Security Certificates: Past, Present and Future on Prism TV

The fourth broadcast of Rights and Security on Prism TV will happen on Saturday October 23 at 10:00am EST.

Kerry Pither, Human Rights activist and author of Dark Days, will host a discussion about Security Certificates and their effect on civil and human rights.

Our guests will be Paul Cavalluzzo, Matthew Webber and Sophie Harkat.

Paul Cavalluzzo was appointed by Associate Chief  Justice Dennis O’Connor  to act as lead commission counsel to the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar. Paul has also been appointed by the Federal Minister of Justice to act as a Special Advocate in security certificate cases. In this regard, Paul acts as counsel representing the interests of persons alleged to be threats to the national security of Canada in top secret hearings before the Federal Court of Canada in Ottawa.  Paul’s role is to ensure that the top secret evidence relied upon by the government is reliable and that as much information as possible is released to the named person so that he is given an opportunity to defend against the allegations. Paul is presently acting in two security certificate cases which have been ongoing since February 2008.

Sophie Harkat is the wife of security certificate detainee Mohamed Harkat. She has relentlessly fought for the rights of her husband to be respected. She has kept his story alive in the media. She has also become a passionate human rights activist advocating for the abolishing of security certificates.

Mathew Webber has successfully defended cases at all levels of Courts in Canada including the Ontario Court of Justice, the Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Canada, and the Supreme Court of Canada. His predominant area of concentration over the last decade has been the defence of homicide cases. He has delivered numerous lectures over the years on differing topics in criminal law; whether at law schools or before legal associations. The exception to his concentration in homicide cases is his long-standing retainer as public counsel for Mohamed Harkat. He appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada on Mr. Harkat’s behalf, alongside his co-counsel at the time, Paul Copeland. He has to this day continued to serve as Mr. Harkat’s public counsel, now along-side his present co-counsel, Mr. Norman Boxall.

We urge our readers to take this unique opportunity and join us at this interactive discussion with this important group of national security experts. Viewers can ask questions through the chat box located on the Prism TV web page.

Rights and Security can be viewed at either of the following web addresses:

http://www.prism-magazine.com/prism-tv/

or

http://www.livestream.com/prismmagazine

We recommend that you bookmark both addresses. The second address is preferable if video quality becomes sluggish due to network congestion.

We are experimenting with a technology that will allow us to do a simultaneous broadcast to Smart Phones such as the IPhone. We need to know if there is a demand for this service. Please let us know by simply adding a comment below. We appreciate your feedback.