Alexa McDonough Letter to Anne McLellan

posted on May 25, 2004 | in Category Security Certificates | PermaLink

Date: May 21, 2004

Hon. Anne McLellan,
Deputy Prime Minister Minister of Public Safety
and Emergency Preparedness
Sir Wilfrid Laurier Building, 13th Floor
Ottawa, ON K1A 0P8

Dear Minister McLellan,

Your government has consistently refused to seriously address the concerns of Canadians over your use of "security certificates" that deny individuals the right to a fair and transparent trial.

Amnesty International has expressed concern that the "security certificate process may very well result in arbitrary detention and thus violate the fundamental right to liberty," putting Canada on the wrong side of articles 9 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.In speaking to many of the family and friends of those arrested on security certificates, it has become clear that detainees are denied basic needs accorded to other prisoners in Canada, including right of appeal (to the issuance of these certificates), access to evidence, access to family and friends, and reasonable living conditions in detention centres. Further, these detainees are under constant threat of deportation to their countries of origin, where they face further detention, torture and possibly death.

Family and friends of Adil Charkaoui, Mohammad Mahjoub, Mahmoud Jaballah, Hassan Almrei, and Mohamed Harkat have repeatedly urged the federal government to address these and other concerns, to no avail.

I urge you to immediately revoke all current security certificates and allow detainees to fight charges, if any, in a fair and independent trial; guarantee that they will not be deported; cease using Security Certificates and re- write the security provisions of IRPA in compliance with the constitution, the Charter, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the UN Convention against Torture.

I look forward to your immediate attention to this urgent issue.

Sincerely,

Alexa McDonough,
MP Halifax NDP Foreign Affairs and International
Cooperation Critic