Canadian crimes of state: Guantanamo Bay North

In what could be the most absurd public statement of this century, the reported suicides of three prisoners detained illegally by the American military at Guantanamo Bay was described by the U.S. camp commander as “an act of asymmetric warfare waged against us.” [1]

More to the point, the entire prison operation at the American base in Cuba is an act of international criminal behavior by the U.S. state. Prisoners (including one Canadian) are held without being charged, without rights of appeal or proper legal representation, and suffer deprivation. This is well recognized around the world and has been widely condemned.

Though it is less well known, Canada is carrying on in the same fashion as the Americans. This week the Supreme Court of Canada will hear representations on behalf of Adil Charkaoui, Hassan Almrei, and Mohamed Harkat [2] tried in secret and then detained for years, most recently at a new security facility built at Millhaven Prison in Ontario, aka Guantanamo Bay North.

Held illegally under bogus security certificates, issued by a Federal Court Justice at the request of CSIS, these Canadian residents have spent years (the first case dates back to 2000), with long periods in solitary confinement, imprisoned under trumped-up charges kept secret, without right of appeal, and no access to normal protections afforded under criminal law. All this is in clear violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights, and the International Covenant of political and civic rights.

This is an outrage in a Canadian tradition of state crimes against minority groups: taking away civic rights from Chinese immigrants, expropriating property from Canadians of Japanese descent, banning Jewish immigrants, and now secret trials, followed by persecution, of Muslim men.

Canadians have every right to expect the Supreme Court to do the decent thing and condemn the government, order the release of the victims of state criminal action, and mandate compensation for them and their families.

It has been one of the principles of the Calgary School of neo-conservatism, of which Stephen Harper is a charter member, to condemn the judicial activism of the Supreme Court. It will be interesting to see if the Justices of the Supreme Court are able to defend the right to a fair trial, habeas corpus, and the principles of criminal evidence. It would be farcical to call defending basic legal principles judicial activism.

The Canadian state is committing crimes, and counting on an appeal to national security to protect it. The gravity of the situation has mobilized human rights activists. The campaign to Stop Secret Trials [3] has organized support action, including a caravan to Ottawa, publicizing the injustices done to five Canadian residents over the past six years.

Many voices have been raised against the Liberal government, and now the Conservatives. Parliamentarians and others have signed a statement, and an on-line petition. The legal community has written to former Minister of Justice Anne McLellan. Amnesty International has provided an eloquent statement of injustices committed by Canada. Federal Court Justice James K. Hugessen has written a most revealing account of what the secret process looks like to a judge. He states forthrightly that he and his colleagues “hate” the procedures. A justice is asked to hear a case in the absence of one of the parties, without cross-examination of witnesses, or refutation of testimony by an attorney.

The media have not taken this case with the seriousness it deserves. Former Globe and Mail and rabble.ca columnist Heather Mallick [4] is the prominent exception.

Whatever the outcome of the Supreme Court hearing, Canadians deserve normal legal restraints on national security. The government already has all the prerogatives it needs to take action without throwing out the basic principles of police and judicial procedure.

From the onset of the security scare it has been recognized that the greater danger is walking over individual liberties in the name of the war against the abstract noun. Terrorism? That is what our Canadian Muslims have been served up by the state.

Stockwell Day is the Minister of Public Security in the Harper government. This reassures nobody. If he is allowed to comment on the case, expect the Guantanamo camp commander to have some competition for uttering the most absurd statement of the century.

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