Last August, in a series of pre-dawn raids across Toronto — in the middleof the power blackout and Pakistani Independence Day — 19 men of SouthAsian descent were arrested and detained by the RCMP. The sweep, dubbed “Project Thread,” was a wellco-ordinated joint effort between the RCMP and Immigration Canada toneutralize what it believed was an Al-Qaeda sleeper cell operating inCanada. Five other men were arrested in the following weeks. All of thesuspects were Muslim. All but one was from Pakistan.

Instead of a sleeper cell, what Canadian authorities uncovered was a smallgroup of men whose only crimes were minor immigration violations, such asoverstaying their student visas. There were no terrorist links, no secretplots to destroy the CN tower or explode a dirty bomb over Toronto as thegovernment alleged. No terrorism charges were laid, but the allegationswere not dropped. Their names have not been publicly cleared.

Out of the 24 men affected, a total of 17 have beendeported, the first 12 straight from prison as Immigration Canadarushed forward their pre-removal processes. Five more men were deportedsoon after. Many had claimed refugee status in an attempt to remain inCanada as they feared reprisal upon returning to Pakistan. The remainingseven will learn of their fate in the coming weeks

Of those who returned to Pakistan, a country that has a documented recordconcerning its treatment of terrorist suspects, four were immediatelytaken into custody. Those who remain free, struggle to start over whilebearing the international notoriety of being a terrorist suspect. Becausetheir names have never been officially cleared by the government, theystruggle to find work because of their stigma.

Sajaad Ahmad, a certifiedphysician who was detained and then deported back to Pakistan, has losthis life’s work, as no hospital will allow him to continue his practice.

Members of Project Threadbare are lobbying the government to officially clear the suspects’ names.

At a recent public forum in Toronto called “Communities under Attack,”representatives from immigrant and refugee communities expressed theirfears and concern regarding their treatment by the Canadian government.The two areas of greatest concern include the Project Threadraid andthe Canadian government’s use of Security Certificates. Immigrant andrefugee advocates stress that these two situations highlight serious flawsin Canada’s immigration policy which unfairly targets non-citizens andtheir communities. In both cases, individuals face detention, secrettrials and deportation back to their country of origin with littleconsideration of their well-being upon arrival.

Security Certificates

In its attempt to keep Canadians safe from international or domesticterrorist threats, the Canadian government has a variety of policy andenforcement measures at its disposal under the Immigration and RefugeeProtection Act. One such method is a Security Certificate, ananti-terrorism tool quietly used by the Canadian government fordeportations long before the infamous September 11 attacks focused thespot light on terrorism and national security.

According to the Canadian Border Services Agency: if any visitor, refugee or immigration claimant is determined a threat,they can then be issued a Security Certificate to force their removalfrom the country. Unless the suspect is a permanent resident, they arealso subject to mandatory detention during the investigation and trial.Unlike a standard immigration hearing, a certificate is only issued forremoval purposes when there is evidence that needs to be kept from thepublic for security reasons. Security certificates are reviewed andsigned by the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (theHonourable Anne McLellan).

Once signed, security certificates are referred to the Federal Court. Thejudge hears all or part of the evidence from the Minister in the absenceof the person named. Evidence and information are again heard in privateby the judge.

The Canadian Council for Refugees considers the security certificateprocess unfair because those affected are not entitled to see the evidencebeing used against them. Defence lawyers, due to the lack of disclosure,often have little to defend their clients with. The lack of disclosure hasled advocates to lobby for the abolition of the security certificate.They also claim their lobbying has resulted in no new certificates beingissued since May 2003.

Mona El-Fouli, whose husband, Mohammad Mahjoub, is being held under asecurity certificate as a suspected member of Al-Jihad, spoke at the forumabout her anger and frustration around the lack of disclosure in his case.“Judge them in the proper way, give them a fair trial, let the people in,”she pleaded. She said her husband, over the phone, expressed that hewould have been willing to have any and all media in the courtroom withhim; he had nothing to hide.

Ahmad Jaballah, whose father Mahmoud Jaballah has been held on a securitycertificate for over three years and risks being deported to Egypt, isconcerned about his father’s safety if he were to be deported. “Canadaclaims it is against torture and yet it is willing to send people back toEgypt or Syria to face torture there.”

Project Threadbare activists hope to someday seethe “act of forcefully removing someone from their home” as a human rightsviolation. “An act of terrorism is sending you back,” Ahmad Jaballah said.

Both these situations create a threatening climate within a nation thatprides itself on its tolerance and diversity. All the speakers urged thecrowd not to consider this issue insular only to a select community. “(The targeting creates) a chill effect within the community,” explainedJaggi Singh of No One Is Illegal — Montreal, “but it’s not just about thedirect victims, this is about all of us”.

Sanjiv Kumar, a speaker from the Human Rights Action Committee (HARC),appealed to the crowd for broad-range support, quoting the famous linesfrom Martin Niemöller’s poem about the Holocaust: “First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”

Krystalline Kraus

krystalline kraus is an intrepid explorer and reporter from Toronto, Canada. A veteran activist and journalist for rabble.ca, she needs no aviator goggles, gas mask or red cape but proceeds fearlessly...