Stop New Secret Trials Legislation in Canada!

[GliderGuider]

Stop New Secret Trials Legislation in Canada!
Urgent Action Alert from the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada

This is a two-part post. This one, the first part, is for Canadians. The next one is for people outside Canada.

Demand that Liberals, Bloc, and Tories NOT bring in new law to allow for indefinite detention without charge, secret hearings without the detainee or their lawyer present, draconian house arrest, and deportation to torture.

QUICK BACKGROUND
In February of this year, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that secret trial security certificates were unconstitutional, but suspended the effect of its decision until February 23, 2008, at which time those subject to certificates can apply to have them quashed. Rather than scrap these medieval processes (which have resulted in untold suffering by those detained, their families, and the targetted community members who live in fear of being next), the Harper government waited until late October to introduce new legislation (Bill C-3) that, with one or two exceptions, is almost identical to the legislation found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

The Tories have waited until this late date so they can create a false
sense of impending crisis and speed the bill through without any
substantial debate. They claim all heck will break loose unless a new
law is in place. As with security certificates, such outrageous claims
are based on fear and racism, and not on substantial evidence that can
be cross-examined in a public forum.

No one directly affected by the process -- those detained behind bars
or under house arrest, their family members, their community advocates, nor their lawyers -- has been allowed to speak before the Public Safety Committee, which will end an embarrassingly short period of "discussion" this coming week (December 3-7) and move to finalize the bill on December 6.

The government's proposed bill leaves in place a two-tiered system of
justice in which some people in Canada are denied the right to a fair
trial, even though their liberty and very lives may be at stake.

It does not meet a single one of the demands of our lengthy public
campaign: like the old security certificate, the proposed draft
maintains a secret trial process, denying the detainee access to the
information used against them. It uses vague and undefined allegations
rather than precise charges, and relies on a low standard of proof
(possibility instead of fact). It permits the use of hearsay (gossip
and rumour). It fails to reject the use of information produced under
torture. It will continue the practice of indefinite detention without
charge under threat of deportation to torture.

Legal experts who have analyzed the bill have already said that it will not even pass a constitutional test, raising the possibility of further legal battles and constitutional challenges.

If it succeeds, this move on the part of the government will further entrench the use of secrecy in the Canadian legal system by institutionalizing a model (the "special advocate") which legitimizes secret information. It will help to normalize racial profiling and indefinite detention or house arrest for people who are deemed "suspect" by the scandal-plagued spy agency CSIS. It will help normalize increased government control and surveillance. It also leaves the door open to deportation to torture.

Rather than try and "fix" or make "less severe" a fundamentally flawed
and unfair process, those working on this issue for years have been
very clear: the whole system should be scrapped and, if the government
has anything against those held on certificates, the individuals should be charged, allowed access to the case against them, and given a fair and open trial in court. As human beings, justice and even
international and Canadian law require that their fundamental rights to life, liberty and security be treated with every bit as much respect as the rights of those who happen to have Canadian citizenship.


TAKING ACTION--THREE STEPS FOR FOLKS IN CANADA

1. We are collecting signatures on petitions (In English and French)
and hope to have TENS OF THOUSANDS of names on them by February 15,
2008. Please download those petitions from
http://www.jerome.koumbit.org/adil/en/petition, take them with you
everywhere (schools, mosques, churches, union halls, community groups,
December holiday gatherings), and send them in to us once filled out
(They can be mailed to Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, PO Box 73620, 509 St. Clair Ave. West, Toronto, ON M6C 1C0)

2. Join the day of action on 7 December: it's a day of community
delegations to Members of Parliament in their home ridings. Members of
Parliament must be held accountable! For more information or to join
in, email [e-mail].

3. Contact MPs both this weekend and throughout the week of December
3-7.
In Parliament, only the NDP has shown principled opposition to the new legislation. Only two Liberals, Andrew Telegdi and Colleen Beaumier, stood up to oppose the bill at second reading, while other Liberals (even those who have previously expressed rejection of secret trials) were missing in action.
In the next week, we ask that you undertake two separate actions:
a. a massive call-in/email campaign needs to occur to demand that "Public Safety" committee members (listed below) reject the new bill and stop behaving in a manner that reflects that anti-democratic nature of security certificates by shutting down debate.
b. please also call your own MP and demand that they take a stand and vote against C-3. A list of MPs and how they voted (or whether they were even in the House) is available at
www.jerome.koumbit.org/adil/en/node/219
If your MP is an NDP-er or one of the two Liberals who have shown some backbone, please consider calling someone else on the lengthy list of shame.

Garry Breitkreuz
Conservative: Yorkton—Melville, SK
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Hon. Roy Cullen
Liberal: Etobicoke North, ON
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Penny Priddy
NDP: Surrey North, BC
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Hon. Sue Barnes
Liberal: London West, ON
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Bonnie Brown
Liberal: Oakville, ON
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Gord Brown
Conservative: Leeds—Grenville, ON
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Hon. Ujjal Dosanjh
Liberal: Vancouver South, BC
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Dave MacKenzie
Conservative: Oxford, ON
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Colin Mayes
Conservative: Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Serge Ménard
Bloc Québécois: Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Rick Norlock
Conservative: Northumberland—Quinte West, ON
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac
Bloc Québécois: Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Thanks for your support, which was responsible for forcing this issue
at this country's highest court in June, 2006. Public pressure can turn the tide again and prevent more needless years of suffering by those unjustly targetted by CSIS in this country.

Campaign to Stop Secret trials in Canada, PO Box 73620, 509 St. Clair
Ave. West, Toronto, ON M6C 1C0, [e-mail], [phone],
www.homesnotbombs.ca (new website on the way!)

[porphyrian]

1. I can't even get my primary vote to count in America, how can I do anything for Canada? -n/t

[GliderGuider]

2. submissive butt sniffing

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2384707&mesg_id=2384707

Here's the link to the other post for people outside Canada.

And please contact a Canadian embassy with your message. I'm sure you've realized by now that the Harper government wants to wheedle into Blair's place as favourite poodle. If Americans show their displeasure, it will have an effect.

Thank you.