Why I'm Proud to be Canadian

This week, many things have been happening up north. The most important being ... from the NY Times, Canadian Court Limits Detention in Terror Cases :

Canada's highest court on Friday unanimously struck down a law that allows the Canadian government to detain foreign-born terrorism suspects indefinitely using secret evidence and without charges while their deportations are being reviewed.

...

The decision is also the latest in a series of events that has seen Canada reconsider some national security steps it took after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Last September, a judicial inquiry rebuked the police for falsely accusing a Syrian-born Canadian, Maher Arar, of terrorist connections. Those accusations, in 2002, led United States officials to fly Mr. Arar to Syria, where he was jailed and tortured. Earlier this year, the Canadian government reached a $9.75 million settlement with Mr. Arar and offered a formal apology. The commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police also resigned for reasons related to the affair.

So here is another example of how I wish America would examine domestic and international issues and learn from their northern neighbours.

The decision reflected striking differences from the current legal climate in the United States. In the Military Commissions Act of 2006, Congress stripped the federal courts of authority to hear challenges, through petitions for writs of habeas corpus, to the open-ended confinement of foreign terrorism suspects at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

A federal appeals court in Washington upheld the constitutionality of that law this week, dismissing 13 cases brought on behalf of 63 Guantánamo detainees. Their lawyers said they would file an appeal with the Supreme Court. In two earlier decisions, the justices ruled in favor of Guantánamo detainees on statutory grounds but did not address the deeper constitutional issues that this case appears to present.

Some other reasons to be proud to be a Canuk:

Tags

More like this

It's going to be one of those weeks, so I don't know how much I'm going to get to post. I do, however, want to share the editorial from this week's Nation (emphasis mine): George W. Bush's decision to move Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and thirteen other "high value" Al Qaeda captives from secret CIA…
There are so many misbehaviors, such as the Foley sex scandal and "PlameGate" (need I say more?), that deserve attention and action by the Rethuglicans, yet these issues fester while BushCo signs the terror bill into law. Bush's plan becomes law just six weeks [italics mine] after he acknowledged…
The outrage for Maher Arar continues. Arar is the Canadian man who was captured by American authorities on a false tip from Canadian law enforcement, sent to Syria and tortured for 10 months before being released. He is completely innocent, as a Canadian board of inquiry showed recently. And to add…
One of the most astonishing things about the Bush administration, in my view, is how many former officials have come out and criticized things the administration has done, and how little impact it has had politically. This can partially be chalked up to an uninformed populace, of course, but also…

While I agree that this ruling is a Good Thing, it should be noted that:

Most of its decision on the security certificate process is suspended for one year, to give the government time to put an alternate procedure in place.

The Charter will be another year older before history will judge our defence of civil liberties more kindly.

From http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_mann/20070223.html

By Scott Belyea (not verified) on 25 Feb 2007 #permalink

Indeed. In fact a National Post editorial pointed out that the decision actually supported security certificates but only struck down two minor aspects related to release of evidence. The accused still can't themselves see the evidence against them, only their lawyers _if_ they have appropriate top-secret security clearance. Most lawyers don't.

Adıyaman merkeze bağlı Hasancık Beldesi İnceler köyünün alt kısmında bulunan ve aşırı soğuklar nedeniyle donan İnceler Göleti'nde arkadaşlarıyla kayan Şaban Çetin.