Here is what we’ve accomplished so far in 2025 thanks to your support:

Open letter to the new Prime Minister and government

To introduce ourselves, our work and to push for necessary changes early on, we sent an open letter to the Prime Minister and new Minister of Public Safety detailing key actions the government should take to protect human rights and civil liberties in the context of national security and countering “terrorism,” along with a press release sharing the details of the letter.

2025 Federal Election

• During the Liberal party’s leadership race that preceded the election, we reacted to a commitment from Chrystia Freeland on the targeting of Muslim charities: “ICLMG welcomes commitment to tackle prejudiced audits of Muslim-led charities in Canada from Liberal leadership contender, calls on others to follow suit”
• We signed a letter alongside 200+ organizations calling on Canadian federal party leaders to uphold the rights of refugees and migrants during the 2025 federal election campaigns
• As we do for every federal election, we published our National Security Information Card containing an analysis of the parties’ promises and platforms, as well as their positions and actions since the 2021 election, regarding national security, anti-terrorism and civil liberties. We shared it widely via email and social media, including sharing portions of it daily until the election
• We also published an op-ed in the context of the false pretext of the border crises to push more border securitization: Canada must disentangle from the US national security regime, and protect rights, freedoms and the vulnerable. Here is a shortened version of the op-ed in French: Le Canada doit se dissocier du régime de sécurité nationale des États-Unis et protéger les droits, les libertés et les personnes vulnérables

Bill C-20: Public Complaints and Review Commission Act

Bill C-20, which will create a new, independent review agency for both the RCMP and CBSA, was adopted in October 2024. This new agency replaces the current RCMP review body and is the first ever independent review body for the CBSA. The creation of an independent review body for the CBSA has been a longstanding, key demand and advocacy priority of the ICLMG. Since Dec. 2024, ICLMG:

• Wrote to the Public Safety asking for updates on the timeline for establishment of the PCRC
• Met with the CBSA Director General, International and Border Policy, to discuss delay in implementation of the PCRC
• Pushed for fast-tracking the watchdog’s creation in our open letter to the new Prime minister and government
• Will continue to work on bringing improvements to the new review body throughout the regulation process and as it is established

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Bill C-27: Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022

Bill C-27 was the government’s proposed update to Canada’s private sector privacy law. It would have increased powers granted to the Privacy Commissioner, created a new tribunal, and enacted a new Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA). Through our work raising major concerns, including coordinating broad civil society responses, the government was forced to react with substantial amendments. It also resulted in the bill’s progress being delayed because of the level of concerns and controversy, resulting in it dying with prorogation. While our hope was to see the government remove AIDA from the bill and hold consultations, preventing a flawed regulatory framework that would have enshrined weak regulations is still considered a success. Since Dec. 2024, ICLMG:

• Continued to monitor progress of the bill and engage with MPs regarding amendments
• Continued to organize the national “AIDA Network” with partner organizations and privacy experts to discuss strategy around AI, safety and human rights/civil liberties
• Worked with member of the network to transition it into a broader network focussing on AI and Digital Policy more broadly

Online Harms

The federal government introduced Bill C-63 in February 2024. Known as the “Online Harms Act,” it responded to many of our concerns with the government’s original “online harms” proposal from 2021, but several aspects of the bill continued to raise serious concerns. Because of the controversial nature of several sections in the bill, it was delayed in the House of Commons, and did not pass before prorogation. On the topic, ICLMG:

• Wrote an op-ed – “Combating interference without trampling on rights” – that was first published in French in the December 2024 issue of the Droits et libertés magazine of our member La Ligue des droits et libertés: “Lutter contre l’ingérence sans bafouer les droits.”

Foreign Interference

Following the rushed adoption of the Countering Foreign Interference Act, we have continued to raise concerns with these new laws in various aspects of our work. This included participating in the federal inquiry into foreign interference. Since Dec. 2024, we have:

• Written a press release in reaction to the publication of the Hogue Commission report: “Hogue Commission succeeds in setting the record straight on foreign interference, but misses opportunity to highlight government failure to protect civil liberties”

Combatting Racism & Islamophobia

The ICLMG continues to oppose racial, religious and other forms of profiling and targeting by national security activities and laws, particularly that of Muslim and Arab communities and people of color. We are also aware of, and attempt to combat, the instrumentalization of acts of xenophobia, Islamophobia and racism to justify new or expanded use of national security laws. To that effect, we have:

• Highlighted the 8th “anniversary” of the Quebec City Mosque shooting, which is also the National Day for Action Against Islamophobia, by remembering the victims and their families, and renewing our commitment to fighting islamophobia, including anti-Palestinian racism.
• Commented on the House of Commons Justice Committee’s report on Islamophobia.
• Presented on a panel at the Canadian Labour Congress’ national Human Rights Advisory Committee meeting in December 2024.

Canada’s terrorist entities list

• We posted on social media and re-shared our action calling of the abolition of the list following the addition of Ansarallah (the Houthis) to the list in December 2024 and the addition of seven criminal organizations at the same time as the US – also criticizing the problematic stretching of the definition of terrorism – in February 2025.
• Met with the policy advisor to the Minister of Public Safety to raise our concerns about the use and expansion of the terrorist entities list.

Palestine and the right to dissent

The Israeli government, and its supporters, have attempted to justify their ongoing genocide against Gazans as “fighting terrorism,” a view echoed by Canadian officials. ICLMG has continued to monitor the situation and take action. Since Dec. 2024:

• We have included concerns around the use of anti-terrorism as an excuse to stifle free expression and justify the Israeli military’s violence in our critique of various pieces of new legislation and during speaking engagements
• Met with the policy advisor to Minister of Justice, to discuss government’s approach to anti-terrorism and hate speech laws and impact on civil liberties, including free expression
• We spoke at a press conference at Ottawa City Hall denouncing the bubble by-law proposal which would restrict freedom of speech, assembly and dissent.

Impacts of Counter terrorism financing

• Attended the “Reclaiming Civic Freedoms from the Security Paradigm” CtF Global Hub Workshop, connecting with international colleagues working on the impacts of countering the financing of terrorism locally and learning about the FATF and other international systems and their impact on civil society, including in Canada
• Participated in a Government of Canada-NPO dialogue (consultation) on new 2025 National Inherent Risk Assessment, providing critical feedback
• We continued our work on the government’s authorization regime for humanitarian and international development projects and the impacts of CTF, including meeting with colleagues from international development and humanitarian organizations, monitoring the implementation of the regime and discussing advocacy strategies with ICLMG members.

Hassan Diab & Extradition

Following the French court’s unfair “trial” and conviction of Dr. Hassan Diab in 2023, the Canadian government has refused to publicly commit to protecting Dr. Diab. This has resulted in a smear campaign (including social media posts by Pierre Poilievre and Elon Musk), calls for his dismissal from Carleton University, and even death threats! In this context, we:

• Sent a follow-up letter to the new Carleton University president after the university failed to reply to our previous letter as well as failed to adequately defend Dr. Diab and set the record straight in the press regarding his employment contract.
• Updated and shared our letter-writing campaign urging Canada to commit to protecting Dr. Diab.

Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Counter-terrorism

The ICLMG continues to participate in this coalition. Since Dec. 2024, we:

• Participated in regular meetings of the coalition to exchange information and strategize around impact of international counter-terrorism mechanisms on human rights in Canada and internationally, including the impact of UN counter-terrorism activities on civil liberties and human rights and the upcoming review of the UN Global Counter-terrorism strategy
• Attended the coalition’s strategy retreat, where we were able to exchange with international counterparts working on similar issues, and meet with EU officials for counter-terrorism and human rights

And more!

• We have created a profile on Bluesky – follow us at @iclmg-csilc.bsky.social
• We guest lectured for a surveillance studies class at the University of Alberta
• We commented on the first pilot project for Canadian land border pre-clearance in the US
• We joined 148 civil society organizations, companies, and cybersecurity experts, to call on the UK Home Office to rescind its demand that Apple create a backdoor into its end-to-end encrypted services.

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ICLMG IN THE MEDIA

Canadian Guide to Combatting Islamophobia launched, Ziad Araboughly, OMNI Television, 7 March 2025

CBSA complaints commission still not up and running, Brigitte Bureau, CBC News, 19 February 2025

Civil society groups push to ensure effectiveness of coming border agency watchdog, The Canadian Press, CP24, 10 January 2025

Canada urged to not sign ‘deeply flawed’ UN cybercrime treaty, Alexandra Posadzki, The Globe and Mail, 12 December 2024

Check out all coverage of ICLMG in the media here.

We have also published many reactions and commentary on our social media accounts, which continue to reach tens of thousands.

We publish our News Digest every other week, which is distributed to thousands of people and has received numerous accolades.

+ Check out the News Digest archive if you’ve missed some of our issues.

+ If you know anyone interested in receiving it, send them an invite to sign up!

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What we have planned for the rest of 2025!

We have our work cut out for us! In response to threats of tariffs and annexation from the Trump administration, the Canadian government has problematically committed to the rapid expansion of border security, surveillance and information sharing with the US, and expanded the use of rights violating anti-terrorism tools. We also cannot ignore the US crackdown on protesters and migrants under the guise of fighting terrorism and protecting national security. We need to ensure that Canada disentangles itself from the US national security regime, resists US pressure to expand surveillance and counter-terror powers and tools at the expense of our civil liberties, and increases protections for privacy, dissent, migrants and asylum seekers.

Your support will allow us to continue our work on these issues and much more:

• Protecting our privacy from government surveillance, including facial recognition, and from attempts to weaken encryption, along with advocating for good privacy law reform
• Addressing the lack of regulation on the use of AI in national security
• Advocating for restrictions on Canadian information sharing with the US, including the application of the US No Fly List in Canada
• Campaigning for the repeal of secretive and rights violating national security lists, such as the Terrorist Entities List and the Canadian No Fly List
• Halting the rapid expansion of new security measures at the border and continuing to push back against the false narrative depicting migrants and refugees as security risks, and advocating for rights protection and accountability for border agencies, including by monitoring the creation of a new CBSA and RCMP watchdog agency
• Advocating with lawmakers and officials to protect civil liberties from the overall negative impact of national security
• Countering the escalating repression of free expression, dissent and protest in the name of “countering terrorism,” including the crackdown on protests in support of Palestinian human rights and against the genocide in Gaza. This includes countering new “bubble zone” laws at the municipal and federal levels
• Fighting for Justice for Mohamed Harkat, an end to security certificates, and addressing problems in security inadmissibility
• Fighting for Justice for Hassan Diab and reforming Canada’s extradition law
• Addressing the impacts of measures to counter terrorism financing on civil society groups, including the CRA’s targeting of Muslim-led charities and restrictions and criminalization of the provision of international assistance and humanitarian aid
• Calling for the return of Canadian citizens and the non-Canadian mothers of Canadian children, who remain indefinitely detained in Syrian camps
• Pushing for restrictions on the implementation of new foreign interference laws
• Keeping you and our member organizations informed via the News Digest
• And much more!

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If you think our work is important, please support the ICLMG!

We do not receive any funding from any federal, provincial or municipal governments or political parties so your support is essential to our work.

We are counting on people like you.

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