Home Security Watchdog Foreseen
Friday, August 18, 2006
ST. JOHN'S—Canada may be heading toward the creation of an independent review agency to ensure police and others involved in anti-terrorism and national security activities comply with the law.
While he made no concrete proposals, Ontario Associate Chief Justice Dennis O'Connor, who is heading the inquiry into the case of Maher Arar, hinted strongly yesterday he will recommend the government move forward with an independent watchdog.
His report on the role Canadian officials played in Arar's deportation and torture in Syria is to be released next month. A second report, on broader issues including the need for civilian oversight of anti-terrorism and national security activities, is expected in October.
"I am completely satisfied there can be an effective independent review of national security activities," O'Connor told judges meeting here yesterday. "It is a completely obtainable objective."
A strong review system could carry out its work without compromising the confidentiality of information gathered by security agencies, he said.
But it's "critical" any review system has the power to gain full access to all information and individuals involved in anti-terrorism investigations, he said. "I think the two can operate quite nicely side by side, effective national security activities and robust review."
O'Connor was speaking to judges from across Canada as part of a panel discussion on the challenge of balancing national security interests with human rights. It was held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Canadian Bar Association.
An independent review agency would have several functions, including offering a measure of accountability normally missing from national security investigations, O'Connor said.
Unlike ordinary police investigations, the target of a terrorism or security probe can't count on hearing all the facts in court, he said, and neither can the public. Often, charges are never laid.
O'Connor also said national security investigations harbour the potential for "improper profiling." An independent watchdog could investigate perceptions that some communities are being unfairly targeted.
"Since 9/11, it is the reality that counter-terrorism investigations have focused on people within the Muslim and Arab communities in Canada."
But Jim Judd, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), stated flatly that Canada's spy agency doesn't engage in racial profiling.
"I am acutely aware of the discomfort many people feel, in many communities, about being `profiled' by the security service," said Judd, who was part of the panel.
"We don't profile because it's fundamentally stupid and, secondly, because we don't have enough resources to profile communities on religious or other grounds."
In fact, CSIS has poured "an extraordinary amount of time and effort" into community outreach programs in recent years to "try and dampen this legend that this is how we do business," he said.
Judd said he's also firmly against the use of torture as a technique for obtaining evidence in anti-terrorism investigations because he personally believes it is wrong and the resulting information is unreliable.
[via TheStar]
posted by Dr. Wizvax @ 11:21 AM,
