A threat to our Charter rights – Arar case underscores how our border security measures can hurt us
Stephen Harper’s government deserves credit for issuing an apology and offering a just settlement package to the sorely aggrieved Maher Arar. It shows that Justice Dennis O’Connor’s condemnation of Canadian complicity in the case has been acknowledged and proper recompense given for a grievous breach of Arar’s basic human rights.
The government is even to be admired for standing up to the stiff-arm tactics of U.S. ambassador David Wilkins.
And by continuing pressure on the Bush administration to take Arar’s name off the terrorist watch list, Ottawa demonstrates an understanding of the ongoing discrimination against Arar that the restriction on his entry to the U.S. represents – not to mention the continued risk of his being caught up in the tentacles of existing American anti-terrorist rules and apparatus.
But the implications of the case do not stop with this particular egregious example of U.S. intransigence and insensitivity.
The Arar case is just the tip of the iceberg, dramatizing how our present cross-border security arrangements with the United States pose a serious threat to the fundamental cornerstone of Canadian political society, our Charter of Rights.
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