Ivan Apaolaza Sancho, a 36-year old Basque refugee claimant and political prisoner, was detained at the Rivière-des-Prairies prison in June 2007. Ivan was deported to Spain on the basis of "confession" made by a Basque woman under torture while she was held incommunicado by Spanish police.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) plays a quiet but key role in creating a climate of fear and suspicion. Under cover of "national security", much of what CSIS does is shielded from public scrutiny. This has allowed it to act with virtual impunity. The People's Commission set up CSIS Watch to monitor CSIS and encourage solidarity among communities harassed and targeted by CSIS.
Abousfian Abdelrazik was arrested on the recommendation of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) while on a visit to Sudan. Never charged, he was beaten and threatened during two periods of detention. In this context, Abdelrazik was interrogated by CSIS officials. After his sixth year in exile, the government was finally forced by the Federal Court to allow Abdelrazik to return to Canada. On 27 June 2009, Abdelrazik returned to Montreal and was reunited with his family at last. However, his struggle is not over. He must now seek to get his name off the UN's notoriously unfair 1267 list, seek accountability, and get his life back to normal.
Mahjoub Zeki Mahjoub was accepted as a refugee to Canada in 1996, after fleeing political persecution and human rights violations in Egypt. In June 2000, he was arrested under a security certificate. Although the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the security certificate process was illegal, he has remained in detention (including many years of solitary confinement) without charge or trial, under secret evidence, ever since. If the certificate is upheld, he could be deported to Egypt.
Popular education materials have been developed on immigration security measures. Some of these resources tell the stories of the victims of the Canadian national "security" agenda.
The People's Commission Network is organizing a conference to mobilize our networks to collectively address the growing threat of the national security agenda.
From secret trials to extraordinary rendition to deportation to torture, the list of victims of the so-called national security agenda keeps growing. Some of the cases that have gone public are collected here. Many more are kept private and go unreported...
From Omar Khadr in Guantanamo Bay to Ivan Apaolaza Sancho, who was held at RDP prison in Montreal for over a year and deported on the basis of information obtained under torture, to Hassan Almrei, a security certificate victim in Ontario who has been detained without charge for almost seven years under threat of being deported to face torture in Syria, Canadian officials are involved in torture.
This is part of a dangerous trend to deny some people their most fundamental human rights, ironically, in the name of "security" and even "civilization". Public ignorance, political exclusion and racism have allowed this to continue for far too long.
For three days, the People's Commission on Immigration "Security" Measures held Public Hearings at a community centre in Montreal's St-Henri neighbourhood. The first popular commission of inquiry to take place in Quebec, it was set up to look into the injustices and abuses inflicted on immigrants in the name of national security, and to offer recommendations for change and action.
The People's Commission Network is a working group of QPIRG-Concordia qpirgconcordia.org 514.848.7585 info@qpirgconcordia.org
Contact the People's Commission Network: QPIRG Concordia - Peoples's Commission Network c/o Concordia University 1455 de Maisonneuve Ouest Montreal, QC, H3G 1M8 commissionpopulaire@gmail.com
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