By Canadian Press

Intelligence reform needed to rebuild confidence, Muslim group tells MPs

Dec 12, 2017 | 9:00 AM

OTTAWA — Reform of national security agencies — not just more oversight and review — is needed to rebuild confidence and trust, a national Muslim group says.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims told MPs studying the Liberal government’s wide-ranging national security bill Tuesday that new watchdog powers won’t fix the “culture of impunity” and systemic ills within Canadian security agencies.

The council’s executive director, Ihsaan Gardee, said the bill strengthens the security establishment, even as the available evidence suggests disarray — bias and top-down bullying — within the institutions that carry out intelligence-gathering and enforcement.

“Oversight of those agencies is not sufficient,” Gardee said during a meeting of the House of Commons public safety committee. “Real reform is necessary.”

Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus, the party’s public safety critic, challenged Gardee to provide some specific examples of the lack of confidence.

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Gardee pointed to high-profile cases of Canadian Arabs, including Maher Arar, being subjected to abuse abroad, with the actions of Canadian agencies being partly to blame.  

The Liberal government’s security legislation revises elements of a contentious omnibus bill brought in by the Harper Conservatives after a gunman killed a sentry at the National War Memorial and rushed on to Parliament Hill in 2014.

The bill would limit, but not eliminate, powers that allow the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to actively disrupt terror plots.

A new super-watchdog — the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency — would oversee the intelligence activities of well over a dozen federal agencies. In addition, an intelligence commissioner would authorize some intelligence and cybersecurity activities in advance — a measure the government says is intended to build public confidence.

Another change takes aim at the recurring problem of mistaken no-fly list name matches involving youngsters, allowing the public safety minister to inform parents that their child is not on the roster.

Under a revised appeal process, someone’s name would be dropped from the no-fly list if the minister does not deal with their appeal within 120 days. However, the minister would be able to extend the deadline before the first 120-day period expires.

The government says the changes are steps toward a longer-term solution to no-fly list headaches.

Faisal Bhabha, legal adviser for National Council of Canadian Muslims, said the no-fly list should be scrapped.

“No amount of tinkering can solve the underlying problem, which is that the no-fly list is one of the most damaging instruments of racial and religious profiling currently in place in this country,” he testified.

“It was an interesting experiment but its time has come to an end.”

Zamir Khan, whose three-year-old son Sebastian often has difficulties at the airport because of the list, said some families have missed flights and children shy away from air travel for fear of stigmatization.

“This is not a future I want for my son,” he told the MPs.

Khan, representing a group known as the No Fly List Kids, said the Liberal security bill falls short of ensuring the timely implementation of a redress system.

A redress mechanism like the one in place in the United States would be a “massive improvement” over the current Canadian approach, he said.  

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says the security legislation is the first step toward remedying very serious design flaws with the system.

— Follow @JimBronskill on Twitter

Jim Bronskill , The Canadian Press