Urgent Action Alert from the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials 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 second part, is for people outside Canada. The first one was for Canadians.

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--ONE STEP FOR FOLKS OUTSIDE OF CANADA

IF YOU ARE OUTSIDE OF CANADA
Please contact your nearest Canadian consulate or embassy and express
your outrage that the government is re-introducing the same secret
trials legislation already deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada. If you are told this is not within their portfolio, ask that the message be passed on to Ottawa.

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!)