Intervening organizations say integrated oversight process must be immediately implemented
Posted: 12 December 2006
Maher Arar © AI
Ottawa - Intervening Organizations are pleased that the Arar Commission's Policy Review Report has acknowledged the need for independent, integrated and enhanced review for national security work, and urge Prime Minister Harper to introduce the legislation necessary for Justice O'Connor's recommendations to be implemented as soon as possible.
"While Justice O'Connor did not recommend the 'one for all' approach we called for, he has, for the most part, acknowledged and addressed our concerns in his recommendations," said former Solicitor General Warren Allmand, with the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG).
"For many reasons, people, especially in Canada's Muslim community, have been reluctant to come forward with complaints and we need a concerted public education campaign so that everyone is informed about their options," said Karl Nickner, Executive Director of the Canadian Council on American Islamic Relations.
"Justice O'Connor recognizes that a central aspect of review must be to monitor the impact of national security activities on the protection of human rights," said Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada.
"That is essential and must figure prominently in the mandate of individual review agencies and the work of the new Integrated National Security Review Coordinating Committee," said Neve.
"Justice O'Connor acknowledges that a parliamentary committee, if created, would play an important big picture role," said Shirley Heafey, former CPC Chair and a board member of the BC Civil Liberties Association.
"It is vital that a parliamentary committee be created with broad powers to follow up on reports of SIRC, the CSE Commissioner, ICRA and the INSRCC, and to make recommendations to Parliament about necessary legal and policy reforms," said Heafey.
On November 24, 2005, the then Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness tabled Bill C-81, the Act to Establish the National Security Committee of Parliamentarians. This legislation would allow ministers to restrict the committee's access to information subject to solicitor-client privilege; information about a particular criminal investigation, national security investigation or operation or a military operation; information obtained in confidence from a foreign state or international organization of states; and information which could lead to the identification of sources of information or provide details about those sources or about operational methods. Intervenors are concerned that with these sweeping restrictions in place, it would appear that this parliamentary committee would have no more access to information than CPAC viewers did to information at the Arar Commission hearings.
"It is crucial that the serious shortcomings of this proposed legislation be addressed," said Heafey.
"Justice O'Connor's recommendations are important and will strengthen and enhance the effectiveness of Canada's national security activities as well as the protection of human rights. Resources will be needed, however, to ensure their success," said Denis Barrette with the ICLMG.
"The government must allocate an adequate budget to fund the new review process," said Barrette.
The eighteen organizations with Intervenor Status at the Arar Commission are Amnesty International Canada, the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, Canadian Arab Federation, Canadian Council on American Islamic Relations, Canadian Islamic Congress, Canadian Labour Congress, Council of Canadians, International Coalition Against Torture, International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, Law Union of Ontario, Minority Advocacy Rights Council, Muslim Canadian Congress, Muslim Community Council of Ottawa-Gatineau, National Council on Canada-Arab Relations, Polaris Institute, and internationally the Redress Trust, Association for the Prevention of Torture and the World Organization against Torture (OMCT).
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For more information or to arrange interviews with representatives of Intervening Organizations, please contact
Kerry Pither, Committee of Intervenors at the Arar Inquiry, at mobile 613.294.2203, or email intervenors@gmail.com ;
or
John Tackaberry, Amnesty International, at (613) 744-7667, ext. 236.