Panel on the Protection of Canadian Citizens in Canada and Abroad: Amnesty International Quebec AGM

Amy Goodman Keynote Speech at Amnesty International Quebec AGM – Part 1

Amy Goodman Keynote Speech at Amnesty International Quebec AGM – Part 2

Amnesty International Canada AGM: April 24th

Amnesty International Canada will be holding their Annual General Meeting April 24th in Montreal at McGill University, and Prism Magazine will be providing live coverage of portions of the event.
Under the theme “Canada and Human Rights: We Can Do Better!” the AGM challenges the nation to find common solutions to turn around the decline of [...]

Documentary “Ghosts” screening in Ottawa

The documentary “Ghosts” will be screening at the Ottawa Public Library on the 26th of April (next Monday), followed by a Parliament Hill screening on the 3rd of May.
“Ghosts”, which won the Public Choice Award at the Montréal Human Rights Film Festival last March, focuses on the lives and cases of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El [...]

Is Abdelrazik really free?

Thanks to the G&M’s Paul Koring we keep learning more about the case of Abdelrazik, the Canadian citizen who was arrested in Sudan at the request of CSIS, interrogated, tortured and eventually returned home after his supporters successfully campaigned for his return.
We now learn that he is not allowed to fly (even on domestic flights), and is prevented from working [...]

Turning Scandal into Opportunity: Toward a Rights-Respecting Transfer Policy

Ottawa has many questions to answer about Canada’s policies concerning the transfer of detainees in Afghanistan.  The answer to the most important of those questions — what a rights-respecting transfer policy should look like — could guide other governments struggling with the same issues.  Canada is not alone in facing controversy over its transfer policy.  [...]

Afghan Detainee Torture: The Issue That Grew, and Grew, and Grew

Since 9/11, the question of Canadian complicity in torture has bedeviled the Ottawa security intelligence community. Unlike Canada’s closest ally, the United States, Canadian officials have never been implicated directly in the use of torture, but even hints of complicity and cooperation with those who do torture – including, unfortunately, our American allies under the [...]

Torture and Public Policy

Torture is not a country specific phenomenon. It is far too comfortable to say that Syria, or China or Saudi Arabia or Cuba or Bulgaria can be labeled as states that use torture routinely as part of their national policies. As recent history has demonstrated, the fellow travelers on the torture road are numerous and [...]

National Security Accountability and the Right to Know

In Canada, the responsibility for national security accountability is vested in a number of different institutions, each with its own mandate, resources, and powers. Generally speaking, these bodies are tasked with providing review, oversight, and/or a public complaints function in relation to a single agency.
Some agencies involved in security practices – for example, the Canada [...]