The Martlet

A panel discussion on government transparency and Canada’s looming “culture of secrecy” headed by Maher Arar came to the Farquhar Auditorium on Tues., March 11.

UVic was the first stop of the cross-Canada tour of Arar’s lecture, Civil Liberties and National Security.

Almost 300 people filled the auditorium to hear the panel, which was comprised of Arar, his wife Monia Mazigh, and Arar Inquiry researcher and UBC president Stephen Toope. The Arar Inquiry was a fact-finding mission initiated in 2004 to investigate the arrest and deportation of Arar by U.S. officials in 2002.

While returning to Canada from a family vacation, Arar was detained by airport security in New York and accused of having ties to al-Qaida. He was deported to Syria without notification of Canadian authorities, and there he was incarcerated and tortured in a “grave-like” cell for 10 months.

The Arar Inquiry exonerated Arar and sparked the resignation of the national RCMP commissioner. Since then, the terror suspect-turned-civil liberties advocate has been publicly agitating for tougher standards of government accountability.

The Canadian government enacted several security measures after 9-11. The first was the Anti-Terrorist Act, which has been criticized for tightening control of public information and giving security agencies sweeping powers. Under the Act, terrorism suspects may be arrested without warrant, compelled to give testimony in closed-door trials and denied access to evidence against them.

The Act also inhibits the availability of public information. Information commissioner Robert Marleau has complained the bill undermines the Access to Information Act and renders his office obsolete. The Attorney General is now allowed to exempt individuals or whole ministries from public examination. Even though this move is rarely made, it still serves to “shape a new mentality in the security apparatus,” according to Arar.

“Security agents have no clear guidelines, accountability, or oversight. It is the most direct and dangerous aspect of the Act,” he said.

Arar was composed and reserved throughout the lecture, in contract to his wife, who spoke passionately about the need to protect civil liberties in Canada. The panel called for treating terror suspects as criminal suspects, rather than subjecting them to special circumstances, saying that everyone is entitled to due process.

The panel also called for an end to the security certificate process, an immigration proceeding that facilitates “the removal from Canada of non-Canadians who pose a serious threat.” It allows immigrants to be arrested on suspicion and held without charge or knowledge of their crime. A “special advocate” attorney may view private documents involved in the proceeding, but they are barred from discussing the contents with their client.

The moving lecture brought some attendees to tears, and applause broke out frequently.

Mazigh described the political environment as a “culture of secrecy.”

“If we fail to act, we risk complicity in the perpetration of injustice. People are unaware of their rights being eroded,” she said.

Toope blamed the media as a major source of the problem.

“Interviews are usually fluff pieces,” he said. “We don’t invest a great deal in investigative reporting.”

An emboldened national media is the first step toward a transparent government, he said. The panel also urged for the creation of an independent watchdog for the RCMP, the main recommendation of the Arar Inquiry.

The discussion was followed by a question and answer period, in which most participants commended Arar and Mazigh on their struggle. One woman’s question was simply, “How are you doing now?”

Arar answered that though the events had been hard, he and his family are now doing fine, which the auditorium responded to with a standing ovation at the end.