foreign affairs minister from 1996 to 2000
There is a disturbing virus settling into
Ottawa. Let's call it the Spreading Northern Security Plague, a
variation of a virulent strain of illegal counterterrorism
practices imported from the Bush White House. Its symptoms were
first detected in the Maher Arar case, where a Canadian was sent
off to be tortured in a Syrian jail. Only years later was an
inquiry established, presided over by a courageous judge who blew
the whistle on such nefarious practices by our security forces.
But by then, the disease had become embedded in
the body politic of successive governments with all the signs of a
well-established syndrome in which security trumps human rights,
international covenants can be disregarded, commissions of inquiry
can be secretive and dismissive of rule and procedure, and vital
information on crucial issues such as the transfer of Afghan
detainees is deliberately withheld.
And now, we learn of Abousfian Abdelrazik, a
Sudanese Canadian who was imprisoned in Khartoum, allegedly at the
request of CSIS, and who has been stranded in the country for
nearly five years. That the Canadian government, knowing full well
the egregious human-rights record of the Sudanese regime, would
leave one of its citizens marooned in the Sudan, is inexplicable.
The outbreak of this malady eating away at our
valued respect for rules of law is also demonstrated by the cases
of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati and Muayyed Nureddin, three
Canadians held in a Syrian jail who say they were tortured during
interrogations.
From information already on the public record,
it appears likely their disappearance and detention were prompted
by Canadian influence, and that the information used in
interrogations came from Canada.
It seems the spirit of Alberto Gonzales, the
former Bush attorney- general who defended similar proceedings in
U.S. courts, is alive and well in Ottawa.
The "internal inquiry" under former Supreme
Court justice Frank Iacobucci into the circumstances surrounding
the cases of these three Canadians represents an unprecedented
suppression of basic due process. The almost entirely secret
process has meant that the men, their counsel and the public have
yet to see a single document or, indeed, any of the evidence
gathered from government witnesses. It's not clear they, or we,
will ever see any of the evidence.
In the one hearing that was held in public, the
government demonstrated why transparency is so badly needed.
Arguing about the standards by which the actions of Canadian
officials should be judged, counsel for the government revealed a
dangerous dereliction of Canada's international agreements. The
government's position rests on its stated proposition that the
need to share information between states within the context of
national security supersedes the consideration of human rights,
including protection from torture. Commissioner Iacobucci has a
singular opportunity to right the wrongs committed against these
three Canadians, and to remedy the imbalance between security
interests and human rights. Such a decision could begin to address
the infirmity that has afflicted this country, making clear that
respect for human rights is essential to the achievement of peace
and security and, in the process, steering Canada back to the path
it has long travelled as a champion of human liberties.
It is surprising that Canada's narrow
preoccupation with security and secrecy has been allowed to go on
with impunity. Public indignation and parliamentary attention have
been in short supply. There has not been the kind of legal
challenge to these transgressions that has recently marked efforts
in the U.S., even though our Charter gives us a solid basis for
judicial action.
The time has come for Parliament in its
minority status to take a stand and call for a major overview,
review and assessment of how our security laws are eroding the
Charter of Rights, our international commitments and our global
standing.
A more open and transparent process at the
Iacobucci inquiry would go a long way toward informing that
assessment, as would proper diplomatic efforts to give Mr.
Abdelrazik the full protection of Canadian law and due process.
It is time that Canadians understood the need
for effective treatment - before this virus gets out of control.