UN rights committee worried about Canada's anti-terror bill
With its amendments to the Security Intelligence Act, the federal government has handed Canada’s security services “a broad mandate and powers” of surveillance without sufficient legal safeguards, says a United Nations Human Rights Committee report released Thursday.
It is urging Canada to revise the controversial anti-terrorism bill, Bill C-51, to ensure it complies with the UN human rights covenant to which Canada is a signatory.
The committee says a lack of independent judicial involvement in the implementation of Canada’s revised security law is edging the country towards human rights violations.
While accepting Canada’s need to adopt measures to combat terrorism, the UN report also expresses “concern” that the federal government has increased information-sharing among federal agencies without safeguards to ensure that the information is accurate.
“The (Human Rights) Committee is also concerned about the lack of adequate and effective oversight mechanisms to review activities of security and intelligence agencies and the lack of resources and power of existing mechanisms to monitor such activities,” says the report.
Security legislation is among numerous concerns the UN committee’s report has about aspects of Canada’s human rights and especially notes “Excessive use of force by law enforcement officers during mass arrests in the context of protests at federal and provincial levels, with particular reference to indigenous land-related protests, G20 protests in 2010 as well as student protests in Quebec in 2012.”
It also expresses concern about gender inequality in Canada and treatment of aboriginal Canadians.
The report also urges Canada to get a grip on Canadian companies operating abroad – especially mining companies – and introduce an “effective, independent mechanism” to investigate human rights abuses by those companies.
