Shinewald: My Declaration of Contrition
CJN 06/09/2018 - My only real regret from the three years I served at the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) was the small role I played in the tragedy of Hassan Diab. I was sitting in my Ottawa office one morning in 2008 when colleagues called from Toronto. Diab, a local professor, had been arrested, they told me. He was accused of committing a notorious terrorist attack that killed four people outside a Paris synagogue in 1980. I rushed to the bail hearing to represent our community. Diab sat a few metres away, near a small group of supporters. I dismissed them as dupes, though I remember some niggling feeling that, perhaps, I was the dupe. [...] Instead, I piled on, apparently also arguing that he didn’t deserve bail. I made my small contribution to the case against him. But that case turned out to be flimsy. [...] His life is in shambles and his young children fret that their father will be taken away again, but he is impressively serene. “I don’t want a penny,” he said. What he does want is for our extradition process to be amended so the miscarriage of justice carried out against him cannot happen to anyone else again. That is a noble cause and – given our community’s role in his tragedy, however small – we have a moral duty to support it. CJC can’t, because it no longer exists . But the website of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) states that it “is now responsible for all activities previously administered by Canadian Jewish Congress.” The least CIJA should do, therefore, is join the 20-odd organizations supporting Diab’s call for a full, independent public inquiry. As a community, we must make this right. But personally, so must I, particularly in this season of teshuvah. Therefore, I hereby express my deepest regret to Mr. Diab for my actions. I also commit to supporting his principled and honourable campaign for a public inquiry. Finally, I offer Mr. Diab and his family my sincerest best wishes for a secure and happy future at home here in Canada. Read more - Lire plus
House of Commons unanimously votes to call Myanmar Rohingya killings a genocide
Global News 20/09/2018 - In a rare show of unanimity, MPs on Thursday agreed to call the campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya  in Myanmar an act of genocide. Liberal MP Andrew Leslie, who is parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs, rose following question period to present a motion asking for unanimous consent among MPs from all parties to recognize as a genocide the killings, which began last summer, and to call for the generals and leaders responsible to be prosecuted for the crime under international law. More than 900,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar into neighbouring Bangladesh since August 2017. The Rohingya are an ethnic minority in Myanmar who have been the target of a campaign of systemic rape and murder led by the Myanmar military. Read more - Lire plus

Feds try to pull cloak of secrecy over court case on pipeline spy allegations
The Canadian Press 27/09/2018 - Federal lawyers want closed-door hearings in a high-profile court case about allegations of Canadian Security Intelligence Service spying on anti-pipeline activists. The civil liberties group behind a complaint about the purported CSIS wrongdoing opposes the federal secrecy request, saying it blatantly violates the principle that justice must be seen to be done. The matter is slated to be heard today in an open session of the Federal Court of Canada. The judge's decision will determine how much the public gets to see and hear in the coming months when the court looks at the central issue: whether Canada's spy agency overstepped the law in monitoring environmental activists. The ruling could also set a precedent that dictates whether future court challenges of CSIS activities are held openly or in secret. It all began four years ago when the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association complained to the CSIS watchdog after media reports suggested the spy service and other government agencies considered opposition to the petroleum industry as a threat to national security. The association's complaint to the Security Intelligence Review Committee also cited reports that CSIS shared information with the National Energy Board about so-called "radicalized environmentalist" groups seeking to participate in the board's hearings on Enbridge's now-defunct Northern Gateway pipeline project. In addition, the association alleged CSIS passed information to oil companies and held secret conferences with these petroleum industry players at its headquarters. The complaint cited records, released through the Access to Information Act, that suggested certain organizations were viewed as potential security risks simply because they pushed for environmental protections. The association argued CSIS's intelligence gathering violated the law governing the spy service, which forbids CSIS from collecting information about Canadians unless there are reasonable grounds to suspect they constitute a threat to national security. Read more - Lire plus 

The UPR of Canada is a missed opportunity to escalate human rights commitments
Amnesty International Canada 21/09/2018 - Human Rights Council adopts Universal Periodic Review outcome on Canada
Amnesty International is disappointed that Canada’s response to its UPR, while containing welcome commitments, does not commit to substantial advances and primarily confirms initiatives already underway. [...] Treaty ratification commitments appear to have weakened from previous announcements about moving to accede to the Optional Protocols to the Convention against Torture and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This response states there is no decision yet regarding accession. [...] The acceptance of the recommendation about equal access to asylum proceedings for all individuals who attempt to enter Canada is inconsistent with the Safe Third Country Agreement which bars refugee claims at official Canada/US land border posts. Read more - Lire plus 


Sulemaan Ahmed: La puck roule lentement pour nous
La Presse 23/09/2018 - Vous vous souvenez peut-être de mon fils Adam. Il était dans la section Actualités de La Presse en juin 2016, portant le fameux chandail bleu-blanc-rouge du Canadien. Non, il ne jouait pas pour le Tricolore. Adam, 6 ans à l’époque, a été repêché par la liste d’interdiction de vol du Canada. À chaque voyage, nous ne pouvions pas nous enregistrer en ligne, ce qui nous obligeait à nous rendre à l’aéroport plus tôt. Une fois, à l’étranger, nos passeports ont même été confisqués. La situation a atteint son paroxysme en décembre 2015 quand Adam et moi étions en route pour la Classique hivernale Canadien-Bruins. Puisque notre voyage semblait en prolongation, j’ai discrètement pris une photo de l’écran du bureau d’enregistrement, montrant Adam sur le banc des punitions. J’ai tweeté sur la situation, des articles ont paru en anglais et en français, et tout a dérapé. Des centaines de familles ont communiqué avec nous, à propos de leurs enfants nés au Canada mais aussi d’adultes, qui sont touchés par ce problème. Lorsque la liste d’interdiction de vol du Canada a été créée il y a 10 ans, des identifiants uniques, comme la date de naissance, le numéro de passeport ou le NAS, n’ont pas été utilisés pour vérifier l’identité des voyageurs. Si votre nom de famille est Mohamed, Graham, Veilleux, Matthews ou Hébert, vous êtes peut-être inscrit sur cette liste à cause d’une fausse correspondance de votre nom. Certaines personnes diront peut-être que cet inconvénient est un petit prix à payer pour assurer la sécurité nationale. En tant qu’ancien agent de bord, je comprends. Cependant, je n’ai pas encore entendu d’argument convaincant pour poursuivre ce gaspillage de ressources financières et de sécurité. Read more - Lire plus

Ottawa’s use of AI in immigration system has profound implications for human rights
The Globe and Mail 26/09/2018 - How would you feel if an algorithm made a decision about your application for a Canadian work permit, or determined how much money you can bring in as an investor? What if it decided whether your marriage is “genuine?” Or if it  trawled through your Tweets or Facebook  posts to determine if you are “suspicious” and therefore a “risk,” without ever revealing any of the categories it used to make this decision? While seemingly futuristic, these types of questions will soon be put to everyone who interacts with Canada’s immigration system. A report released Wednesday by the University of Toronto’s International Human Rights Program (IHRP) and the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy finds that algorithms and artificial intelligence are augmenting and replacing human decision makers in Canada’s immigration and refugee system, with profound implications for fundamental human rights. Exploring new technologies and innovations is exciting and necessary, particularly when used in an immigration system plagued by  lengthy delays , protracted family separation and uncertain outcomes. However, without proper oversight, mechanisms and accountability measures, the use of AI threatens to create a laboratory for high-risk experiments. [...] If an algorithm makes a decision about your fate, can it be considered fair and impartial if it relies on biased data that is not made public?  What happens to your data  during the course of these decisions and can it be shared with other departments, or even with the government of your country, potentially putting you at risk? The use of AI has already been criticized in the  predictive policing context , where algorithms linked race with the likelihood of re-offending, or when they link women with lower paying jobs, or purport to  discern sexual orientations from photos . Given the already limited safeguards and procedural justice protections in immigration and refugee decisions, the use of discriminatory and biased algorithms have profound ramifications on a person’s safety, life, liberty, security, and mobility. Before exploring how these technologies will be used, we need to create a framework for transparency and accountability that addresses bias and error in automated decision making. Read more - Lire plus

Hungary upholds 'terrorism' conviction against Syrian refugee
Al Jazeera 20/09/2018 - A Hungarian court rejected the appeal of a Syrian refugee and upheld his 2016 conviction for "terrorism", but reduced his seven-year sentence to five years, in what a rights group called an abuse of anti-terrorism laws. Eda Seyhan, Amnesty International's counterterrorism campaigner who was in the courtroom, said in a statement to Al Jazeera, "this judgement comes as a blow for Ahmed, his wife and his two young daughters." The charges stem from an incident on the Hungarian-Serbian border in 2015, at the height of Europe's refugee crisis. Ahmed H - as he's identified in court documents, who had already been granted protected status and lived in Cyprus with his wife and children - was attempting to escort his elderly parents on their journey from Syria to Europe. A confrontation occurred between a large group of asylum-seekers attempting to cross into Hungary and police. Ahmed H was caught on tape throwing stones in the direction of police. Seyhan said Thursday's ruling was his final appeal. The court counted the three years he has already served in a Hungarian prison towards his sentence. He will be eligible for release in early 2019. Seyhan said throwing stones is not terrorism and the verdict rides "roughshod over the law". She added the conviction "plays into the hands of the Hungarian authorities' demonisation of refugees, migrants and those seeking to protect them". [...] The European Parliament voted in favour of disciplinary action against Hungary on September 12, citing the country's flouting of the EU's democratic norms. Read more - Lire plus
Immigration detainee Ebrahim Toure finally free after more than five years
The Toronto Star 21/09/2018 - Ebrahim Toure’s first steps as a free man in five-and-a-half years were hesitant. He paused briefly outside the back gates of the Immigration Holding Centre, clutching a garbage bag of his belongings. Then the four friends who came to pick him up cheered and ran to him from across the parking lot. Gebere Mageraga reached Toure first, wrapping him in a bear hug. Toure grinned. “I’m just so happy,” he said. The 47-year-old failed refugee claimant was arrested by the Canada Border Services Agency on Feb. 23, 2013. He was jailed indefinitely because immigration authorities believed he would not show up for his deportation if it was ever arranged. In the end, the CBSA conceded what Toure’s lawyers had argued for years — that they could not deport him. Jared Will, Toure’s lawyer, said he was relieved his client was released, but the outcome is bittersweet. “It’s something that should have happened a very long time ago.” [...] Read more - Lire plus
The Intercept 24/09/2018 - It was still dark on a crisp morning in March 2017 when Carlos Rueda Cruz clambered into his Toyota Tacoma pickup truck to go to work. He turned the key in the ignition and pulled around the corner to pick up his friend, who worked for the same roofing company in Sacramento, California. Carlos made it three blocks before he saw the flashing lights in his rearview mirror. He pulled over near an Arco gas station. “They better just give you a ticket,” the friend joked. The police approached with guns cocked, Carlos said. They shouted for him to put his hands in the air. As Carlos stepped out of his truck, he noticed five law enforcement vehicles surrounding him. The police started asking questions: Where are you going? Are you carrying any drugs or weapons? Why are you here? Carlos recalled another time when he’d been pulled over by men with guns, three years earlier, in his home province of Michoacán, Mexico. That time, it was by members of a drug cartel. Carlos and his family had handed out flyers for the leftist Mexican Party of the Democratic Revolution, known by its Spanish-language acronym PRD, during the 2012 and 2014 elections. At the time, local cartels — most notably, Los Zetas and La Familia — frequently intimidated voters into supporting the party they favored. The armed men asked Carlos which party he was voting for. Carlos replied that he hadn’t decided yet. The men threatened to kill him unless he voted for the conservative Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI; ultimately, they let him go. Afterward, Carlos faced a fundamental question: change my political beliefs, or run? He fled with his family to the United States, where he was about to face another life-altering encounter with forces beyond his control. Soon, according to Carlos, he would be drawn against his will into a deal with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which asked him to snitch on other undocumented immigrants or face deportation. When he refused to comply, he faced retaliation. This account is based on more than 300 pages of documents and interviews with Carlos, his relatives, and his attorney. Read more - Lire plus


Un Palestinien tué lors d’affrontements à la frontière entre Israël et Gaza
Le Monde 24/09/2018 - Les affrontements meurtriers perdurent à la frontière entre Israël et Gaza. Un Palestinien a été tué, dimanche 23 septembre, a rapporté le ministère de la santé à Gaza dans un communiqué. Imad Ishtawi, 21 ans, a été tué d’une balle dans la tête à l’est de la ville de Gaza, alors que de jeunes Gazaouis s’étaient à nouveau rassemblés pour  lancer  des pneus enflammés et des pierres en direction des soldats israéliens, a précisé le ministère. Depuis le 30 mars, l’enclave palestinienne est le théâtre de manifestations le long de la barrière avec Israël pour  demander  la levée du blocus israélien et pour le droit au retour des Palestiniens qui ont été chassés ou ont fui leurs terres à la création d’Israël en 1948. Au moins 186 Palestiniens ont été tués par des tirs israéliens depuis cette date, pour la majorité lors de manifestations près de cette barrière. Un soldat israélien a été tué. Read more - Lire plus


UK intelligence agency admits unlawfully spying on Privacy International
Privacy International 25/09/2018 - The UK's domestic-facing intelligence agency, MI5, today admitted that it captured and read Privacy International's private data as part of its Bulk Communications Data (BCD) and Bulk Personal Datasets (BPD) programmes, which hoover up massive amounts of the public's data. In further startling legal disclosures, all three of the UK's primary intelligence agencies - GCHQ, MI5, and MI6 - also admitted that they unlawfully gathered data about Privacy International or its staff. [...] Today's news comes in the wake of last week's judgment by the European Court of Human Rights which  found another of the UK's mass surveillance programmes - the mass interception of internet communications - to be unlawful . A major aspect of the Court's criticism of the mass interception programmes was the lack of oversight and safeguards surrounding how the data is collected, searched, and accessed. Today's revelations highlight the danger that can arise from such a lack of safeguards, the absence of which has allowed an intelligence agency to extract data about a human rights charity from that massive trove. As a result,  Privacy International has today written to the UK's Home Secretary, Sajid Javid MP, to request urgent action . In particular, Privacy International is asking that he confirms what changes will be made to the Investigatory Powers Act (more commonly known as the Snoopers' Charter) provisions as a result of last week's ECHR judgment. Privacy International is also calling on MI5 to provide a full explanation of the circumstances behind their surveillance of Privacy International. Read more - Lire plus 

Citizens' group wants prosecution over CIA rendition program
Naitonal Post 26/09/2018 - North Carolina state and local officials should prosecute participants in a CIA program that ferried terrorism suspects to secret sites where they were tortured, an advocacy group seeking to stir action over the former U.S. policy is demanding. Prosecution is one of dozens of recommendations to be released Thursday by the private, 11-member North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture. The academics, lawyers, retired military officers and clergy who make up the self-appointed group held a public teach-in in Raleigh last year. Such non-governmental inquiry commissions have no official power, though others succeeded in bringing attention to American military atrocities in Vietnam and war crimes in Bangladesh during that country’s 1971 civil war. The anti-torture activists now say they want government admissions and compensation for those tortured. State and county legal authorities also should prosecute the pilots and others involved in transporting prisoners since Washington won’t under “laws that criminalize kidnapping, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and conspiracies to commit such unlawful acts,” the group said. In the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by al-Qaeda terrorists on the United States, CIA interrogators employed tactics like simulated drownings and mock executions that are now widely viewed as torture. A 2014 report released by then-Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, concluded the agency understated the brutality of the techniques, while overstating the value of information obtained by using them. The group’s focus on North Carolina springs from the reported involvement in the CIA program of Aero Contractors Limited. Flights operated by Aero Contractors delivered at least 49 people to secret CIA sites from Thailand to Poland or to foreign intelligence services for interrogation and possible torture, said the group’s report, which relied on the work of an academic at London’s University of Westminster who studies the CIA program . Read more - Lire plus 
Joe Robinson: Turkish court convicts former UK soldier
BBC 15/09/2018 - A former soldier with the British army who fought for Kurdish forces against so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria has been given a prison sentence in Turkey, his mother says. Joe Robinson, 25, from Leeds, was arrested while on holiday in 2017 and charged with terrorism offences. He was accused of being a member of the Kurdish armed group the YPG, which Turkey views as a terrorist group. Robinson was given a seven-and-a-half year sentence but remains on bail. He is planning an appeal against his conviction. His mother Sharon Chimejczuk said she had received a phone call on Friday night from an official at the British Foreign Office confirming his sentence. She said her son's fiancée, Mira Rojkan, a law student at the University of Leeds, had been given a suspended sentence for "terrorism propaganda". "There was a trial, but Joe wasn't at it," Mrs Chimejczuk said. Ms Rojkan said: "The court sentenced me for sharing Facebook posts with the Kurdish flag and links to Kurdish songs on YouTube." Speaking to the BBC News Channel, Ms Rojkan, a Bulgarian national, said: "Unfortunately for Joe, there was very little help from the Foreign Office. "They are interested in the case and are following it, but didn't send any representatives and didn't help nearly as much as the Bulgarian foreign ministry." Robinson, who is originally from Lancashire and previously served with British forces in Afghanistan, spent four months in a Turkish jail after his arrest last year. He was released on bail in November but has been prevented from leaving the country. He spent five months as a volunteer with Kurdish forces who were fighting against IS, and had previously spoken about his experiences in media reports. His family say he was a military medic. The YPG is regarded as a terrorist organisation by Turkey but is not a banned group in the UK. Read more - Lire plus
ACTIONS & EVENTS
Tell the Senate to Fix Bill C-59 before it's too late!
From mass surveillance to the No Fly List, the new National Security Act fails to undo past problems and brings in new powers that threaten our rights & freedoms. Send a message to the Senate that they need to fix Bill C-59.
Share on Facebook & Twitter .
Partagez sur Facebook & Twitter .
Stop Mohamed Harkat's Deportation to Torture
No one should be deported to torture. Ever. If sent back to Algeria, Mohamed Harkat faces detention, torture and even death. Send a message to PM Trudeau and the Ministers of Public Safety, Justice and Immigration to urge them to stop the deportation of Moe Harkat and to not make themselves, and Canada, complicit in torture once more.
Call on Justin Trudeau to ensure justice for Abousfian Abdelrazik
In September 2003, Canadian citizen Abousfian Abdelrazik was arrested in Sudan, while he was back in the country visiting his ailing mother. Over the next three years he was imprisoned for nearly 20 months and was held under house arrest for 12 months. He was denied a lawyer, and was never charged or brought before a judge. There were lengthy periods when he had no family or consular visits. During that time he was badly tortured in three different prisons. Not only did Canada fail to take steps to protect him, CSIS officials frequently obstructed efforts to secure his release. Those actions prolonged his detention, with no concern for the obvious risk of mistreatment he was facing.
Inaugural lecture delivered by John Ralston Saul

The Fight for Freedom of Expression Around the World: A Personal Account

When: Oct. 18, 2018, at 5:30 PM
Where: McGill University, TBA

John Ralston Saul is an award winning essayist and novelist. A long-time champion of freedom of expression, he is President Emeritus of PEN International, where he served as International President over a six-year period. Founded in 1921, the association has autonomous International PEN centers in over 100 countries.
Canadian Council for Refugees Fall Consultation
26 - 28 November 2018, Montreal

Since 1978 the CCR has connected people and organizations across Canada to support them as they work passionately and tirelessly to protect refugees and make Canada a welcoming home for newcomers.  Our 40th anniversary  provides us with an opportunity to showcase our accomplishments and to recognize contributions – large or small, yet all significant – to our successes.
Join more than 300 others in Montreal to explore current issues affecting refugee protection and newcomer settlement at our Fall Consultation. All are welcome to participate! With views from all Canadian provinces and with experts in diverse fields, the Consultation offers opportunities for professional development, networking and strategy.
Have your say: Canada's data and digital strategy
The government wants to hear what people in Canada think about crucial digital data and privacy issues. And what they hear back from the public will inform new policies around things like privacy laws, big data, digital access, and control over data. Choose a few topics that interest you to share your thoughts on. OpenMedia included a range of issues from the government's consultation, as well as a few OM thinks the government may have missed. Once you've made your selections, we'll share a few bullet points for each one to help you get started.
NEWS FROM THE ICLMG
MORE NEWS - AUTRES NOUVELLES
Islamophobia, racism & discrimination
Islamophobie, racisme & discrimination

Privacy & surveillance
Vie privée & surveillance

Reflection on counter-terrorism
Réflexion sur la lutte au terrorisme

Les opinions exprimées ne reflètent pas nécessairement les positions de la CSILC - The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the positions of ICLMG.
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