At Catprint, a summary of the SOC decision;
In short, the Court fully supported the idea of security certificates, just not two aspects of their implementation. The Court granted a years grace to the gov’t to bring forward new legislation that rectifies those two areas.
it is time to start using the not withstanding clause
It is a serious concern to start chipping away at laws put in place to prevent and deal with terrorists and terrorism.
It is also of grave concern to have our laws brought down through challenges to the SCC using the Charter by people who are not yet even full citizens. Also that they are from Countries known to harbor and spawn terrorists. People with suspicious pasts.
The recent decision by the people in Red Robes and white Ermine was enabled by the Charter which is an example of how that document could be our demise.The court follows it to the letter.
They have little choice.
Sometimes it is fitting to apply the phrase ‘the
law is an ass’.
The bright side is we have the right Prime Minister and the right administration to deal with
the issue.
Thank the worst Prime Minister this country ever had. If Trudeau hadn’t been in such a rush………..!
Sunset Boulevard
Is Mr. Dion really ready for his closeup?
Let’s look at the two provisions of the ATA that he is fighting tooth and nail not to be renewed. They are “preventive arrests” and “investigative hearings”. It is so important to our rights as Canadians to not have them renewed that he is ready to end the careers of MPs by not renewing their nomination papers. This is in spite of the Liberal dominated Senate Committee that asks that the provisions be renewed, over the objections of sitting veteran MPs like Irwin Cotler and ignoring the advice of party luminaries like John Manley and Anne McLellan.
We never hear him mention the evils of “investigative hearings” when he objects to the provisions on the basis of Charter Rights. In fact, the very mention of this as a possible motive has brought howls of “Shame Shame!!” in the House. Nope. It has everything to do with curtailing the power of the State and protecting our Charter Rights. In no way, shape, or form should a Canadian or non-Canadian be held for 72 hours without charge if they are under suspicion for possible terrorist activities.
The Supreme Court of Canada seems to think that the 72 hour preventative arrest is not a violation of the Charter. They don’t even think that holding a suspected terrorist indefinitely via an SOC is a violation of the Charter as long as they have access to the reasons why they are being held so they can properly defend themselves. It’s only Stephane Dion who is leading the charge away from well-crafted Liberal legislation that has been SCC-approved and occured while he was in Cabinet.
Well Stephane Dion, are you aware that any police officer in this country can arrest and hold anyone without charge for 24 hours if they suspect they are involved with or are about to commit a crime. They only need to be sure in their own mind, get approval from their superior and have the case brought to a Justice of the Peace within the 24 hour period.
So… if 72 hours to hold a possible terrorist without charge is a violation of the rights and freedoms of humankind, why is being held for 24 hours for a non-terrorist reason okay. I suppose the extra 2 days of inconvenience is too great a burden for someone to bear. Especially if they aren’t allowed a shower.
Until I hear a valid argument why 24 hours for my local cop in a domestic dispute is okay but 72 hours for a suspected terrorist is not I’ll have to be a little suspect about the real reasons Dion wants the provisions to travel down Sunset Boulevard.
It couldn’t be because of the second provision concerning “investigative hearings”, could it?
But the headlines, Kate, the Headlines said it was stricken down completely.
The headlines never could be wrong could they Kate?
It’s all part of the attempt to portray Harper being wrong on the issue. The headlines also implied that the decison invoved the laws that were being reviewd right now.
Even though the terrorism law which Dion is opposing was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada in a reference in 2004 (I’ll get a cite if anyone’s interested).
But you won’t hear about that pesky little fact- that the “rights” Dion says he’s trying to protect have been found to be adequately protected by the SCC. In other words Dion wants super duper extra special protection for those accused of terrorism. How nice of him.
Our Candian press is shameful.
Having read the decision, it’s not that unreasonable. And in fact, they used their infamous “reading in” power to fix one of the problems they found (no legislation needed to repair).
The two things they found were: 1) No representation of the “accused” at the hearings at all. They more or less told Parliament how to fix this, through the use of secuirty-cleared lawyers who could not release confidential information to their clients. Our legal system is based on having adversaries, so having only one side in a hearing is not a good thing.
The second issue was that non-permanent residents wer not eligible for “judicial release” (read: Bail). This is the part they self-repaired, making permanent residents and non-permanent residents the same, effective immediately.
That’s true, the headlines were in fact misleading, in fact they could be called LIES.
We should be concerned about our Democracy when we have Mainstream Media , TV and Press tinkering with
the facts to skew opinion.
It’s an ugly situation. There are many who just have time to read the headlines, it is critical they be
factual.
Are we in trouble or what?
Something disturbing about these people that were/are being held under these provisions.Anyone catch cbc this a.m.(sun)?the ever-Lib.loving Evan and Carol,interviewed 1 of them(didn’t catch name).Guy was asked:”what are your concerns with this Con.gov’t?”
Guy:talked at length about PMSH “secret agenda” and “his specific ideology”
This wasn’t enough of a PMSH slam,so Evan says:”so are you suspicious of this Cons.gov’t?”
More slam PMSH,then Evan makes comment”we asked Stockwell Day to appear,he declined”
I am concerned about some of these immigrants hijacking our way of life,the Gov’t’s duty to protect us..these few seem to think it is their right to trump the rights of the majority,and the media,mainly cbc,G&M,and a bunch of lawyers don’t seem to care about our security.It truly frightens me.
Sammy, the Evan and Carol duo on CBC,(Pravda), cannot be watched by many due to High blood pressure!!
What really is disturbing with these dudes who come here under suspicion, they are so political and so mouthy. It’s proof who is sucking up to them when they start dissing the Conservatives.
I find it extremely ironic that Charkaoui, as reported in the Globe and Mail, castigated the government of PMSH by demanding that the government abide by the ruling of the SCC. What was absent was a condemnation by Charkaoui of the actions of a Liberal government that incarcerated him (and the other four in questions). Jean Chretien put these people in jail – not Stephen Harper
I also find it extremely ironic that onerous terms of his release include wearing a GPS tracking device, which appears to be voluntary. According to the G&M, the GPS device was atatched to his belt – which he removed during a press conference!
When i read the record of these guys in Saturdays National Post i was furious…what the hell are these people doing in Canada! Why are we waisting millions of taxpayers dollars coddling them? Take them to the airport and send them back to where they came from….enough!
How is it that the persons on the court can make laws? Is that not the job of parliament, even as pretend “will of the people” to make laws?
The constitution is purposely convoluted so that it is not clear what is what. Though it seems that the parliament as a purpotedly the representative body of canadians is sole lawmaker. The court is there only for purpose of checking if a law is infringing on some other aspects of another law.
Is seems as a perpetual make work project for the bottom feeders.
Perhaps people should vote for everyone else but the bottom feeders. The society may be a healthier and more robust for it.