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Subject to Exception : Security Certificates, National Security and Canada's Role in the “War on Terror”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2014

Colleen Bell
Colleen Bell
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3Canada, cbell@yorku.ca
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Abstract

This article examines the values ascribed to the lives of non-citizens by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act's security certificate process and its implications for state power and political freedom. Under the imperative of national security and the “war on terror,” the security certificate functions as a moment of legal exception for the assertion of sovereign power and legitimation. This compromises the rule of law and denies basic legal protection to non-citizen detainees. The first section of the article addresses the mechanisms and procedures of the security certificate. Special attention is paid to the use of detention and evidentiary standards in order to illustrate the manner in which the security certificate derogates the rule of law. The second section considers how eroding the rule of law opens a space of exception for the exercise of sovereign, unmitigated state power that is grounded in the discriminatory criteria of citizenship status so as to implicate foreignness in the production of danger. The final section addresses how the security certificate configures freedom as commensurate with the national security objectives of the “war on terror”, exposing the limitations of liberal freedom in relation to modern state power.

Résumé

Cet article examine les valeurs que la procédure de certificats de sécurité de la Loi sur l'immigration et la protection des réfugiés attache à la vie de non citoyens ainsi que ses conséquences sur le pouvoir étatique et la liberté politique. Sous l'impératif de la sécurité nationale et la «guerre au terrorisme», le certificat de sécurité constitue un moment d'exception du pouvoir souverain et légitime. Ceci met en cause l'État de droit alors que la protection légale fondamentale est déniée à des détenus qui ne sont pas citoyens canadiens. Dans une première partie, les mécanismes et procédures du certificat de sécurité sont présentés, avec une attention particulière portée à la détention et aux exigences de preuve qui illustrent la dérogation des garanties légales. L'article aborde ensuite comment cette érosion de l'État de droit ouvre un espace d'exception à l'exercice souverain du pouvoir étatique fondé sur des critères discriminatoires du statut de citoyenneté afin d'associer étrangeté et danger. La dernière partie enfin montre comment le certificat de sécurité conçoit la liberté dans le cadre des objectifs nationaux de la «guerre au terrorisme» et les limites de la liberté libérale en lien avec le pouvoir de l'État moderne.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Law and Society / La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société , Volume 21 , Issue 1: Exceptions, Excuses, Norm(e)s , April 2006 , pp. 63 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Law and Society Association 2006

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References

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5 Currently detained under Canadian certificate provisions are: Mahmoud Jaballah who was first detained on a security certificate in 1999, which was quashed by the Federal Court. A second certificate was issued in 2001 and has been upheld. He is currently detained in Toronto and risks deportation to Egypt. Mohamed Harkat has been incarcerated in Ottawa since December 2002, and his certificate was legally upheld in March 2005. He faces possible deportation to Algeria. Mohammed Zeki Mahjoub has been detained in Toronto since June 2000. With his certificate approved he was ordered to be deported to Syria in 2003, but has won a temporary stay. Hassan Almrei held in Toronto since October 2001, has also been granted a stay due to a faulty assessment on his risk of torture if deported to Syria. Adil Charkaoui was detained in May 2003 in Montreal. After almost two years of incarceration, he was released and is living under house arrest with a number of conditions. Review of his certificate is ongoing.

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59 Ibid.

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109 Ahani v. Canada, [1995] 3 F.C. 669 (T.D.), aff'd [1996] F.C.J. No. 937 (F.C.A.), leave to appeal to S.C.C. refused, [1996] S.C.C.A. No. 496.

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