By Ania Zolkiewska

OTTAWA, ONTARIO – Is killing someone more of an offence if the crime is committed for a political, religious or ideological purpose? Should secret government evidence presented in court without the accused or their lawyer be tested by a special panel of security-cleared lawyers? Should the authority of Canadian intelligence agencies to intercept communications in Canada be subject to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms or the Privacy Act? These are only a few of the questions raised by last month’s report reviewing Canada’s anti-terrorism legislation.

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security tabled its final report reviewing the Anti-Terrorism Act and associated measures late last month, more than five years after the Act was adopted. Entitled Rights, Limits, Security, the report is part of a review process required by the legislation, which allows Parliament to reconsider measures enacted in the confusing and frightening times following the September 2001 attacks on the United States.

Introduced in Parliament on October 2001 as Bill C-36, the Act made extensive changes to existing laws, adding new provisions to some while amending and tweaking others. The end result is a hodgepodge of confusing, and in some cases redundant, measures meant in part to implement Canada’s international anti-terrorism obligations, as well as to ensure the safety of Canadians, or, to borrow a phrase from the government’s national security strategy, “secure an open society.”

Along with a strong dissenting opinion, the report raises many questions about security and intelligence oversight at a time when public confidence both in Canada and around the world has been shaken by allegations of extraordinary renditions, arbitrary and indefinite detention and secret prisons–not to mention detainee abuse, the use of coerced evidence and unfair trials.

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Note: Ania Zolkiewska is an Ottawa-based international affairs specialist who will be called to the Bar in June 2007. She currently works for Amnesty International.

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