For Immediate Release
May 2, 2005
OTTAWA – Striking the right balance between security and individual rights, expanding the scope of the review, and creating oversight mechanisms to ensure accountability are the three key messages to the federal government in the Canadian Bar Association’s evaluation of Canada’s three-year-old Anti-terrorism Act.
“Our submission is about balance, scope and oversight,” says CBA President Susan McGrath, of Iroquois Falls, Ontario. “In our view, the government has not yet come up with the right equation, which means invasions into personal privacy and violations of fundamental rights are creeping into Canadian law.”
“We have urged the government to strike the right balance between individual liberties and national security since the day the legislation was introduced in October 2001. Since then, the federal government has enacted or proposed measures which dramatically expand state powers at the expense of due process and individual rights and freedoms,” says Susan McGrath.
In its 2005 submission, the CBA argues that the three-year review must go beyond the Anti-terrorism Act. The CBA recommends the review be widened to include all security-related measures, and to look at the following:
- appropriate objectives for an anti-terrorism strategy – including the distinction between national security and enforcement of criminal law;
- the risks associated with terrorism and ways to evaluate the risks;
- the legal, constitutional and moral standards to be protected.
The CBA also has serious concerns that the lack of oversight in the Act could affect Canadians’ privacy rights. Broad powers under the Act allow the government to gather vast amounts of personal information and keep it secret. The CBA says the risk of abuse associated with those powers must be countered by effective independent oversight and accountability.
While Parliamentary oversight can play an important role in assessing political issues relating to national security, the CBA believes that, “An independent oversight mechanism is also needed to address operational matters not currently covered by the Security Intelligence Review Committee.”
The 50-page submission recommends further changes to the Act in the following areas:
- definition of terrorism. The current definition is too wide and too vague, and should be consistent in all laws relating to terrorism;
- information sharing between Canada and other countries. Once Canada shares information with another country, it does not have control over it. Safeguards must be put in place to ensure that Canadian citizens are not put at risk.
- using immigration law to fight terrorism. A security certificate issued against a foreign national under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act cannot be appealed. The CBA recommends an appeal to the Federal Court decision, with leave of the Federal Court of Appeal. Where the government demands secrecy for security reasons, the court should name an advocate to represent the interests of the person concerned.
CBA President Susan McGrath will be joined by CBA members Greg DelBigio of Vancouver and Lorne Waldman of Toronto to present the submission to the Senate Committee on the Anti-terrorism Act on Monday, May 2, 2005 at 10:00 a.m., in Room 160-S, Centre Block. The CBA brief is available online at:
http://www.cba.org/CBA/submissions/pdf/05-28-eng.pdf.
CBA 2001 submission on Bill C-36:
http://www.cba.org/CBA/pdf/submission.pdf
2001 news releases:
http://www.cba.org/CBA/News/2001_releases/2001-10-31_definition.aspx
http://www.cba.org/CBA/News/2001_releases/2001-11-27_sunset.aspx
The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 34,000 lawyers, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.
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CONTACT: Hannah Bernstein, Canadian Bar Association, Tel: (613) 237-2925, ext. 146; E-mail: hannahb@cba.org.
