[Bloquez l'empire!] Urgent: apply to be heard on security certificate law today

[People's Commission]

We have just learned that the "new" security certificate legislation not
only passed House of Commons today, but has passed through First Reading in
Senate. Apparently they have decided to fast-track in Senate. So this makes
this appeal URGENT!

THURSDAY AND FRIDAY: Saturate the Senate with Secret Trials Speaking
Requests

Be one of 500 organizations, individuals, unions and faith-groups across
Canada requesting an appearance before the Senate committee scheduled to
discuss new secret
trials legislation

WHO: You, an organization or an individual, concerned that there is new
"security certificate" legislation that will continue the scheme of secret
hearings, two-tier justice, indefinite detention without charge, draconian
house arrest, and deportation to torture.

WHAT: Write a letter and email it or fax it as soon as possible to the Clerk
of the Committee, requesting to appear and stating why you want to speak to
the Senate about the security certificate process. (details below)

WHEN: Right now! Time is short! Apparently Senate plans to hold second
reading vote tomorrow (Thursday), and, if it passes, refer it to the
committee for hearings on Monday afternoon! So to be heard, you would have
to apply immediately. Given the rather tight time-frame, hasty applications
should be understood!

WHERE: Hearings take place in Ottawa, but if your application is accepted,
the government will cover your travel and accommodation costs. (The hearings
are public, so if you are in the Ottawa area, attending them would be
another way of showing public interest, even if your application isn't
accepted.)

WHY: A major role of the Senate (on paper, anyway) is to provide "sober,
second thought" on the work done by the House of Commons. It was a full
eight months after the Supreme Court ruled security certificates
unconstitutional that the Harper minority government introduced a new bill
that, save for some fancy-sounding window dressing, is the same as the old
one. The House committee "examining" the new legislation, called C-3, sent
it back to the House of Commons with less than three weeks of study, and
almost no understanding of the dire human rights implications of passing
this bill. The House of Commons obligingly passed the bill with hardly a
debate
on February 6.

Now the Senate is being pressured to pass the bill before February 23, when
the old law will expire: one week to not only have first, second, and third
readings of the bill, but to also hold public hearings on it. Hardly an
opportunity for sober second thoughts! There is in fact no legal obligation
for a new law to be in place by February 23, and having the law expire would
be a good thing. It could actually help to call the government's bluff: if
they really have a case, why don't they do what the detainees have always
requested, which is charge them and provide them a fair, open, public
trial? If the government, with all of its resources and "intelligence"
cannot even mount a case under criminal law, as they would have to for
everyone else in the country, then it is clear that these men and their
families should be allowed the freedom that was taken from them so many
years ago.

Although it is very unlikely that everyone who applies will be asked to
speak, all letters received by the Clerk are translated and given to all
Committee members, so it will be an important opportunity for them to see
the breadth of popular concern. In addition, if this final push can delay
the bill, the old law will run out, hopefully forcing the government to
charge the detainees or free them. And if the applications are not accepted,
this will only serve to publicly expose the manner in which democratic
debate and true discussion about serious issues is undermined by so-called
"national security" paranoia, fear-mongering and racist attitudes.

--This public service announcement comes to you courtesy of the Campaign to
Stop Secret Trials in Canada, Justice for Adil, and the Justice for Mohamed
Harkat Committee.

DETAILS FOR APPLYING

--> Your letter of application can include:

* the reasons that you should be heard (what "stakes" you have in the issue,
as a member of Canadian society, as a member of a community that is
racialized and targetted, or other);

* your thoughts on why this process is against principles of justice, is
dangerous, violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, etc;

* your personal experience of the detainees and their families;

* concern over some of the xenophobic and racist statements that were made
by MPs during the debates in Parliament and in the committee hearings;

* your understanding that the Supreme Court upheld the right of everyone in
Canada to a fair trial, your thoughts about why the security certificate
process is unnecessary, questions about why two-tier justice is being
continued and about why the government is passing a law that all legal
experts are saying is unconstitutional.

Please be polite in your tone (letters comparing Harper to Hitler are not
terribly helpful), and factually accurate (feel free to run your drafts by
us first). Resources on C-3, including backgrounders, testimony by
the law societies and briefs from NGOs, can be found at www.adilinfo.org.

If you are having trouble starting a letter, just think about what you as
someone who lives here feels about the fact that the government, through
C-3, is saying it is okay to detain some groups of people in Canada
indefinitely without charge on secret suspicions, provide them the lowest
standards of justice available, and then deport them to torture.

--> Your letters should be sent to:

Adam Thompson, Committee Clerk
Special Senate Committee on Anti-terrorism
The Senate of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario Canada, K1A 0A4
Fax. 613-990-1101
Email:  thompa at sen.parl.gc.ca

Please cc your letters to tasc at web.ca and justiceforadil at riseup.net.