(Ottawa – February 27, 2018) The International Civil Liberties Group welcomes today’s announcement of federal funding for redress system to address false positives in Canada’s Passenger Protect Program, better known as the No Fly List.

“For far too long, the Canadian government has avoided taking action to resolve the cases of individuals being wrongly flagged as being on the No Fly List,” says Tim McSorley, ICLMG national coordinator. “With today’s promise of funding, we hope that we will see a swift solution put in place to protect travellers from undue delays, interrogations and other indignities when flying to and from Canada.”

The government is promising $81.4 million in funding over 5 years to develop a “centralized screening model and establish a redress mechanism.”

Over the past decade, the problem of false positives has led to hundreds of documented cases of individuals mistakenly identified as being on the No Fly List, revealed thanks in part to the relentless work of the collective #NoFlyListKids. This includes not just adults, but children as young as only a few months old.

The impacts these individuals have faced are not negligible, including significant delays, unforeseen costs when flights and connections were missed as a result, intensive secondary questioning by airport security, impacts on work because of difficulties travelling, problems returning to Canada, and worries even of arrest by authorities because they are viewed as possible threats.

Advocates, including the ICLMG, have long called for a centralized redress system to address these false positives. The federal budget opens the door to that becoming a reality and the issue of false positives finally being resolved.

However, a redress system is just one piece of the puzzle in fixing Canada’s No Fly List program. The issues facing individuals who have been wrongly flagged as being on the No Fly List serves to highlight even deeper concerns with the regime. These include:

• The secretive nature of the list: Individuals are not able to find out if they are listed unless they have been denied travel;
• Problems of due process: If an individual appeals their listing, they are not guaranteed access to the full information or evidence used to place them on the list (undermining the possibility of a full and adequate defence).

The ICLMG will thus continue to urge lawmakers to repeal the No Fly List, including by amending Bill C-59, the National Security Act, 2017.

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The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group has joined the National Council of Canadian Muslims, along with dozens of Muslim organizations and their allies, in calling on the federal government to designate January 29th as a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Islamophobia.

Below is our full letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (PDF here).

You can join this call by taking action on the NCCM’s website, here.

For a list of events across Canada, click here.

24 January 2018

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, P.C., M.P.
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2

Dear Prime Minister,

The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group is adding its voice to the call from the National Council of Canadian Muslims, supported by so many across the country, requesting that January 29 be designated a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Islamophobia.

We believe a National Day would be an important and powerful way to remember the six Muslim men who were murdered at the Centre culturel islamique in Quebec City one year ago, as well as those who were injured and bereaved.

The killing of Azzeddine Soufiane, Mamadou Tanou Barry, Khaled Belkacemi, Aboubaker Thabti, Ibrahima Barry and Abdelkrim Hassane marked the largest mass murder in Canada in the past 25 years, and the deadliest attack on a place of worship in Canada’s recent history.

It is imperative that this day be remembered, in the hopes of stamping out the racism and Islamophobia that inspired the shooter and others who perpetrate anti-Muslim acts of hate, which have drastically increased over the past several years.

Such a national day would also help people to focus their energy and efforts, allowing for positive links between communities, and new initiatives to promote equality. Already, we see interfaith, artistic and cross-community events being planned from coast to coast. Just imagine how powerful an official day of remembrance, similar to the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, would be.

In our work defending civil liberties in the context of national security, anti-terrorism and the “War on Terror” in Canada and internationally, we have seen how Muslims and Arabs in Canada have increasingly been stigmatised and scape-goated. The rise of the extreme-right, white supremacist and nationalist groups, and the backlash against immigration fuelled by spurious security concerns and racist stereotypes must be addressed. In the face of this, we must uphold that such a massacre must never happen again.

Attacks on one community, on one religion, on one race, are in reality an attack on us all. They tear apart the threads that bind us together as neighbours, allies and friends. The attack one year ago in Quebec City ripped at those threads.

We ask that you designate, by order-in-council or by proclamation, January 29th as a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Islamophobia, on or before the first anniversary.

Yours sincerely,

Dominique Peschard & Kevin Malseed

Co-chairs
International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group

As we’ve said before, while Bill C-59 contains some positive provisions around new review and oversight bodies, as well as some changes to the criminal code, it does not go far enough and introduces many very problematic elements. Bill C-59 fits into the steady progression, since the first Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001, of expanding and enshrining significant, secretive and dangerous powers in the hands of Canada’s national security agencies.

We’ve submitted an extensive analysis of Bill C-59 to the House Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (SECU). In our brief, we present realistic and necessary recommendations, suggestions and areas of examination that we believe will help to strengthen not just Canadians’ rights, but also our security. A summary of our recommendations is listed below. You can read the full brief here. And share it on Facebook and Twitter.

We also testified at the SECU committee alongside our partner OpenMedia on February 8th, 2018. Watch our testimony here:

Don’t forget to take action to fix Bill C-59
and protect our rights!

Summary of Recommendations

Read our full brief here.