(Ottawa, January 29, 2016) – The Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA) has asked the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, The Hon. Ralph Goodale, to permanently stay any expulsion of refugee Mohamed Harkat, and to make a public announcement confirming an end to the expulsion procedures. Mr. Harkat was served with deportation papers in the midst of the 2015 federal election.
The OCLA’s reasons are explained in its letter to Minister Goodale. The letter is at the following URL and is reproduced below: https://ocla.ca/wp-content/
By Email
January 29, 2016
The Honourable Ralph Goodale
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada, K1A 0A6
ralph.goodale@parl.gc.ca
Re: Canada’s threatened expulsion of refugee Mohamed Harkat
Honourable Minister Goodale:
The Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA) requests that Canada permanently stay any expulsion of refugee Mohamed Harkat, and that a public announcement be made confirming an end to the expulsion procedures.
While we note that Article 32 of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (“Convention”) allows expulsion under the exceptional “grounds of national security”, the OCLA is of the opinion that Canada has not satisfied its obligation to demonstrate valid grounds of national security because, as we understand the matter:
(a) The particulars of the said grounds have never been disclosed to the Canadian public, to the international community, or to the refugee himself.
(b) The evidence in support of the said grounds has not been disclosed in open court, has not been disclosed to the refugee himself, and no particulars of the reasons for such non-disclosure have been disclosed to the public.
(c) The said evidence has not been tested in open court, which is the universal standard for the type of penal charges involved, which have led to lengthy imprisonment in Canada, contrary to international law (fair trial provisions), and which could lead to consequences including torture and death in Algeria.
Furthermore, there is no police evidence whatsoever of any crimes committed in Canada, and no nation has claimed crimes committed elsewhere. On the contrary, Mr. Harkat is integrated and is married to a Canadian citizen, his dedicated wife of many years, Sophie.
More importantly, Canada is barred from actuating expulsion, by virtue of Article 33(1) of the Covenant:
No Contracting State shall expel or return (“refouler”) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.
Canada’s protracted judicial and penal attacks against Mr. Harkat materially increase the risk to him in Algeria, in addition to his original reasons for seeking asylum.
There can be little doubt that Canada’s said judicial and penal attacks on alleged grounds of “national security”, which have included many years of imprisonment and extreme bail conditions, put Mr. Harkat at great risk to his life and liberty in Algeria, a country that has suffered terrorist attacks, that is an ally of the US, and that is not a model of human rights.
In the words of Human Rights Watch:
Despite the Algerian government’s promises in 2011 to introduce reforms, Algeria has made little progress since then on improving human rights. Authorities curtail free speech and the rights to freedom of association, assembly, and peaceful protest. They also arbitrarily arrest and prosecute political and trade union activists. Perpetrators of torture, enforced disappearances, unlawful killings, and other serious rights abuses committed during the civil war enjoy impunity. The Algerian government blocks the registration of Algerian nongovernmental human rights organizations and has maintained its non-cooperation with UN human rights experts. [Emphasis added]
Canada has been shown in the recent past to have transferred individuals to torturers and to have been indifferent to extracting citizens from jurisdictions that practice torture. We respectfully submit that this negative record must not be repeated, nor appear to be condoned.
It is clear on the face of it that the risk of danger to the life and liberty of Mr. Harkat is far greater than any risk to “national security” that would result from not destroying the Harkat family by allowing Mr. Harkat to stay.
Finally, the OCLA is of the opinion, from direct contact with Mr. Harkat and his family, and from the known circumstances of his Canadian detentions, that Mr. Harkat has suffered significant harm at the hands of Canada. We hold that enough is enough, and we plead that The Honourable Minister exercise his authority to stay the expulsion.[1]
Yours sincerely,
Joseph Hickey
Executive Director
Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA) https://ocla.ca
About the Ontario Civil Liberties Association
The Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA) is an organization formed to defend civil liberties at a time when fundamental freedoms are subjected to a real and palpable systemic erosion in all spheres of social life. OCLA opposes institutional policies and decisions that remove from the individual his or her personal liberty or exclude the individual from participation in the democratic functions of society.
Contact:
Joseph Hickey
Executive Director
Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA) https://ocla.ca
[1] The OCLA also notes that there is at least an appearance that the Canadian securities certificates, with their egregious non-conformity to principles of natural justice and international law, are used as an instrument to manipulate public opinion into accepting the so-called “war on terror” and Canada’s participation in that US project of “regime changes” in the Middle East and beyond, for the purpose of US-allied dominance in World affairs and the global economy. There are too many factors giving an appearance of Canada’s possible geopolitical motives for Canada not to take a strong principled approach anchored in human rights and international law in all its domestic decisions.
