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Annual Report 2006-2007 - An Operational Review of CSIS Activities
Members' Statement
This year marks a significant anniversary in Canada's history. A quarter of a century has passed since the signing of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a document that guarantees freedom of conscience and religion; freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press; freedom of peaceful assembly; and freedom of association. With the adoption of the Charter, these freedoms became constitutionally protected and Canadians gained recourse to the courts if the state infringed upon or denied their Charter rights.
There is no question that the bedrock values articulated in that historic constitutional document have helped to define what it means to be Canadian. They have had a profound influence on government, including the work of review agencies such as the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC). These freedoms have been brought into sharp relief in recent years when considered along with the state's obligation to protect the safety of its citizens against a growing terrorist threat.
In carrying out our duties, the Committee has often found itself considering Charter issues. For example, as part of our reviews, we regularly examine CSIS's execution of judicially authorized warrant powers to ensure that intrusive investigative techniques comply with the law and the terms of the Court, and therefore do not constitute unreasonable search and seizure.
SIRC recognizes that the conduct of security intelligence agencies can prompt impassioned debate about whether the ends can ever justify the means. We also have first-hand knowledge that there are individuals who will seek to exploit Canada's rights and freedoms in order to harm our country, our citizens and our neighbours and friends around the world.
It is against this backdrop that SIRC's annual report features a summary of a Section 54 report that was submitted to the Minister of Public Safety on August 17, 2007. This type of report is relatively rare: only eight have been prepared in the last ten years. This latest report deals with the case of Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, a Canadian citizen and an admitted al Qaida member, who was convicted of terrorist-related offences in the United States.
In reviewing CSIS's role in this matter, we found that some of its actions violated certain rights as guaranteed under the Charter. As a result, we have made several recommendations to the Minister of Public Safety and the CSIS Director.
It is important to understand why SIRC takes issue with some of CSIS's actions and we invite readers to consider our analysis carefully. Mohammed Mansour Jabarah is a Canadian who, no matter how heinous his crimes and no matter how much we deplore them, is entitled to all of the rights and freedoms afforded to any other citizen under our Charter. Furthermore, an agent of the state must uphold the Charter otherwise Canadian officials would be free to pick and choose to whom certain guaranteed rights and freedoms would apply. Clearly, that would be unacceptable to all Canadians.
“An agent of the state must uphold the Charter otherwise Canadian officials would be free to pick and choose to whom certain guaranteed rights and freedoms would apply.
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SIRC recognizes that police and security intelligence agencies in the post 9/11 world must deal with daunting challenges, including globalized and technologically sophisticated terrorist groups. We also know that the relative safety that Canadians enjoy is thanks in large part to the efforts of these same agencies on our behalf. But the obligation to ensure public safety ought not to reduce in any way respect for the rule of law.
Mr. Justice Ian Binnie of the Supreme Court of Canada characterized the competing demands of national security and human rights as a “clash of titans.
” It is true that at times, human rights and national security objectives may appear to clash. But in a healthy democracy where rights and freedoms have constitutional protection, we firmly believe that they can—indeed they must—coexist. That is a principle which all Canadians should uphold and that every citizen has a continuing responsibility to protect.