This day marks the 10th anniversary of Mohamed Harkat’s arrest under a security certificate. Ironically, it is also International Human Rights Day. ICLMG was on Parliament Hill with Mohamed Harkat, his family, Hilary Homes from Amnesty International, Ihsaan Gardee from CAIR-CAN, Randall Garrison, the NDP Public Safety critic and Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party to denounce the security certificate regime and demand that this human rights violation stops.
Me Denis Barrette, ICLMG’s spokesperson on Bill S-7, has testified before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on Monday, December 3, to express our opposition to Bill S-7 (Combating Terrorism Act).
ICLMG opposes the reintroduction into the Criminal Code of Canada of two controversial provisions (“preventative detention” and “investigative hearing”) of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001 that were subject to a sunset clause and expired in February 2007. In a joint statement endorsed by a group of civil liberties and human rights organizations released last week, ICLMG reaffirms the position that the current powers of law enforcement already allow security agencies to pursue, investigate, disrupt, and successfully prosecute terrorism-related crimes.
Last Friday, International Cooperation Minister Julian Fantino outlined his vision for CIDA’s future in an address to the Economic Club of Canada. He spoke of a profound shift towards the private sector, particularly mining companies, and of more explicit work to promote Canada’s interests abroad. The same week, a confidential draft document on Canadian foreign policy was severely criticized by opposition MPs, human rights experts and former diplomats. Thomas Mulcair said in the Commons that “the Conservatives’ new foreign policy plan, crafted in secret, includes no vision for human rights, no vision for peace and security, no vision for aid and international development, no vision for Canada as an even-handed leader on the world stage.”
