Implementation involves bringing the policy change into action, in line with the previously set goals and objectives. It involves planning around the political, financial and legal implications of changes. Our last blog posts go into these broad issues in more detail, but in this one I will outline how we have structured the implementation process of the actual written policies in question.
The two policy choices we had for the government are already existing policies that would just need to be slightly modified. The first step of the implementation process is for the federal government to initiate a repeal process of security certificate provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Only the provisions relating to security certificates need to be repealed, to make the changes we recommend. The rest of the IRPA would stay as is. This would need to be timed so as to allow the next steps to take place, but we would expect this occurs in a timely manner. The detainments are years long at this point, the evidence was presumably gathered prior to arrest, and allowing an injustice to continue indefinitely is not acceptable. The whole reason we recommend these changes is to bring them into line with humane policies, and this must be done intelligently and expediently.
Concurrently, the Attorney General needs to begin criminal proceedings for each person on a security certificate against whom there exists sufficient evidence to lay charges. The repeal of the IRPA provisions must be timed to allow this process to happen. The men currently on certificates have been subject to them for many years, so it should just be a matter of putting together the available information, if any, and officially charging them under the Criminal Code. The Attorney General is one of the people who originally signed the Security Certificate, so they would also already be familiar with the cases. Through the criminal code process, continued detention or conditions of release can be worked out, akin to anyone else being charged criminally. There is a process of applying for bail upon arrest, along with an appeal process for those denied release, or who want to appeal their bail conditions.
So once a period of time has passed to allow the compilation of the criminal case, the IRPA clauses could be revoked, and simultaneously the current security certificates would be dropped completely. This also means that the concurrent deportation proceedings would be null and void. Should the government want to seek a deportation order, it would be up to them to do so under the existing IRPA deportation procedures rules after the individual has been criminally convicted.
I’ve talked about implementation as though there is evidence and guilt on the part of these men, but we really don’t know that. The secrecy of the proceedings and the lack of information actually make it seem unlikely that there will be any criminal charges laid or guilt found. However the point in making these policy changes is to protect security and human rights while ensuring due process for both those who have committed “terrorist” acts and those who have not but for some reason or other, face suspicion. Implementing these policy changes, as above, are a first step towards meeting our goals and objectives of protecting security, human rights and due process.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
How Do We Create Awareness? Let me show the ways....
Very little people actually know about the issue of detention. So how do we create public awareness?
The Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights made suggestions on how to create awareness:
The Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights made suggestions on how to create awareness:
- Publicize the human rights of human detainees and which have been denied
- Create a documentary hightlighting the matter and violation of human rights treaties
- Facilitate roundtable discussions and training regarding creating awareness. Include local social services in the event.
- Organize events and campaigns with keynote speakers such as former detainees
- Organize information campaigns for journalists, regarding the impact of detention on the individual and their families
- Contact talk shows and discussion shows and ask them to speak on detainees
- Arrange meetings, discussions with organizations and the government
- Produce radio shows and newspapers and newsletters
- Suggest the topic of detention and human rights as a theme in educational theater
- Identify feature stories. Highlight moving or shocking situations, and prepare former detainees who are willing and able to give media interviews on detention-related issues.
Further, the online community is a great way to create public awareness. An electronic form of 'by mouth' is Facebook Groups, such as: Adil Charkaoui - The People's Commission on Immigration Security Measures can easily create awareness. Join the group, ask others to join.
Also the creation of websites for public awareness is very effective. Refer to: The Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui (http://www.adilinfo.org/?q=en/taxonomy/term/3). For example, they are advertising an event on Dec 10th to gain solidarity against 'secret trials'.
Overall, there are many ways, from detailed to simple, to create public awareness. See the following link to learn more:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/60UDHR/detention_infonote_2.pdf
The Visitor
A Movie Highlighting Detainment:
The Arrest for Jumping a Turnstyle When the Pass Didn't Work:
Spread The Word
The main problem with getting news coverage for the important issues in our society is that none of the featured individuals are Anna Nicole Smith, O.J. Simpson or Britney Spears.All of these people have longer ‘shelf-life’ than our literal neighbours who are being oppressed without knowledge of justification. They’re less than a flash in the frying pan.
As you know from the previous posts, there have been people who have been detained for more than 5 years. Where is their coverage?
We need to engage Non-Governmental Organizations, academic institutions and human rights defenders (social services), the onling community and of course the media. Education from these groups include events like ‘Dignity and Justice for Detainees Week’ where an opportunity is available for creating awareness of human right standards being violated and rallying for our government’s implementation of human rights treaties.
What is Dignity and Justice for Detainees week? Dignity and Justice for Detainees Week aims to highlight detention and encourage improvements in the conditions of detainees through workshops and publicity campaigns. It normally takes place during the first week of October.
The United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner said, "We are not against prisons and detention centres per se – but they should be reserved for those who really deserve to be there according to the extensive, detailed and fundamentally sound international standards governing criminal justice”
What avenues do you want to use to create awareness in the general public? The mainstream and alternative media must be used, along with the direct approach.
Tips on how to go about this are coming up….
Source: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DignityandJusticeDetaineesWeek.aspx
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Fwd from TASC re: National Day of Action
National Day of Action to Stop Secret Trials in Canada and End Deportations to Torture
Join us Wednesday December 10 (or as near to that date as you can) to call for the abolition of "security certificates" and deportations to torture.
As Canada marks International Human Rights Day this December 10, secret rendition-to-torture hearings will be continuing in the nation's capital. The public portions of those secret hearings, show trials in which an individual is alleged to be a threat but is not given any reasons why, have been ongoing, even though the Supreme Court of Canada declared security certificates unconstitutional in February, 2007. Such hearings have been a hallmark of Canadian immigration law for decades.
Many people thought that since four of the five individuals detained (Mohammad Mahjoub, Mahmoud Jaballah, Mohamed Harkat, Adil Charkaoui) under these medieval certificates were home with their families that somehow the suffering has ended. Far from it. The daily humiliation of being forced to wear tracking devices strapped to their ankles, the inability to go to the corner store to buy a litre of milk without government permission or having your mother accompany you, the over-the-top surveillance by state agents (everything from the cameras located both inside and outside the residence, tapping of phones and opening of mail to constantly snapping pictures of the men and their families while on approved "outings,") and the manner in which these "conditions of release" have actually served to jail the men's wives, parents, and children, clearly show that the pattern of repression continues to grow, isolating them from their communities as they fight deportation to torture.
Meanwhile, Hassan Almrei remains indefinitely detained in the most expensive solitary confinement cell in Canada, Kingston's Immigration Holding Centre (aka Guantanamo North).
Security certificates represent two-tier justice, the lowest-standard available because of the fact that those affected are refugees and permanent residents. The addition of a so-called "special advocate" does nothing to address the fundamentally flawed and unfair nature of the process, because the detainee is no closer to seeing the basis of the secret file. The fact that the same judges hearing these cases have all made adverse findings against the secret trial five in the past leaves the door open to a clear apprehension of bias. And the Chief Justice of the Federal Court muses aloud about why such hearings need to have the highest standards applied!
Join us December 10 to remind the Canadian public, government officials, and federal court judges that secret trials and deportations to torture cannot be subject to amendments and tinkering: they must be abolished.
Getting Involved.
1. Already, events are planned in London, Toronto, Fredericton, Ottawa, and Montreal. If you would like to hold an event in your community, contact us at tasc@web.ca, and we can help you with press releases, handouts for your action, and specific suggestions.
2. Join Federal Court Watch, a new initiative that invites you as a member of the public into the courts to monitor and document the abuses that go on in the public portions of these Kafkaesque trials. See http://www.adilinfo.org/en/federal-court-watch
Endorsed by: Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, Justice for Adil, Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee
Toronto Event: Gather at CSIS with Santa Claus on Wednesday, December 10, 4:30-5:30 pm, for a Sing-Out Against Secret Trials. Join us for new renditions of those holiday favourites, including Rudolf the Racist MP, Struggling in a Winter Wonderland, CSIS Spies are Tracking You Down, and the classic chestnut, The 12 Days of IRPA. Info: tasc@web.ca
Montreal event: Gather at Federal Court at 12 noon, December 10, details at www,adilinfo.org, justiceforadil@riseup.net
Events also planned in Ottawa, London, Fredericton, and other cities that have yet to finalize plans. Please join us wherever you are!!
Join us Wednesday December 10 (or as near to that date as you can) to call for the abolition of "security certificates" and deportations to torture.
As Canada marks International Human Rights Day this December 10, secret rendition-to-torture hearings will be continuing in the nation's capital. The public portions of those secret hearings, show trials in which an individual is alleged to be a threat but is not given any reasons why, have been ongoing, even though the Supreme Court of Canada declared security certificates unconstitutional in February, 2007. Such hearings have been a hallmark of Canadian immigration law for decades.
Many people thought that since four of the five individuals detained (Mohammad Mahjoub, Mahmoud Jaballah, Mohamed Harkat, Adil Charkaoui) under these medieval certificates were home with their families that somehow the suffering has ended. Far from it. The daily humiliation of being forced to wear tracking devices strapped to their ankles, the inability to go to the corner store to buy a litre of milk without government permission or having your mother accompany you, the over-the-top surveillance by state agents (everything from the cameras located both inside and outside the residence, tapping of phones and opening of mail to constantly snapping pictures of the men and their families while on approved "outings,") and the manner in which these "conditions of release" have actually served to jail the men's wives, parents, and children, clearly show that the pattern of repression continues to grow, isolating them from their communities as they fight deportation to torture.
Meanwhile, Hassan Almrei remains indefinitely detained in the most expensive solitary confinement cell in Canada, Kingston's Immigration Holding Centre (aka Guantanamo North).
Security certificates represent two-tier justice, the lowest-standard available because of the fact that those affected are refugees and permanent residents. The addition of a so-called "special advocate" does nothing to address the fundamentally flawed and unfair nature of the process, because the detainee is no closer to seeing the basis of the secret file. The fact that the same judges hearing these cases have all made adverse findings against the secret trial five in the past leaves the door open to a clear apprehension of bias. And the Chief Justice of the Federal Court muses aloud about why such hearings need to have the highest standards applied!
Join us December 10 to remind the Canadian public, government officials, and federal court judges that secret trials and deportations to torture cannot be subject to amendments and tinkering: they must be abolished.
Getting Involved.
1. Already, events are planned in London, Toronto, Fredericton, Ottawa, and Montreal. If you would like to hold an event in your community, contact us at tasc@web.ca, and we can help you with press releases, handouts for your action, and specific suggestions.
2. Join Federal Court Watch, a new initiative that invites you as a member of the public into the courts to monitor and document the abuses that go on in the public portions of these Kafkaesque trials. See http://www.adilinfo.org/en/federal-court-watch
Endorsed by: Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, Justice for Adil, Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee
Toronto Event: Gather at CSIS with Santa Claus on Wednesday, December 10, 4:30-5:30 pm, for a Sing-Out Against Secret Trials. Join us for new renditions of those holiday favourites, including Rudolf the Racist MP, Struggling in a Winter Wonderland, CSIS Spies are Tracking You Down, and the classic chestnut, The 12 Days of IRPA. Info: tasc@web.ca
Montreal event: Gather at Federal Court at 12 noon, December 10, details at www,adilinfo.org, justiceforadil@riseup.net
Events also planned in Ottawa, London, Fredericton, and other cities that have yet to finalize plans. Please join us wherever you are!!
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