Bill C-44: Expands Canada's Spy Agency

[Oscar]

Introduces New Anti-Terror Legislation After Ottawa Attacks

[ http://dailyreportage.com/canada_introd ... 17324.html ]

By Avaneesh Pandey@avaneeshp88a.pandey@ibtimes.com on October 28 2014 1:25 AM

The Canadian government on Monday tabled a new bill in parliament that seeks to significantly expand the powers of the country's spy agency, Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS. The new bill was introduced less than a week after a gunman stormed the parliament building in Ottawa, killing a soldier at a nearby war memorial.

If the new bill, dubbed “Protection of Canada from Terrorists Act,” is passed, it will enable CSIS to partner with its allies "to chase information, and in the same time we will also be able to rely on our sources, because we will give confidentiality and privacy,” Canadian Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney reportedly said while introducing the bill in the parliament.

“The Government is introducing targeted and limited amendments to the CSIS Act to ensure that CSIS has the tools it needs to investigate threats to the security of Canada,” the Canadian government said, in a statement released Monday.

The proposed amendments will empower CSIS to conduct investigations outside the country. The bill also seeks to better protect the identities of the spy agency’s informants, and to allow the government to revoke the citizenship of dual nationals “who are convicted of terrorism, high treason, and treason or spying offences,” according to the statement.

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The new bill, if passed, would reportedly be the first legal change to the CSIS Act since the spy agency was created in 1984. However, security experts reportedly questioned the need for new amendments to the existing act.

“The thing the authorities need more than anything else is far more resources,” Errol Mendes, a Canadian constitutional expert, told Reuters, adding that the country's law enforcement agencies already had wide-ranging powers.

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Harper's C-44 'anti-terror' bill contrary to recent court rulings

[ http://canadians.org/blog/harpers-c-44- ... rt-rulings ]

October 28, 2014 - 9:01 am

Naomi Klein's book Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism describes how 'leaders exploit crises to push through controversial exploitative policies while citizens are too emotionally and physically distracted by disasters or upheavals to mount an effective resistance'. The Globe and Mail reports, "[C-44], drawn up months ago, was tabled in Parliament just five days after a gunman shot an Ottawa soldier and breached the main hall of Parliament’s Centre Block before being killed by security guards." [ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... d/follows/ ]

What's in C-44, the 'Protection of Canada from Terrorists Act'?

It would:

• shield the identities of informants in court proceedings
• authorize the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) to eavesdrop in foreign countries.

In effect, shielding the identities of informants means confidential intelligence sources (of questionable reliability) would not have to be identified in court proceedings, even to the judge. And CSIS eavesdropping in foreign countries means CSIS could share information on Canadian suspects with intelligence agencies in the US (the CIA), UK (MI5), Australia and New Zealand.

The news article notes, "The Supreme Court [has] declined to give CSIS informants a 'class privilege' intended to better shield their identities in court proceedings. And, last year, Federal Court Judge Richard Mosley reined in a telecommunications-intercept power – known in CSIS lexicon as a 'DIFT' or 'domestic interception of foreign telecommunications' warrant."

The NDP has expressed concern about the effect the changes could have on "judicial proceedings", while the Liberals are wary of the proposed changes and have said, "The government has an obligation to explain how existing laws are being used or not used". [ http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/csis-po ... -1.2814314 ]

The Harper government is also "considering additional powers or measures for police and agencies who monitor terror groups", lowering the threshold for preventive arrests and "considering measures to crack down on individuals who openly support terrorist attacks on this country or groups that call on aggressors to attack Canadians and Canadian soldiers".

Globe and Mail columnist Lawrence Martin comments, "There’s no certainty that the attack on Parliament Hill, while no 9/11, will engender a big popularity bounce for the Prime Minister. It may be short in duration, but patriotism is overflowing in this land right now. In times like these, people want a strongman. Security becomes a top-drawer issue. It all plays perfectly to the politics of Mr. Harper, who is being lauded for his handling of the crisis. ...Opponents preparing for the next election might pause to wonder how the fates have performed for Mr. Harper during previous campaigns." [ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-de ... d/follows/ ]

The federal election - scheduled for October 19, 2015 - is now less than a year away.

To date, the Harper government has not introduced new funding or measures to support mental health and drug addiction services for at-risk individuals.

Further reading

Tories' Anti-Terror Bill C-44 Extends CSIS Source Protection, Judicial Warrant Powers (Canadian Press news article)
[ http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/10/27 ... 55512.html ]

CSIS powers beefed up under new bill tabled by Steven Blaney (CBC News article)
[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/csis-po ... -1.2814314 ]

Canada's spy agency hasn't made credible case for more powers (Toronto Star editorial)
[ http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editoria ... orial.html ]

Brent Patterson's blog
[ http://canadians.org/blogs/brent-patterson ]
Political Director of the Council of Canadians

[Oscar]

Bill C-44 and extra-territorial snooping

[ http://www.nationalmagazine.ca/Blog/Nov ... oping.aspx ]

November 27 2014 at 11:31AM

Canada’s Privacy Commissioner has concerns about Bill C-44, which is currently in committee hearings.

Daniel Therrien was not granted an audience before the committee hearing submissions – testimony wrapped up Wednesday – but he did make a written submission to the committee that raised flags about Bill C-44’s lack of safeguards against human rights violations, and lack of oversight. [ http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014 ... owers.html ]

Bill C-44 allows CSIS to spy abroad even when such activities violate local laws, and to make use of electronic eavesdropping resources offered by Canada’s signals intelligence agency, CSE, and allied counterparts.

In his submission, Therrien wrote:

Seeking the assistance of foreign states raises the possibility of broader information sharing internationally, an activity which, as demonstrated in both the O’Connor and Iacobucci commissions of inquiry can lead to serious violations of human rights.

University of Toronto law professor Kent Roach and University of Ottawa law professor Craig Forcese wrote in a recent op-ed in the National Post that

The government deserves credit for a legal initiative that will put CSIS extraterritorial surveillance on a more clear legal footing, clearly acknowledges a judge may violate international and foreign law in authorizing this surveillance, and that will protect CSIS sources, subject to an innocence-at-stake exception (in criminal proceedings, at least). [ http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/201 ... l-footing/ ]

Still, like Therrien they worry that Bill C-44 lacks a degree of enforceable accountability.

A smarter bill would link the enlargement of CSIS’s powers with better Parliamentary review. It also would address more integrated review of how CSIS’s actions affect terrorism policing and investigations. The Air India commission proposed that this difficult task be handled by a National Security Co-ordinator, but the government rejected this fix.

Shelina Ali, a lawyer with Iler Campbell LLP, questions the constitutionality of the proposed law:

Bill C‑44 is a systematic attempt by the government to circumvent the limits Canadian courts have placed on its investigative and surveillance powers, through legislative amendments. It expands the powers of CSIS to allow for surveillance activities in Canada and abroad, consequentially allowing CSEC to intercept, or allow other foreign agencies to intercept, telecommunications of Canadian citizens when travelling abroad.

MORE:

[ http://rabble.ca/columnists/2014/11/ant ... ian-rights ]