Hon. Ahmed Hussen
Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

Hon. Ralph Goodale
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

RE: Welcoming Chelsea Manning to Canada

Dear Minister Hussen and Minister Goodale:

I am writing on behalf of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG) to ask you to allow Chelsea Manning to enter Canada. Refusing to allow her to enter the country is a real loss for Canada and an injustice to Chelsea.

As a coalition of 45 Canadian civil society organizations which works to protect and promote human rights from the impact of the war on terror, we have advocated for Chelsea Manning’s rights and what she stands for from the beginning. As a whistleblower, she revealed documents that—among other things—exposed the disproportionate impact of military activities abroad on civilians, including journalists and children. We admire her courage, especially in light of the consequences she endured. It is telling that denouncing injustices and atrocities is more harshly punished than committing said injustices and atrocities. Canada has an opportunity to truly show what its commitment is to freedom of expression, transparency, human rights and justice.

Chelsea is an internationally recognized advocate for freedom of expression, transparency, and civil liberties. She has spoken passionately for the rights of prisoners, and is considered a role model by queer and trans people worldwide. She has received dozens of awards from prominent media and human rights organizations for this work. If allowed to enter Canada, we at the ICLMG would welcome the opportunity to learn from her experiences.

Whether Chelsea wishes to enter Canada to continue her work as a tireless advocate for social change or simply hopes to visit friends, there is no principled reason to turn her away. After seven years in a military prison, Chelsea has served her time. Her sentence was commuted by former US President Barack Obama in January and she has been living freely in the United States since May 2017.

Continuing to deny her entry to Canada would serve no rational benefit to public safety, as Chelsea poses no risk or threat to our national security, and would seriously undermine Canada’s commitment to international justice, security, and human rights. Letting Chelsea in is simply the right thing to do.

We look forward to hearing news of your decision.

PDF of the letter

CBC News: ‘No threat’: Civil liberties groups support Chelsea Manning’s bid to cross Canadian border

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.You 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!

WATCH THE VIDEO NOW

Make sure to like our Facebook page to stay informed of the future panels!

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If you are not in Ottawa, you can watch the talk LIVE or watch the video later on our Facebook page. Like the page to get notifications to that effect.

Join us for our second panel:
“Islamophobia in Canada: How national security impacts Muslim communities”

When: Tuesday October 24, 2017 from 7:30 to 9:30PM

Where: 25One Community, 251 Bank Street, 2nd floor, Ottawa (Google Maps)

What: Dr. Monia Mazigh and lawyer Yavar Hameed will be discussing the double standard and the polical use of the word terrorism; the impact of islamophobia, anti-terrorism laws and national security agencies’ actions on Canadian Muslims; and how Islamophobia is both a cause and a consequence of Canada’s national security apparatus.

Our National Coordinator, Tim McSorley, will be moderating, and we will have a Q&A after each presentation. Le panel sera en anglais mais vous pourrez poser vos questions en français.

RSVP, share and invite your friends on Facebook

The event is FREE and open to everyone. We will be collecting donations in support of ICLMG’s work. If you want to know why you should give to ICLMG, check out our long list of achievements and gains since our creation in 2002.

If you cannot attend, please consider supporting our work at patreon.com/iclmg or iclmg.ca/donate.

This panel is the second of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group’s National Security & Human Rights Speaker Series, sponsored by CUPE, the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

ICLMG will be hosting one panel per month for 5 months on an important and timely issue related to national security and human rights in Canada. Stay tuned for the next dates and topics.

Invite your friends and we hope to see you there. Thanks!

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Who are our panelists?

Dr. Monia Mazigh was born and raised in Tunisia and immigrated to Canada in 1991. She speaks Arabic, French, and English fluently and holds a Ph.D. in finance from McGill University. Dr. Mazigh has worked at the University of Ottawa and taught at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia. In 2004, she ran in the federal election as a candidate for the NDP, gaining the most votes for her riding in the history of the NDP. Dr. Mazigh was catapulted onto the public stage in 2002 when her husband Maher Arar, was deported to Syria where he was tortured and held without charge for over a year. During that time, Dr. Mazigh campaigned vigorously for her husband’s release and later fought to re-establish his reputation and sought reparations. In January 2007, after a lengthy inquiry, her husband finally received an apology from the Canadian government and was offered compensation for the “terrible ordeal” his family had suffered. Dr. Mazigh has since authored a book called Hope and Despair, which documents her ordeal after her husband was arrested and how she campaigned to clear his name. She has also published two novels, Mirrors and Mirages in 2014, and Hope Has Two Daughters in 2017. Dr. Mazigh presently lives in Ottawa with her husband and two children. More at https://moniamazigh.wordpress.com/

Yavar Hameed is a Barrister & Solicitor. He completed his Common Law degree at the University of Ottawa and an M.A. at the Normal Paterson School of International Affairs and was called to the Ontario Bar in 2001. Yavar worked for three years at a labour law firm focusing on trade union law, employment law and human rights. For the past twelve years, he has worked on important cases to help individuals and communities to resist injustice such as discrimination on the basis of poverty, police brutality, persecution of people on the basis of dissident political views, whistle blowing, racial profiling, deportation of migrants, Islamophobia, homophobia and abuse of prisoner rights. Since 2009, he has also taught a seminar course at Carleton University’s Department of Law and Legal Studies entitled, State, Security and Dissent, in which he continues to explore contemporary and historical human rights problems in Canada with a focus upon the importance of material and ideological persecution of dissent by the state. More at http://hameedlaw.ca/

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.You 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!

What is the UPR?

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all UN Member States. The UPR is a State-driven process, under the auspices of the Human Rights Council, which provides the opportunity for each State to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfil their human rights obligations.

A review of a State is based on: (a) a national report prepared by the State under review; (b) a compilation of United Nations information on the State under review prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR); and (c) a summary of information submitted by other stakeholders (including civil society actors, national human rights institutions and regional organizations), also prepared by OHCHR.

Our concerns

ICLMG has sent its second UPR submission for Canada. We are happy to report that there have been positive changes since the last UPR, which occurred in 2013, notably a few security certificates have been quashed, several torture survivors have received apologies and compensation from the federal government, and Bill C-59, An Act respecting national security matters, has removed some egregious problems introduced by Bill C-51, the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2015 – although not all of them.

The ICLMG, in this UPR submission, thus raises – and repeats its – concerns regarding:

• The security certificate regime
• The no-fly list program
• The new ministerial directives on information tied to torture
• Afghan detainees
• Hassan Diab
• The criminalization of dissent
• National security creep, discretionary powers and the use of secret evidence
• Encryption
• Counter-radicalization
• The Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act (C-13)
• The Protection of Canada from Terrorists Act (C-44)
• Bill C-23, The Preclearance Act, 2016
• The Anti-terrorism Act 2015 (C-51)
• Bill C-59, An Act respecting national security matters

Summary of our submission

“The ICLMG submits that Canada, in adopting certain anti-terrorism laws and policies, has contravened its obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, several international human rights treaties and certain provisions of its own Charter of Rights and Freedoms. These laws have expanded police and intelligence-gathering powers, and restricted human rights. Specific examples of these contraventions are set out in the paragraphs to follow and include failure to respect due process and the rule of law, arbitrary arrest, preventative detention, racial profiling and suspension of the principle of innocence until proven guilty.

The ICLMG supports all legitimate efforts to combat terrorism which is in itself a serious attack on human rights, but argues that these efforts must always respect human rights norms. We do not properly defend democracy, the rule of law and a culture of human rights by abdicating these very principles. Security and freedom are not opposites. Respect for fundamental rights is an essential condition, a vital component of security.”

Read our UPR submission

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.You 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!