugee claimants who have faced persecution for being involved in opposition political movements. Branded as enemies of the state at home, upon arrival in Canada they are labelled security risks and barred from making a refugee claim. They then face the possibility of being deported to a dangerous situation.

Under Canadian immigration law, a person may be found inadmissible to Canada (in other words, barred from travelling to, or remaining in Canada) if they are deemed “members” of an organization considered to have engaged in acts of terrorism or subversion. This broad net catches individuals who have never participated in terrorism or subversion, including some involved with opposition movements against authoritarian regimes. This broad ground of inadmissibility is justified by the existence of a so-called safety valve, by which Canada’s Minister of Public Safety may exempt a person if their presence in Canada does not pose a threat to our national security (known as ministerial relief). In practice, this safety valve does not work: requests for ministerial relief languish for years on the Minister of Public Safety’s desk, leaving these individuals in legal limbo, without status and under the constant threat of being deported to situations where they may face threats to their safety and even their lives.

Co-presented by the Canadian Council for Refugees, the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group and the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers

____________________

This event was hosted on May 11, 2021, on unceded and unsurrendered Algonquin territory. This land must be returned to the jurisdiction and care of the Algonquin Nation.

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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Book Launch: Big Data Surveillance and Security Intelligence: The Canadian Case

ICLMG’s National Coordinator Tim McSorley and Communications & Research Coordinator Anne Dagenais Guertin have contributed a chapter to the recently published book “Big Data Surveillance and Security Intelligence: The Canadian Case”. Our chapter is entitled: Confronting Big Data: Popular Resistance to Government Surveillance in Canada since 2001.

Purchase a physical copy or the ebook at UBC Press today!

Table of contents 

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Preface

Introduction / David Lyon and David Murakami Wood

Part 1: Understanding Surveillance, Security, and Big Data

1 Collaborative Surveillance with Big Data Corporations: Interviews with Edward Snowden and Mark Klein / Midori Ogasawara

2 On Denoting and Concealing in Surveillance Law / Christopher Prince

3 Big Data Against Terrorism / Stéphane Leman-Langlois

4 Algorithms as Suspecting Machines: Financial Surveillance for Security Intelligence / Anthony Amicelle and David Grondin

Part 2: Big Data Surveillance and Signals Intelligence in Canadian Security Organizations

5 From 1967 to 2017: The Communications Security Establishment’s Transition from the Industrial Age to the Information Age / Bill Robinson

6 Pixies, Pop-Out Intelligence, and Sandbox Play: The New Analytic Model and National Security Surveillance in Canada / Scott Thompson and David Lyon

7 Limits to Secrecy: What Are the Communications Security Establishment’s Capabilities for Intercepting Canadians’ Internet Communications? / Andrew Clement

Part 3: Legal Challenges to Big Data Surveillance in Canada

8 Gleanings from the Security Intelligence Review Committee about the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s  Bulk Data Holdings and the Bill C-59 “Solution” / Micheal Vonn

9 Bill C-59 and the Judicialization of Intelligence Collection / Craig Forcese

10 The Challenges Facing Canadian Police in Making Use of Big Data Analytics / Carrie B. Sanders and Janet Chan

Part 4: Resistance to Big Data Surveillance

11 Confronting Big Data: Popular Resistance to Government Surveillance in Canada since 2001 / Tim McSorley and Anne Dagenais Guertin

12 Protesting Bill C-51: Reflections on Connective Action against Big Data Surveillance / Jeffrey Monaghan and Valerie Steeves

Part 5: Policy and Technical Challenges of Big Data Surveillance

13 Horizontal Accountability and Signals Intelligence: Lessons Drawing from Annual Electronic Surveillance Reports / Christopher Parsons and Adam Molnar

14 Metadata – Both Shallow and Deep: The Fraught Key to Big Data Mass State Surveillance / Andrew Clement, Jillian Harkness, and George Raine

Afterword / Holly Porteous

Index

Book description

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Intelligence gathering is in a state of flux. Enabled by massive computing power, new modes of communications analysis now touch the lives of citizens around the globe – not just those conventionally thought of as suspicious or threatening. In this astute collection, leading academics, civil society experts, and regulators debate the pressing questions raised by current security intelligence and surveillance practices in Canada.

Big Data Surveillance and Security Intelligence reveals the profound shift to “big data” practices that security agencies have made in recent years, as the increasing volume of information from social media and open sources challenges traditional ways of gathering intelligence. Working together, the Five Eyes intelligence partners – Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States – are using new methods of data analysis to identify and pre-empt risks to national security.

In Canada, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the RCMP, and the Communication Security Establishment face an uncertain regulatory environment and seemingly incompatible demands: to extend their surveillance, data gathering, and disruption/intervention powers while increasing accountability and transparency in the name of democratic values. But at what cost to civil liberties, human rights, and privacy protection?

This book will find an audience not only among academics in security studies, sociology, political science, computer science, military studies, and law but also among members of the civil liberties community, investigative journalists, and security intelligence workers.

Reviews

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“Big Data Surveillance and Security Intelligence is a valuable, polished compilation with much to offer academics and policy makers interested in privacy, security, surveillance, and law – both within Canada and around the world.” – Bryce Clayton Newell, Assistant Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon

“The rise of big data surveillance has been rapid and secretive. This book, which collects the who’s who of the Canadian surveillance and civil liberties fields, addresses a gap in the scholarship on ‘high policing’ and security intelligence in Canada.” – Mike Larsen, Criminology Department, Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Big Data Surveillance Book Launch featuring ICLMG’s National Coordinator Tim McSorley

Watch the recorded panel by clicking here and entering the following passcode: u#UY3+2T

You will need a Zoom account to watch it. ICLMG’s Tim McSorley’s presentation starts at the 33 minute mark.

The Centre for Research on Security Practices, Wilfrid Laurier University and the Surveillance Studies Centre, Queens University co-hosted the above virtual book launch and panel discussion on the book, “Big Data Surveillance and Security Intelligence: The Canadian Case”. In this virtual book launch, chapter contributors and editors will share their research findings, field questions and discuss the relevance of their work in the present COVID-19 environment.

Panelists include:
David Lyon – Professor, Queen’s University
David Murakami Wood – Associate Professor, Queen’s University
Andrew Clement – Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto
Tim McSorley – National Coordinator, International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group
Midori Ogasawara – Assistant Professor, University of Victoria
Chris Parsons – Senior Research Associate, Citizen Lab
Scott Thompson – Assistant Professor, University of Saskatchewan

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

Open letter to federal leaders: Do not expand anti-terrorism laws in the name of anti-racism

This letter was originally sent on Feb. 22, 2021, to the leaders of the five political parties represented in the House of Commons, signed by 175 individuals and organizations with expertise in anti-racism, law, and/or human rights. We are still accepting signatures to the statement. If you or your organization would like to be added, please click here to fill out the form.

February 22, 2021

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister of Canada
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2

The Honourable Erin O’Toole
Leader of the Opposition
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON  K1A 0A6

Jagmeet Singh
Leader of the New Democratic Party
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON  K1A 0A6

Yves-François Blanchet
Leader of the Bloc Québécois
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON  K1A 0A6

Annamie Paul
Leader of the Green Party
Green Party of Canada
812-116 Albert Street
Ottawa, ON K1P 5G3

Via email

Re: Use of anti-terrorism laws to combat racism and white supremacism

Prime Minister Trudeau, Mr. O’Toole, Mr. Singh, M. Blanchet and Ms. Paul,

As organizations and individuals with expertise in anti-racism, law, and/or human rights, we write to express our deep concern about the use of anti-terrorism powers to address the threat of White supremacism.

The growth, proliferation, and emboldening of White supremacist and far-right groups across Canada – numbering more than 300, according to one recent academic count[i] – is alarming, and urgently requires a strong response. We applaud and support the intention to condemn White supremacism communicated by the recent addition of the Proud Boys, Atomwaffen, the Base, and the Russian Imperial Movement to the terrorist entities list. However, the entrenchment and expansion of problematic anti-terrorism tools threatens to further intensify racism, rather than alleviate it.

Serious issues with Canada’s terrorist listing procedure identified by civil liberties groups, lawyers, and legal academics include: the imposition of serious financial and possibly criminal consequences on the basis of unaccountable executive listing decisions; the use of secret evidence; the likelihood of false positives; and the absence of adequate avenues for challenging listings and obtaining redress. This is exacerbated by the seizure of assets, making legal counsel difficult if not impossible to retain.[ii]

These shortcomings and the need for a substantive overhaul of the listing procedure were highlighted by many experts and advocates when Bill C-36, the Anti-Terrorism Act, was debated and adopted twenty years ago, and have been consistently pressed over the years since.

As University of Toronto Law Professor and noted national security expert Kent Roach has observed: “Unfortunately, a few token additions [of far-right organizations] to long lists of proscribed groups does nothing to address the many due process and operational flaws of proscription.”[iii]

Indeed, nine more groups identified as “Islamist” were added as terrorist entities at the same time as the Proud Boys and others. This perpetuates the discriminatorily Muslim-centric focus of Canadian anti-terrorism in general,[iv] and the listing procedure in particular,[v] despite the far greater toll inflicted by White supremacist and right-wing actors within Canada.[vi] The listing of organizations like the Proud Boys alongside Palestinian and Kashmiri groups – as well as charities like IRFAN, proscribed for donating medical equipment to the Gaza Strip[vii] – conflates groups originating under or responding to long-term military occupation,[viii] with White supremacists and neo-Nazis, all under the rubric of a broad and inconsistent concept of “terrorism.”[ix]

Moreover, given repeated revelations about the use of anti-terrorism surveillance tools against Indigenous land and water protectors and rights advocates,[x] we are profoundly concerned about the possibility of future listings being deployed to target Indigenous nations defending their sovereign, constitutional, and international rights.

The systemic racism pervasive in Canadian national security institutions has been documented by, inter alia: the 2006 O’Connor Inquiry (regarding the torture of Maher Arar);[xi] the 2008 Iacobucci Inquiry (regarding the torture of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati, and Muayyed Nureddin);[xii] the 2016 BC Supreme Court decision in R v Nuttall (detailing the entrapment of two Muslim individuals struggling with mental illness);[xiii] the 2020 report of the National Security Transparency Advisory Group;[xiv] the consistent findings of United Nations human rights bodies (including their condemnation of Canada’s complicity in torture and the use of security certificates);[xv] and multiple lawsuits against CSIS alleging severe racial discrimination and harassment against Muslim and racialized employees.[xvi] In 2011, the Canadian Human Rights Commission called on national security agencies to collect and analyze race-disaggregated data about their practices[xvii] – a basic transparency measure that remains unimplemented.

And so, instead of expanding anti-terrorism in the name of anti-racism, we urge you to address the pressing concerns raised repeatedly by civil liberties and anti-racism organizations[xviii] about the anti-terrorism apparatus itself.

Sincerely,

Azeezah Kanji
Legal academic and journalist

Tim McSorley
National Coordinator
International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group

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