In December, the BCCLA and Amnesty International Canada sent a letter to Minister of National Defence Peter MacKay, calling on the DND to ensure that children being captured by Canadian Forces in Afghanistan are treated in accordance with international standards … Read More
Features Blog
Can we hold you for a while?
Posted onYesterday, BCCLA Counsel Carmen Cheung appeared before the House of Commons Committee on Public Safety and National Security to present the BCCLA’s position on Bill C-17, legislation seeking to resurrect the preventative detention and investigative hearing provisions from the 2001 … Read More
The BCCLA in snowy Ottawa: final submissions at the MPCC
Posted onThe BCCLA National Security Blog comes to you live from Ottawa, where Amnesty International Canada and the BCCLA just presented oral (and final?) submissions to the MPCC. Here are some early press reports from The Globe and Mail and the … Read More
MPCC — the final stretch?
Posted onFaithful readers of the BCCLA National Security Blog will know that we first kicked things off here in December 2009 with our post on Richard Colvin’s documents, which warned senior Canadian officials that prisoners being captured in Afghanistan by Canadian … Read More
“A machine of shame” (updated)
Posted onToday, in Halifax, a memorial to the MS St. Louis was unveiled, in memory of the hundreds of Jewish refugees turned away from North American shores on the eve of the Holocaust. The MS St. Louis carried over 930 German … Read More
Blacklisted
Posted onWelcome back to a new year at the BCCLA National Security Blog. We returned from our winter break to find a copy of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights’ new report on terrorist blacklists at our desk — … Read More
Back from hiatus! (briefly)
Posted onSo one of our readers pointed out recently that the National Security Blog’s long overdue for an update, and he’s absolutely right, especially given the things we’ve been up to recently. In late October, the BCCLA issued its report on … Read More
The waiting game
Posted onAfter a week of sentencing hearings, the Military Commission in Guantanamo imposed a 40-year sentence on Omar Khadr, 15 years more than the 25-year term requested by the prosecutors. The military “jury” deliberating Mr. Khadr’s sentence had not been informed … Read More
Omar Khadr: Waiting for answers
Posted onThe BCCLA National Security team has covered Omar Khadr’s continuing ordeal extensively over the past year, from Canadian courts to Guantanamo Bay. After weeks of rumours and speculation, the Guantanamo show trial will finally wrap up. Omar Khadr has pled … Read More
Laroche, redux
Posted onThis morning at the MPCC, Paul Champ resumed his cross-examination of BGen Guy Laroche. Readers of these pages may recall that at the close of the last session of MPCC hearings this May, we heard conflicting testimony from BGen Laroche … Read More
