That unprecedented “bunker-style” session of the Supreme Court was held on Friday. Judges and lawyers, sworn to secrecy, gathered in an undisclosed location to consider evidence used to justify security certificates. If there’s been any reporting on it, or even a mention of it, in the media since Friday I
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Peace, order and good government, eh?: "a substantial substitute for full disclosure"
Is there a precedent in the making here? A lawyer for the federal government argued before the Supreme Court of Canada yesterday that there is such a thing as “a substantial substitute for full disclosure” and that the security certificate process, as currently constituted, meets that standard. So when someone
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Doesn’t this mean the terrorists are winning?
Government defends security certificate process in high court submission The federal government says suspected terrorists and spies detained under national security certificates do not have a right to full disclosure of information in the case against them. That’s the lead paragraph for a story about the federal government’s submission in
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: A bunker-style session
Colin Freeze has a piece in the Globe and Mail reporting on an unprecedented session of the Supreme Court of Canada scheduled to take place on Oct. 11th of this year. The hearing will take place in a secure, undisclosed location and will involve lawyers who have been sworn to
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Oh look. Security certificates are in the news again.
I wonder if the Harper government has really thought this one through. A security certificate issued against Hassan Almrei was thrown out by Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley in December of 2009. Almrei filed a civil suit against the government and asked for a summary judgement on the basis that
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Understatement
As I wrote about last night, former Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day testified before a Federal Court on Thursday to explain why, in 2008, he renewed five security certificates, including one against Mohamed Mahjoub which was the subject of the proceeding. Predictably, Day was asked about the possibility that some
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: It seemed like a good idea at the time
In February of 2008, then Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day renewed the security certificates on five men that CSIS deemed to be threats to national security. A Supreme Court decision in 2007 had forced the Harper government to revise the relevant legislation and reissue the certificates within a year. With
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