Canada’s terror financing detection, no-fly list come under commissioner’s scrutiny

Canada’s privacy watchdog will flag potential problems Tuesday with the system for zeroing in on cash linked to terrorism and other crimes. Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart plans to release an audit highlighting her concerns about practices of the little-known Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada.
She will also disclose findings of a close look [...]

CSIS head criticizes Canadian human rights organisations and media

Richard Fadden, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, chastised the country’s civil-rights advocates and media, accusing them of presenting a distorted picture of the threat alleged extremists pose.
“Many of our opinion leaders have come to see the fight against terrorism not as defending democracy and our values but as attacking them. Almost any [...]

CSIS agent describes Khadr extradition vs rendition debate between Pakistan, US and Canada

A CSIS agent testified in the extradition case of Abdullah Khadr, brother of infamous Omar Khadr. The agent said that the Americans wanted to render Khadr to a U.S.-run foreign prison – perhaps Guantanamo Bay or one of the undisclosed “ghost sites” – but that the Canadians and Pakistanis refused to consent to his transfer. [...]

Canadian government threatens tar sands activists with anti-terror laws

The provincial government in Alberta, Canada is threatening to unleash its counterterrorism plan if activists continue using civil disobedience to protest the tar sands, Canada’s fastest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Civil disobedience from Greenpeace, leading to 37 arrests, has enraged Alberta’s conservative government. Fred Lindsay, the solicitor general suggested the province might use its [...]

Opposition to Presence in Afghanistan Hardens in Canada and United Kingdom

Public backing for the mission in Afghanistan is eroding in two countries, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies. 59 per cent of respondents in Britain oppose the military operation involving UK soldiers in Afghanistan, up six points since July. In Canada, overall support for the mission stands at 37 per cent, down six [...]

Abdelrazik sues Canada for its alleged role in his arrest and torture

Abdelrazik’s suit seeks 24 million Canadian dollars (22 million US) from Ottawa alleging the government’s involvement in his detention and torture, and three million dollars (2.76 million US) from Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon for “misfeasance in public office.”
It claims the foreign minister “deliberately and flagrantly violated (Abdelrazik’s) constitutional right to enter Canada, and his legal [...]

Federal Court denies CSIS request to get clarity on secrecy issues

Canada’s Federal Court ruled that key questions about what Canada’s spy service must reveal in court do not deserve another look. Federal lawyers last month chose to walk away from a key case – that of Adil Charkaoui, a Moroccan living in Montreal – rather than divulge information that they said could compromise national security. [...]

PM v Khadr

Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen captured by US forces in Afghanistan at the age of 15 and imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay for 7 years, recently succeeded in convincing the Canadian Court of Appeal to order the Canadian government to request his immediate repatriation by the US  (Khadr v. Prime Minister of Canada 2009 FCA 246). Until [...]

Charkaoui declared a free man

A security certificate against a Montreal man accused by Ottawa of having terrorist ties has officially been declared null and void.
Adil Charkaoui, a married father of three who has steadfastly denied any links to terrorists, said Wednesday he’s elated with the judgment.
Federal Court Justice Daniele Tremblay-Lamer wrote that the certificate has been quashed and that [...]

Canada court rules security services may monitor citizens’ communications abroad

[JURIST] The Canadian Federal Court released a decision Tuesday ruling that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service may monitor the communications of Canadian citizens abroad. The case arose from two Canadian nationals who had their communications abroad monitored after a judge issued an emergency warrant permitting the interception. Judge Richard Mosley, who also issued the emergency [...]