Ottawa – The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG) is happy to announce the appointment of Dr. Monia Mazigh as its new National Coordinator. Ms. Mazigh is a well known academic, author and human rights advocate.

The ICLMG, created in the aftermath of the September, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, is a national coalition that brings together some 43 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. In the context of the so-called ‘war on terror’, its mandate is to defend the rule of law and promote civil liberties and human rights set out in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, federal and provincial laws, and international human rights instruments.

In recent months, the ICLMG has played an active role in building opposition to Bill C-51, which was adopted in the Senate on June 9^th in spite of huge public opposition from a vast spectrum of Canadian society.

“With her personal experience and broad knowledge of national security issues and policies, Monia Mazigh is well positioned to lead ICLMG’s efforts for the repeal of C-51 and the implementation of robust review and oversight mechanisms over national security agencies” said Dominique Peschard, the coalition’s Co-Chair.

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Canada’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) will be examined by the Human Rights Committee (HRC) this summer. The ICLMG has sent a brief to Geneva stating our concerns and Canada’s contraventions to the ICCPR, including those regarding the Anti-terrorism Act of 2001, the no-fly list, the security certificates, the Arar and Iacobucci commissions, CSEC,  Bill C-51, Bill C-44, and the Budget Bill and the alarming trend of increasing discretionary ministerial powers and use of secret evidence in court.

Submission summary  

ICLMG has examined the list of issues published by the HRC in October 2014 in relation to Canada’s sixth report, and submits that certain Canadian laws, policies, and practices, with respect to those issues, contravene several provisions of the international covenant, which contraventions are set out below. In particular we must emphasize recent Canadian Bill C-51 which has substantially extended these contraventions in a most serious way.

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Ottawa – On the eve of the vote on Bill C-51, the 43 member organizations of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group appeal one last time to members of Parliament to reject this unnecessary piece of legislation that, while failing to protect Canadians, rolls back the rule of law and threatens fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The final vote in the House of Commons on Bill C-51 is scheduled to take place on Wednesday afternoon after the government passed a motion on time allocation cutting the debate short on a very important piece of legislation, yet again.

“We urge members of Parliament not to succumb to the politics of fear and appeal to their rational minds to reject what has been qualified as bad legislation by scores of legal and national security experts, academics, former Prime Ministers and ministers, former Supreme Court Justices, privacy commissioners, national security watchdogs, civil liberties and human rights organizations, as well as some provincial governments  who have unanimously expressed serious concerns about Bill C-51” says Roch Tassé, the ICLMG’s National Coordinator. “First Nations, environmentalists, labour groups and Canadians in general have also shown overwhelming and unprecedented opposition to this bill. With a federal election just around the corner, MPs should heed to the voice of reason of the majority of Canadians. ”

The ICLMG coalition was created after the adoption of the Anti-terrorism Act of 2001 out of concerns for civil liberties in the context of the so-called war on terrorism. The coalition’s concerns regarding Bill C-51, the Anti-terrorism Act of 2015, are even greater: the new powers given to CSIS to disrupt, without an increase in oversight, which is already inadequate; the new warrant system asking judges to allow violations to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; the facilitation of information sharing with foreign governments; the potential negative impact on free speech and dissent; the overbroad definition of threats to national security; the absence of a clear mechanism to challenge an inclusion on the no-fly list; secret judicial hearings and the permitted use of secret evidence; the non-respect of recent Supreme Court rulings; and the lowering of the thresholds for preventative arrest and peace bonds. The ICLMG asks that the bill be withdrawn or significantly amended.

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