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International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group

Coalition pour la surveillance internationale des libertés civiles

December 18, 2021 - 18 décembre 2021

The News Digest will resume on Jan. 14, 2022. La Revue sera de retour le 14 janvier 2022

New ICLMG video: Canada must protect encryption!

ICLMG 15/12/21 - Canada, with other G7 nations, continues to push to weaken our access to strong, reliable encryption, after decades of being supportive of strong encryption. We need encryption to safeguard our data, our online transactions, our communications, and to protect the lives of journalists and human rights activists.


Watch the video to learn more and click below to take action. Thanks!


Transcript, bonus text & sources + Share on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram

Take action

ICLMG 13/12/2021 - Watch this great online discussion between Dr Pamela D. Palmater, Azeezah Kanji and Alex Neve, moderated by ICLMG's Tim McSorley on "Twenty Years of the Anti terrorism Act: The legacy of Canada's War on Terror."


December 2021 marks the 20th anniversary of the adoption of Canada’s first Anti-terrorism Act in 2001. This panel reflects on the ongoing impacts of the ATA and the so-called War on Terror, including the need for accountability for human rights violations, the intersections with Islamophobia and systemic racism, and the expansion of national security laws to police and criminalize Indigenous land defence and assertion of sovereignty. The discussion also looks forward, towards alternatives to expanding and entrenching anti-terrorism law in our efforts to address other societal challenges. Organized by ICLMG. Watch & read the panelists' bio


Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel: Violence against Indigenous land defenders must stop


RCMP serves and protects fossil fuel CEOs


Amber Bracken: ‘I felt kidnapped’: a journalist’s view of being arrested by the RCMP


“An inconvenient image”: arrested journalists reflect on RCMP assault on Wet’suwet’en


Sign On Letter - From Wet’suwet’en to Tkaronto We Demand an End to the Criminalization of Indigenous Land Defenders

What we've been up to! Summary of our activities from July to December 2021

ICLMG 15/12/2022 - Check out our biannual summary of activities: What We've Been Up To from July to December 2021.


In 2022, we plan to continue our work on the following issues:


- The Canadian government's concerning "online harms" legislative proposal, including its approach on "terrorist content," mandatory reporting to law enforcement and new powers for CSIS;


- Protecting our privacy from government surveillance, including facial recognition, and from attempts to weaken encryption, along with advocating for privacy law reform;


- Justice for Mohamed Harkat, an end to security certificates, addressing problems in security inadmissibility and establishing a long overdue independent review and complaint body for the CBSA;


- Justice for Hassan Diab and launching a video on extradition law reform;


- Greater transparency and accountability for CSIS;


- The return of the 40+ Canadian citizens indefinitely detained in Syrian camps, including 26 children;


- The end to the CRA's prejudiced audits of Muslim-led charities, revealed in our June 2021 report;


- Greater accountability and transparency for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), including the establishment of a strong, effective and independent review mechanism;


- Monitoring the implementation of the National Security Act, 2017 (Bill C-59);


- Advocating for the repeal of the Canadian No Fly List, and for putting a stop to the use of the US No Fly List by air carriers in Canada for flights that do not land in or fly over the US;


- Pressuring lawmakers to protect our civil liberties from the negative impact of national security and the "war on terror", as well as keeping you and our member organizations informed via the News Digest;


- And much more!


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Lettre au premier ministre Trudeau sur la poursuite des exportations d’armes vers l’Arabie saoudite

La CSILC est l'une des 58 signataires de la lettre.

Échec à la guerre 13/12/2021 - La lettre qui suit (en français et in English) a été produite par une coalition ad hoc opposée à la vente d’armes à l’Arabie saoudite, à laquelle participe le Collectif Échec à la guerre depuis un peu plus d’un an. Elle vise à protester contre la poursuite des exportations d’armes du Canada vers l’Arabie saoudite, alors qu’il y a de sérieuses indications que ces armes sont notamment utilisées dans la guerre au Yémen, où sévit toujours une des pires crises humanitaires sur la planète.


Plusieurs organisations en font partie, parmi lesquelles Amnistie Internationale et Project Ploughshares qui sont les auteurs d’un rapport de 52 pages publié en août 2021, intitulé "Aucune preuve crédible" : L’analyse fautive du Canada sur les exportations d’armes vers l’Arabie saoudite. (English version: No Credible Evidence: Canada’s Flawed Analysis of Arms Exports to Saudi Arabia)


La lettre a été transmise le 13 décembre au Premier ministre Justin Trudeau et aux autres responsables politiques énumérés à la fin, avec la liste des signataires:


"M. le Premier ministre, les transferts d’armes à l’Arabie saoudite discréditent l’engagement déclaré du Canada envers les droits de la personne. Ils sont contraires aux obligations légales internationales du Canada. En effet, il y a un risque important que ces armes soient utilisées pour perpétrer des actes en violation du droit international humanitaire ou des droits de la personne, des violences sexistes ou d’autres abus, en Arabie saoudite ou dans le contexte du conflit au Yémen. Le Canada doit exercer son autorité souveraine et mettre fin immédiatement au transfert de véhicules blindés légers vers l’Arabie saoudite." Lire plus - Read more


Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna: Saudi warplanes carpet-bomb Yemen with US help. This must end.

Les vérifications préjudiciables de l’ARC

Lisez le sommaire exécutif et un feuillet d'information de notre rapport en français

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CSILC 16/12/2021 - En juin 2021, la Coalition pour la surveillance internationale des libertés civiles a publié un nouveau rapport détaillant comment une division secrète de l’Agence du revenu du Canada (ARC) cible les organismes de bienfaisance musulmans au Canada pour des audits, voire des révocations, ce qui constitue une approche à la fois préjudiciable et sans fondement.


Les conclusions sont incluses dans le rapport intitulé, « Les vérifications préjudiciables de l’ARC : La lutte contre le terrorisme et le ciblage des organismes de bienfaisance musulmans au Canada » (The CRA’s Prejudiced Audits: Counter-Terrorism and the Targeting of Muslim Charities in Canada). Le rapport révèle comment, alors que le Canada intensifiait ses tentatives de lutte contre le financement du terrorisme après les attentats du 11 septembre 2001 aux États-Unis, l’ARC et sa Direction des organismes de bienfaisance ont été chargés de surveiller le travail des organismes de bienfaisance musulmans au Canada en partant du principe non fondé qu’ils posaient le plus grand risque de financement du terrorisme. Ce travail a été effectué en grande partie en secret, avec peu ou pas d’examen extérieur ou de justification publique du soi-disant risque posé par les organismes caritatifs musulmans, ce qui permet au profilage et au ciblage des organismes de bienfaisance musulmans de passer largement inaperçu et de ne pas être remis en question.


Le rapport montre que la Division de la revue et de l’examen (DRE), une division peu connue de l’ARC, cible les organismes de bienfaisance musulmans pour des vérifications, sur la base d’allégations préjudiciables et non étayées d’un risque de financement du terrorisme :

  • L’évaluation nationale des risques (ENR) du gouvernement canadien en matière de financement du terrorisme dans le secteur caritatif se concentre presque exclusivement sur les organismes caritatifs musulmans, et entièrement sur les organismes caritatifs basés dans des communautés racisées, avec peu ou pas de justification publique du risque;
  • Cette évaluation des risques est utilisée pour justifier la surveillance, le contrôle et les audits des principaux organismes de bienfaisance musulmans sur des bases douteuses;
  • La DRE opère en grande partie dans le secret, en tandem avec les agences de sécurité nationale, avec peu ou pas de responsabilité et aucun examen indépendant;
  • Entre 2008 et 2015, 75 % de tous les organismes de bienfaisance révoqués par la DRE à la suite de ces vérifications secrètes étaient des organismes de bienfaisance musulmans, ce qui a nui au secteur et a eu des répercussions sur la communauté musulmane au Canada. Le nombre d’audits et de révocations avant et après cette période est inconnu, car il n’a jamais été rendu public. Lire plus

Paul Weinberg: Experts fear Canada will extradite Hassan Diab to France again

rabble.ca 08/12/2021 - Sometime in the near future — nobody knows precisely when — an innocent man and Canadian citizen faces a possible second extradition which would plunge him headfirst into the nightmarish French legal system. This time, Hassan Diab, a Lebanese-born sociology professor, might not return to his family or teaching job at Carleton University in Ottawa. What is unique here is France’s desire to have Diab face criminal prosecution before its single national court for all terrorist offences — the special Assize Court of Paris. Diab is likely facing stale evidence from French prosecutors and police going back to 2008, some of it based on secret intelligence obtained through torture. All of it was subsequently discredited by both French and Canadian investigators, the latter including the RCMP. Legal and human rights experts in Canada are expecting another miscarriage of justice. “We’re quite confident now that the French legal system is biased against [Diab] personally. Now, that’s what is so shocking about this case,” says Rob Currie, a Dalhousie University law professor and an expert on extradition law. [...]


In a series of appeals against the Canadian court approval of his extradition to France, his lawyer Donald Bayne fought to discredit the prosecution evidence, but it did not matter. Justice Robert Maranger at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in 2011 said as much after signing off on the handing over of Hassan Diab to French authorities. “The case presented by the Republic of France against Mr. Diab is a weak case; the prospects of conviction in the context of a fair trial, seem unlikely. However, it matters not that I hold this view.” By 2014, all the court appeals were exhausted. Dr. Diab started his three-year stint in solitary confinement in a prison near Paris. The French prosecution did not move to immediate trial because it needed more time to build its case. Apparently French law in terrorist cases allows for a four-year detention of an accused person. The 1999 Canadian extradition legislation passed in Parliament in Canada is in urgent need of serious amendments to avoid this scenario happening again, says Rob Currie. He maintains that there must be better assurance that the trial of an accused Canadian in a foreign state take place in a timely fashion. [...]


Yasser Louati goes further and argues that the French Court of Appeal made a decision that was unprecedented and without parallel in the French legal system. “Diab has been freed and cleared, and so he can move on with his life. There must be political pressure on the [French] government to call him back for his extradition. There is no other explanation.” Louati also agrees, as does the Hassan Diab Support Committee, that Diab’s Muslim background is a factor in a post 9-11 anti-terror case. “The fact that a person is receiving special treatment because of his religion would not be something new in France,” he adds. Right now, Diab sits in limbo. A group of legal experts including Donald Bayne and Rob Currie and the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG) are calling on Canada to say no to any second extradition request from France for Hassan Diab. This alliance is asking Ottawa to consider as an alternative their “Halifax” proposals (where a colloquium was held) to reform a broken Canadian extradition law that fails to provide due process to the accused during extradition hearings. Also problematic, adds Currie, is the role of the federal Department of Justice lawyers in the International Assistance Group unit as “judge, jury and executioner” in both formally approving the handover to a foreign state and assisting that state in zealously getting the accused person out the door.


Tim McSorley, the national co-ordinator for the ICLMG, worries that a risk-averse Canada is not up to the task of defying France. “I believe that Canada wants to maintain good relations with France. They are worried about a conflict with France over this. They don’t want to be seen as criticizing France s legal system,” he says. Indeed, a Paris-based lawyer, Avi Bitton, expects Hassan Diab to be flown back to France, where the conviction rate for alleged terrorists is high at the special Assize Court of Paris. “France and Canada have signed an extradition convention. I find it hard to see how Canada would refuse a second extradition of an individual after having accepted the first.“ The other scenario is also dire. Diab could also be tried and convicted in France in absentia, i.e., without his presence in court or in that country. He would then be “a convicted criminal in the eyes of French law,” explains Currie, and thus liable for arrest in countries with negotiated extradition treaties with France. So far nobody is lobbying inside Canada to hand over Diab, says Roger Clark, in contrast to the clamour to do just that from the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs during the first extradition bid after 2008. Although Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has in the past expressed sympathy for the plight of Hassan Diab, his government’s policy is strictly hands-off. Officially, his government is following the current extradition procedures (as flawed as they are) of waiting to hear from France in the form of confidential diplomatic notes that a request is coming. Ottawa may again play the patsy in the Hassan Diab matter if France comes calling again. Read more - Lire plus


TAKE ACTION: Justice for Hassan Diab!


TAKE ACTION: Canada must reform its extradition laws now!

'Please get me out': Alleged ex-ISIL follower tells Canadian official he would take Siberia, Guantanamo over Kurdish jail

National Post 15/12/21 - Jack Letts’ message to the Canadian government official was simple: “Please get me out of this place.” In fact, the alleged former ISIL follower and Canadian citizen said in the recorded phone conversation he’d rather be imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, Siberia or a Canadian penitentiary than continue to be held by Kurdish forces in northern Syria. In the January 2018 call with a Global Affairs Canada official Letts also admits he made a serious mistake by travelling to the Islamic State’s former stronghold as an 18-year-old Muslim convert. He apologizes repeatedly to his parents, says he had received little medical help for an array of serious-sounding health problems and generally describes the prison’s conditions as “terrible,” according to a transcript provided by his family. U.K.-raised Letts said he had to spend over a month in a windowless cell not much bigger than him, an experience that drove him to attempt suicide.


“I have made mistakes in my life, I know this,” Letts told the official. “I always looked to Canada as sort of the better version of England. I always thought they give people second chances,” he said. “But I do not know how it works when it is to do with terrorism … I made a mistake coming here, I know that. If you want to put me in prison, I understand that, I do not mind. I have made mistakes, probably prison is good for me. But just not here, the situation here is terrible.” Letts’ parents have been fighting for several years to have their son brought to Canada to at least face justice in this country, but the phone call provides a rare glimpse of the 26-year-old’s situation in his own words.


The Global Affairs official told him the government was working on the case and promised to try to find a “solution.” Kurdish officials have urged foreign governments to retrieve their nationals from the prisons and camps they run in a quasi-autonomous part of northeast Syria. Many, including the United States, have obliged. But almost four years later, it appears Ottawa has done little to help Letts, who’s been held without charge or trial. The government has likewise failed to repatriate any of about 45 other ISIL-linked Canadians who are detained by Kurdish forces, including 15 women and 25 young children. Letts was born and raised in Oxford, England, but has been a joint Canadian-British citizen all his life. His father is from Canada and his mother spent most of her childhood here. The U.K. revoked his citizenship two years ago, meaning his only nationality now is Canadian. Read more - Lire plus


Britain won’t take alleged ex-ISIL member Jack Letts back so his last hope is Canada


Parents of alleged ex-ISIL follower ask RCMP to probe his reported torture in Kurdish Syrian prison


Inside the 'Guantanamo Bay for children' in Syria

Canadian spies and cybercrime

Ceasefire.ca 10/12/2021 - "Canada’s electronic spy agency acknowledged Monday it has conducted cyber operations against foreign hackers to “impose a cost” for the growing levels of cybercrime." This is the opening sentence of a globalnews.ca article entitled: Canadian spy agency targeted foreign hackers to ‘impose a cost’ for cybercrime (Alex Boutilier, 6 Dec 2021). The article goes on to say this marks the first time Canada’s electronic spy agency, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), acting under its new mandate, has acknowledged the use of “foreign cyber operations” – a category of operations that can include both “active” (offensive) or defensive tools.


The agency has refused to specify which type of operation it had conducted, clearing leaving open the possibility it was an offensive action. While the agency is quick to use examples of interrupting terrorist activities in justifying the use of its cyber tools, in this case they are targeting criminal activity. Christopher Parsons, a cybersecurity expert with the renowned Canadian Citizen Lab, comments: "(This) marks a time where, rather than relying on a criminal justice agency to address criminal behaviours, the Canadian government is instead using its most secretive and best-resourced intelligence agency to impede the activities of criminals…" He continues: "While it is positive that the CSE is admitting it has used these powers — and, in doing so, has joined the ranks of its other Five Eyes intelligence partners — there is still much to learn. … (Does this) signify the Government of Canada will be increasingly reliant on cyber operations to disrupt criminals, without trial or conviction, instead of trying to bring them to justice?"


Readers of our 8 Oct 2021 blog – Can Canada Emulate New Zealand with some independent security thinking? – will recall our criticism of the Five Eyes Intelligence Network, under American prodding, entering into the Foreign Policy realm. Now we have the extraordinary example of CSE usurping fundamental rule of law activities. NPSIA’s international security Professor Stephanie Carvin, a former CSIS intelligence analyst, comments: Cybercrime is the primary cyber threat to Canada. … I wonder if the confirmation itself is just kind of the CSE acknowledging the scope of the problem is so severe that they have to become involved as well. But surely that begs the question of whether we should be abandoning the transparency and multitudinous checks and balances inherent in our criminal justice system – without public debate or a detailed examination of the implications for the rule of law – in favour of covert action by our intelligence operatives?


And then there is the question of blowback from offensive cyber operations. Even when we are talking about nefarious cyber activity by state actors and not criminals, there is still a massive problem with favouring offensive cyber operations over defensive efforts to make our online systems as robust and hacker-proof as possible. The essence of the problem can be summed up in the title of a 2019 Briefing Paper by Ken Barker: CYBERATTACK: WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND: RISKS OF A CYBERATTACK STRATEGY (Univ. of Calgary School of Public Policy Publications, Vol 12:17). Written before the Liberal government had passed legislation giving CSE (and the Canadian military in the context of an overseas operation) the authority to engage in cyberwarfare, Ken Barker warns: "Cyberweapons also possess risks of unintended consequences that can make the unintended consequences of kinetic weapons seem trivial. Notably, cyber weapons have a much greater potential to impact targets that were not intended by the attacker."


Beyond the issue of collateral damage is the potentially even greater risk of offensive cybersecurity tools being stolen or reused by malicious actors. The debilitating NotPetya and WannaCry ransomware attacks of 2017 were based on malware stolen from the National Security Agency. For a thorough, and highly disturbing, review of the manifold dangers in offensive cyber operations, even in response to activities by state actors, let alone in relation to cybercrime, see: How the United States Lost to Hackers (Nicole Perlroth, nytimes.com) 6 Feb 2021: "Only when the N.S.A.’s tools were hacked in 2017, then used against [the U.S.], could we see how broken the trade-off between offense and defense had become. The agency had held onto a critical vulnerability in Microsoft for more than five years, turning it over to Microsoft only after the N.S.A. was hacked." Read more - Lire plus

Christopher Parsons' analysis of the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency’s Annual Report

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Twitter 14/12/2021 - In this thread I’ll be highlighting some items of note, and general thoughts, on what we learned about our national security agencies as well as their review body. I’ll be structuring using the top-line headings in the report in case you want to follow along

Section: Message to Members. The first thing to note is NSIRA recognizes the lack of access to offices and/or information have delayed reviews. Practically, staff have lacked access to classified materials which they regularly depend on to conduct reviews. [...]


Particularly shocking, to be honest, is NSIRA’s plan to introduce confidence statements linked to the completeness of information that is provided to them. This is a 🚨🚨🚨 moment and should be read as such: NSIRA appears sufficiently concerned about how it gets information that it needs to alert the public/parliamentarians that its reviews may be incomplete or compromised by agency refusals to be reviewed. (Me: This is a VERY serious and VERY newsworthy issue.) In theory, confidence statements could demonstrate that NSIRA’s reporting includes all available information and we should further trust NSIRA’s conclusions. But its inclusion alongside ‘tailored access’ & following a discussion of problems that arise when NSIRA can’t get access to information in a timely fashion speaks to this as a response to problems, not a way to reinforce the legality of intelligence community members’ activities. [...]


With regards to Threat Reduction Activities (TRAs) it’s notable some targets lacked “a rational link between the section of the individuals and the threat” meaning measures were not “reasonable and proportional” under the CSIS Act. (Me: Put another way: CSIS was targeting people without the appropriate legal cover to do so.) Further, CSIS regarded at least one kind of TRA as not requiring a warrant, and there was a lack of formalized documentation on getting requests approved. NSIRA notes, in two separate paragraphs, that the TRA in question could affect Charter rights and freedoms. These are, again, 🚨🚨🚨 about a problem in this kind of activity. [...]


Conclusion: In the conclusion we find that Canada’s *entire* national security community is being reviewed (in NSIRA) by….58 people today (and a planned cap of around 100). And that’s up from 30 at NSIRA at the start of 2020! (Me: I know there are other organizations (e.g. NSICOP, Intelligence Commissioner) but seriously we have what, 200ish people responsible for reviewing a *huge* chunk of government. With the caveat that 200ish may be inflating actual numbers?) (Me: You can tell what a government cares about based on where it spends its dollars. Clearly it doesn’t really care about review of its national security agencies all that much. 😪) NSIRA, finally, asks for feedback on its work. As a personal aside I can assure you that they listen, they care, and are trying hard. Reach out to them (or write a blog or, um, Twitter thread). They are watching and responsive! [...] And for journalists: the story of their report (for me)? There are a WHOLE LOT of flags being put up that CSE has been a problem to review, compared to everyone else. Original source + Read more - Lire plus

Provinces order Clearview AI to stop using facial recognition without consent

The Canadian Press 14/12/2021 - The Canadian Press Three provincial privacy watchdogs have ordered facial recognition company Clearview AI to stop collecting, using and disclosing images of people without consent. The privacy authorities of British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec are also requiring the U.S. firm to delete images and biometric data collected without permission from individuals. The binding orders made public Tuesday follow a joint investigation by the three provincial authorities with the office of federal privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien.


The watchdogs found in February that Clearview AI’s facial recognition technology resulted in mass surveillance of Canadians and violated federal and provincial laws governing personal information. They said the New York-based company’s scraping of billions of images of people from across the internet to help police forces, financial institutions and other clients identify people was a clear breach of Canadians’ privacy rights. The orders from the provincial authorities Tuesday also require Clearview AI to stop offering its facial recognition services in the three provinces. Clearview has not been providing services to clients in Canada since the summer of 2020, but has hinted it could return.


Therrien’s office lacks order-making powers similar to these provincial ones, prompting calls over the years to update outdated federal privacy legislation. “We welcome these important actions taken by our provincial counterparts,” Therrien said in a statement. “While Clearview stopped offering its services in Canada during the investigation, it had refused to cease the collection and use of Canadians’ data or delete images already collected.” In his order Tuesday, McEvoy rejected the company’s “bare assertion that it cannot comply” and concluded it does have the means and ability to severely limit, if not eliminate, the collection, use and disclosure of personal information of British Columbians. “Put another way, this is not a question of cannot but rather will not.”


Clearview AI left the Canadian market, but the problem created by its business model remains, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association said in applauding the provincial crackdown. The company still holds, and uses, possibly millions of photos of people from Canada, which they continue to sell to policing bodies around the world, the civil liberties association said. “This leaves potentially all Canadian residents who have ever posted photos online on a wide range of popular online platforms in a perpetual police lineup,” the association added. “We are profoundly concerned that the inconsistencies in privacy laws mean that millions of other people in other Canadian jurisdictions remain unprotected by this order.” The association says not only does facial recognition amount to a dangerous form of mass surveillance, it is fundamentally flawed given the technology’s inaccuracies that can effectively discriminate against people who are not white. Read more - Lire plus


Clearview AI sommée de détruire ses photos de Québécois


Reconnaissance faciale : la CNIL met en demeure CLEARVIEW AI de cesser la réutilisation de photographies accessibles sur internet

Mugyenyi: Canada doesn't need these costly warplanes

Ottawa Citizen 07/12/2021 - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals look set to break their promise on the F-35. It is time for opposition parties who previously opposed the push to purchase these fighter jets to press the Liberals on their costly warplane plans. Recently, the Canadian Press reported that Boeing had been notified that its Super Hornet has been disqualified from the federal government’s plan to purchase 88 new fighter jets. That decision paves the way for the government to acquire Lockheed Martin’s F-35.   


But the 2015 Liberal election platform  boldly proclaimed: “We will not buy the F-35 stealth fighter-bomber.” It added, “We will reduce the procurement budget for replacing the CF-18s, and will instead purchase one of the many, lower-priced options that better match Canada’s defence needs.” [...] While the Liberals have laid the groundwork to acquire the F-35, they haven’t publicly stated that their previous position on the stealth fighter was a mistake. Nor did the Liberals’ recent election platform say they will purchase the F-35 stealth fighter-bomber.  


Fighter jets can’t protect us from the recent floods or forest fires that decimated Lytton B.C. in the summer. Nor can they extinguish fires, carry personnel to disaster zones or offer effective search and rescue. The F-35 is marketed  as capable of dropping a B61 nuclear bomb and carrying over  18,000 pounds of ordnance. It is an offensive weapon designed to enhance the Canadian Air Force’s ability to participate in future U.S. and NATO-led wars. The Liberals promised not to buy the F-35 fighter jet. Now it looks like they will. Opposition MPs must hold the government to its pledge. Read more - Lire plus


TAKE ACTION: The NDP must oppose the F-35 purchase

Israel killed up to 192 Palestinian civilians in May 2021 attacks on Gaza

The Intercept 09/12/2021 - A new report by the independent monitoring group Airwars found that the 2021 conflict between Israel and Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip killed up to 192 Palestinian civilians and injured hundreds more over 11 days of intense fighting. Rockets fired by Palestinian militants into Israel are also estimated to have killed 10 civilians inside Israel during the brief but intense conflict first triggered by tensions between Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem.


Among the key findings of the report — titled “Why Did They Bomb Us?” — are the age breakdowns of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza. Of the total number of civilian deaths, roughly one-third were children, most of whom died in attacks that killed or wounded multiple members of the same family. More than 70 percent of the reported attacks that killed civilians had no corresponding reports of militants hit alongside them, meaning that civilians were the only victims. Read more - Lire plus

“No Food Available”: Afghanistan Faces Catastrophe as Donors Cut Humanitarian Aid to Taliban Gov’t

DemocracyNow! 16/12/2021 - Afghanistan under the new Taliban government faces a humanitarian catastrophe this winter as the United States and other donors have cut off financial aid. The United Nations warns nearly 23 million people in Afghanistan — or more than half the population — face potentially life-threatening food shortages, with nearly 9 million already on the brink of famine. In addition, people face lack of proper healthcare, unemployment and housing shortages. “The international aid organizations, for them, it’s just another country … where they take pictures and make their careers out of it,” says Pashtana Durrani, activist and executive director of the educational nonprofit LEARN Afghanistan. “For me, it’s my country, and people are starving in it.” Read more - Lire plus


Designed to punish the Taliban, a U.S. freeze on Afghan assets and aid has inflicted food shortages on the country’s people instead (video)


“An Outrage”: House Passes Largest Military Budget in Generations Despite End of Afghanistan War

No U.S. Troops Will Be Punished for Deadly Kabul Strike, Pentagon Chief Decides

The New York Times 13/12/2021 - None of the military personnel involved in a botched drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed 10 civilians will face any kind of punishment, the Pentagon said on Monday. The Pentagon acknowledged in September that the last U.S. drone strike before American troops withdrew from Afghanistan the previous month was a tragic mistake that killed the civilians, including seven children, after initially saying it had been necessary to prevent an Islamic State attack on troops. A subsequent high-level investigation into the episode found no violations of law but stopped short of fully exonerating those involved, saying such decisions should be left up to commanders.


Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, who had left the final word on any administrative action, such as reprimands or demotions, to two senior commanders, approved their recommendation not to punish anyone. The two officers, Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., the head of the military’s Central Command, and Gen. Richard D. Clarke, the head of the Special Operations Command, found no grounds for penalizing any of the military personnel involved in the strike, said John F. Kirby, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman.

“What we saw here was a breakdown in process, and execution in procedural events, not the result of negligence, not the result of misconduct, not the result of poor leadership,” Mr. Kirby told reporters. “So I do not anticipate there being issues of personal accountability to be had with respect to the Aug. 29 airstrike,” Mr. Kirby said.


The Pentagon had not acknowledged the mistaken strike until a week after a Times investigation of video evidence challenged assertions by the military that it had struck a vehicle carrying explosives meant for Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. In two decades of war against shadowy enemies like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, the U.S. military has killed hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians by accident in war zones like Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Somalia. And while the military from time to time accepts responsibility for an errant airstrike or a ground raid that harms civilians, rarely does it hold specific people accountable. Read more - Lire plus


Jeremy Scahill: The mysterious case of Joe Biden and the future of drone wars


U.S. Opposes a Ban on Killer Robots–A New Autonomous Form of Warfare–Ahead of U.N. Weapons Summit

Oregon’s anti-terrorism fusion center lacks legislative authority, collects intelligence on protesters, lawsuit says

Oregon Live 14/12/2021 - Several environmental, Indigenous and social justice advocates filed suit Tuesday against the Oregon Department of Justice, alleging the state’s TITAN Fusion Center for intelligence gathering has unlawfully spied on peaceful demonstrators fighting the $10 billion Jordan Cove pipeline.

It argues that the fusion center – one of about 80 across the country that were started in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks – is operating without any state legislative authority.


Attorneys from the Policing Project at New York University School of Law filed the suit in Marion County Circuit Court on behalf of four plaintiffs using the novel legal argument in the first litigation initiated by the public safety research nonprofit. The state has no law that recognizes or regulates the center, the suit says. “Until the Oregon legislature decides to authorize and set up appropriate guardrails, they shouldn’t be allowed to operate at all,” said Farhang Heydari, the Policing Project’s executive director. “The lawsuit tells a story of a fusion center that operates largely in the dark with little oversight. Our focus is restoring checks and balances on this rogue spying agency.’’ Kristina Edmunson, a spokesperson for the state Justice Department and Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, said the department is reviewing the lawsuit and will respond in court. She said when the department learned of the concerns about improper surveillance of Jordan Cove protesters, “We followed up immediately and shortly thereafter placed the Fusion Center employee on administrative leave. After an internal investigation, we issued the employee a pre-dismissal notice and he chose to resign.” [...]


The suit contends the state’s Fusion Center has overstepped its initial focus. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security created the centers for federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to share information on threats to help anticipate terrorist attacks.

While the centers were funded at first through federal grants, the cost of keeping them running has largely fallen to states. Oregon’s center is run through the state Department of Justice’s Criminal Intelligence Division. The suit alleges the center has coordinated intelligence operations on Jordan Cove with firms hired by the private company funding the project with the aim of suppressing public dissent. Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corp. proposed a liquefied natural gas export terminal in Coos Bay with a feeder pipeline, the Pacific Connector, stretching halfway across Oregon. Read more - Lire plus

Customs and Border Protection Unit Used Anti-Terrorism Tools on Journalists

DemocracyNow! 14/12/2021 - A shocking exposé reveals how a secretive Customs and Border Protection division investigated as many as 20 journalists and their contacts by using government databases intended to track terrorists. Those investigated include the Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press reporter Martha Mendoza, along with others at The Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.


We speak to Jana Winter, the investigative correspondent who broke the story at Yahoo News, who says it’s unclear if the surveillance program was discontinued. “These were career officials who are still running this secretive unit with no rules and no procedures for how they access these databases,” says Winter. “They target Americans who are located in the United States who are not suspected of any crime whatsoever.” Read more - Lire plus

The Biden administration was a no-show at a Senate hearing on closing Guantanamo

ABC News 07/12/2021 - Through its nearly two-decade existence, the Guantanamo Bay detention center has sparked intense, partisan debate. At a Senate hearing on closing the camp, the first of its kind in roughly six years, lawmakers could find little common ground apart from dissatisfaction with the Biden administration. In his opening remarks, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the chairman of the chamber's Judiciary committee, expressed his frustration with the president's lack of response to Democrats' calls to shut down the military prison.


"I am disappointed. Disappointed that the president and attorney general have yet to respond to my letters," he said. "And I'm disappointed the administration declined to send a witness to testify at today's hearing on how they're working to close Guantanamo." Although the White House says shuttering the facility, located within the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, is a goal, so far it has taken few steps toward accomplishing it and has declined to set a timeline. Read more - Lire plus


U.S. Waited Months to Book C.I.A. Prisoners at Guantánamo Bay


‘Enemy combatant’ held at Guantánamo petitions for release because war is over


“The Forever Prisoner”: Alex Gibney on How Patient Zero of CIA’s Torture Program Still Held at Gitmo


Three part podcast series on the War on Terror: 1. The legacy of torture in Guantanamo prison lives on for detainees


Intercepted podcast: Life After Guantánamo: “It Doesn’t Leave You”


Waterboarded Prisoner Has Drowning Nightmares Two Decades Later, Doctor Testifies


The American Psychological Association Still Owes Guantanamo's Victims an Apology

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ACTIONS & EVENTS

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NEW Canada must protect encryption!

Canada’s extradition system is broken. One leading legal expert calls it “the least fair law in Canada.” It has led to grave harms and rights violations, as we’ve seen in the case of Canadian citizen Dr Hassan Diab. It needs to be reformed now.



Click below to send a message to urge Prime Minister Trudeau, the Minister of Justice and your Member of Parliament to reform the extradition system before it makes more victims. And share on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram. Thank you!

ACTION
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NEW Send Holiday Cards for Moe Harkat’s Freedom: Stop His Deportation to Torture

This December, take action to stop the persecution of Ottawa refugee Mohamed Harkat, now entering Year 20 of the struggle to end his deportation to torture and win his long-deserved permanent residence and freedom:


1. Mail your card/letter postage free to:

Marco Mendicino, MP

House of Commons

Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6


2. Send a quick note to tasc@web.ca to keep track of how many cards are being sent


3. To double the impact of your physical card/letter, please send a quick & automated email to Minister Mendicino and your MP at iclmg.ca/stop-harkat-deportation


Click below to see sample messages and read background info. And please share on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram. Thank you!

ACTION
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Canada must reform its extradition system now!

Canada’s extradition system is broken. One leading legal expert calls it “the least fair law in Canada.” It has led to grave harms and rights violations, as we’ve seen in the case of Canadian citizen Dr Hassan Diab. It needs to be reformed now.



Click below to send a message to urge Prime Minister Trudeau, the Minister of Justice and your Member of Parliament to reform the extradition system before it makes more victims. And share on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram. Thank you!


Phone PM Justin Trudeau

ACTION
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NOUVEAU Où en est le Québec sans sa lutte contre l'islamophobie?

Le triste cinquième anniversaire de l’attentat contre la Grande Mosquée de Québec aura lieu le 29 janvier 2022. Cet événement marquera à jamais les communautés musulmanes et l’ensemble de la société québécoise.


Où en est le Québec dans sa lutte contre l'islamophobie? Le mardi 25 janvier à 18h HE, la Ligue des droits et libertés vous invite à un moment de réflexion et d'échanges en ligne sur cette question avec nos trois panélistes : Khaoula Zoghlami, Monia Mazigh & Maryam Bessiri. Évènement Facebook

INSCRIPTION

NEW NDP must oppose F-35 purchase

The 2015 Liberal election platform boldly proclaimed: “We will not buy the F-35 stealth fighter-bomber.” Since then, the Liberals have quietly moved to ensure its acquisition is a fait accompli. It is time for the NDP to call on the Parliamentary Budget Officer to assess the full lifecycle cost of purchasing 88 F-35s and request government release its estimate of the greenhouse gases likely to be emitted by these jets.



Take a minute to send a letter to the NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, NDP Defence Critic Lindsay Mathyssen, and all NDP MPs calling on them to start raising questions about the Liberal's fighter jet plans.

ACTION
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NEW Stop Killer Robots

Governments and companies are rapidly developing weapons systems with increasing autonomy using new technology and artificial intelligence. These ‘killer robots’ could be used in conflict zones, by police forces and in border control. A machine should not be allowed to make a decision over life and death. Let’s act now to protect our humanity and make the world a safer place.

ACTION

NEW Canada and the Five Eyes

The US, UK, New Zealand, Australia and Canada “Five Eyes” is a seven-decade old intelligence-sharing framework. With 2,700 employees and a $700 million budget, the Communications Security Establishment is Canada’s main contributor to the Five Eyes. Watch CSE expert Bill Robinson, Professor John Price, author Yves Engler and others to learn more about the CSE and Five Eyes. Moderated by CFPI's Bianca Mugyenyi.

WATCH
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Canada: Condemn Israeli Silencing of Palestinian Groups

Send an email urging Canada to:

1) Condemn Israel’s wrongful designation of these human rights groups, and

2) Demand Israel rescind such labels over the Palestinian organizations


Protect Human Rights Defenders in Palestine!


NEW Parliamentary petition

ACTION
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Canada must repatriate Canadians from Syria

Sign this Parliamentary petition calling upon the Government of Canada to immediately begin the process to repatriate Canadian citizens (14 children, 8 women and 4 men) currently being detained in North East Syria. At 500 signatures, the government needs to issue a public response to it.


NEW Actions for Jack Letts

ACTION
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No More Attacks on Afghanistan

World Beyond War - In response to a bombing at the Kabul airport, the US president authorized 2 drone strikes on August 27 and 29 that killed several Afghan civilians, including a family of ten. Official counts indicate that at least 241,000 people have been killed in the Afghanistan and Pakistan war zones. We oppose any further attacks on Afghanistan, “over the horizon” or by troops on the ground.

ACTION
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How to Help Afghans in Afghanistan and Canada

Muslim Link - The people of Afghanistan are in dire need of humanitarian aid and Canada has committed to accepting 20,000 Afghan refugees.


How can you help? Click below for a list of ways you can support the people of Afghanistan at home and abroad.


NEW Demand action from Canada in response to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan

ACTION
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Free Cihan Erdal

Cihan Erdal is a Canadian permanent resident, queer youth activist, doctoral student, and coordinator of the Centre for Urban Youth Research at Carleton University in Ottawa. He was unjustly detained in Turkey on unfounded charges in September 2020, after being swept up in a mass arrest of politicians, activists, and academics in Istanbul.


Send a message to Canadian officials now the Canadian government can take to help bring Cihan safely home.

ACTION

Stop the illegal arrests of Canadian journalists

On Nov. 19, photojournalist Amber Bracken was arrested by the RCMP while on assignment for The Narwhal on Wet’suwet’en territory. Amber — along with freelance filmmaker Michael Toledano — was held in jail for 3 nights before being released on the condition that she'll appear in court on Feb. 14.


Please call on the federal Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino to exercise his oversight responsibility of the RCMP and to complete a full investigation that stops these illegal arrests from happening once and for all.

ACTION
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Protect our rights from facial recognition!

ICLMG - Facial recognition surveillance is invasive and inaccurate. This unregulated tech poses a threat to the fundamental rights of people across Canada. Federal intelligence agencies refuse to disclose whether they use facial recognition technology. The RCMP has admitted (after lying about it) to using facial recognition for 18 years without regulation, let alone a public debate regarding whether it should have been allowed in the first place.

Send a message to Prime Minister Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Bill Blair calling for a ban now.

Take action to ban biometric recognition technologies

ACTION
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Trudeau: Ensure justice for Abousfian Abdelrazik

In September 2003, Canadian citizen Abousfian Abdelrazik was arrested in Sudan, while he was back in the country visiting his ailing mother. Over the next three years he was imprisoned for nearly 20 months and was held under house arrest for 12 months. 


He was denied a lawyer, and was never charged or brought before a judge. During that time he was badly tortured in three different prisons. Not only did Canada fail to take steps to protect him, CSIS officials frequently obstructed efforts to secure his release.

ACTION
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Stop Mohamed Harkat's Deportation to Torture

No one should be deported to torture. Ever. For nearly 19 years, Mohamed Harkat has faced the ordeal of being place under a kafkaesque security certificate based on secret evidence and accusations he cannot challenge, and facing deportation to torture in Algeria.

Please join us and send the letter below to Prime Minister Trudeau and Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino, urging them to stop the deportation to torture of Mr. Harkat.



  • Your letter will also go to your Member of Parliament, along with the ministers of Justice & of Immigration.
  • And don't hesitate to also sign and share this petition!
ACTION
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China: Free Canadian Huseyin Celil

The Chinese authorities accused Huseyin of offences related to his activities in support of Uighur rights. They held Huseyin in a secret place. They gave him no access to a lawyer, to his family, or to Canadian officials. They threatened him and forced him to sign a confession. They refused to recognize Huseyin’s status as a Canadian citizen, and they did not allow Canadian officials to attend his trial. It was not conducted fairly, and resulted in a sentence of life in prison in China. His life sentence was reduced to 20 years in February 2016. Huseyin has spent much of his time in solitary confinement. He lacks healthy food and is in poor health. Kamila needs her husband, and the boys need their father back

+ Urge China to stop targeting Uyghurs in China and abroad

ACTION

OTHER NEWS - AUTRES NOUVELLES

Anti-terrorism laws

Législation antiterroriste


India: UN slams anti-terror laws amid controversial arrests


How a terrorism law in India is being used to silence Modi’s critics


Philippines: Future 'scary and depressing' with Supreme Court upholding anti-terrorism law — lawyers

Attacks on dissent

Attaques contre la dissidence


La Ligue des droits et libertés: Le droit de manifester et l'interdiction d’actes de violence


Human Rights as Terror: Authoritarianism as Democracy (video)

Freedom of speech

Liberté d'expression


Facebook to investigate Israel-Palestine content suppression

Hong Kong


Hong Kong court orders Apple Daily parent firm to be wound up

Migrants and Refugee Rights

Droits des migrant.es et des réfugié.es


Home Office borders bill could ‘create a British Guantánamo Bay,’ says Tory MP


Supreme Court decision to hear Safe Third Country Agreement appeal is a promising step for refugee rights

Privacy and surveillance

Vie privée et surveillance


Commissioner calls on government to make privacy law reform a priority


2020-2021 Annual Report to Parliament on the Privacy Act and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act


Kazakhstan: Four activists’ mobile devices infected with Pegasus Spyware


Saudi Human Rights Activist, Represented by EFF, Sues Spyware Maker DarkMatter For Violating U.S. Anti-Hacking and International Human Rights Laws

Transparency

Transparence


Liberals say proposal for Afghanistan committee doesn't consider national security implications

Whistleblowers

Lanceur.ses d'alertes


“Terrible Step”: Press Freedom in Danger as U.K. Court Clears the Way for Julian Assange Extradition to U.S.


Reality Winner opens up about the motivation for her leak and the psychic toll of her confinement


Daniel Hale received international whistleblower award for drone document leak as he is imprisoned

Miscellaneous

Divers


NCCM's petition: Tell the Federal Government it's time to intervene on Bill 21 today


The Intercept with Jeremy Scahill: Empire After Trump: Joe Biden and the National Security State (video)

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Les opinions exprimées ne reflètent pas nécessairement les positions de la CSILC - The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the positions of ICLMG.

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