COPING WITH THE ANTI-TERRORISM LAWS: A CAMPAIGN FOR NEW SAFEGUARDS

March 2002

Dear Civil Libertarian:

In December 2001, despite CCLA's thoughtful analyses and energetic activity, the federal government's key anti-terrorist bill (C-36) was enacted with too few safeguards. While this may be a setback, Alan Borovoy and the CCLA leadership are more engaged than ever before in the fight for your civil liberties. And CCLA's role is more needed now than ever. This new law contains the following measures:

• new powers of preventive detention and compulsory testimony
• a new power to brand individuals as "terrorist groups" without onvicting them of any unlawful conduct
• a new prohibition against most financial dealings with such people
• a new and broad requirement to inform on people in certain circumstances

The next focus of our campaign must now be the behaviour of those entrusted with enforcing all this - the police forces of Canada. Accordingly, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association is launching a campaign to create a system for the independent auditing of police policies and practices as they relate to these new anti-terrorist measures. This is the one way Canadians can acquire an acceptable level of accountability for the way our law enforcement authorities behave in this new era.

In every jurisdiction, we seek to ensure that an independent agency will have on-going access to the records, facilities, and personnel of our various police departments so that it can conduct self-initiated audits of the relevant police policies and practices. If abuses are occurring, we must have a way in which to uncover them and make them public. This is the role of the audit agency. It would not exercise a power of decision; that power would remain where it is. But, with the existence of such an audit function, the decision-makers would be forced to operate under much greater public scrutiny.

We need your help to convince those in power to adopt this vital protection.

Here is what CCLA is asking you to do:

1) Please write to the Solicitor General of Canada regarding the RCMP and to the minister or ministers in your province responsible for the police ( see enclosed address list). Ask them to provide for such independent audits. The following paragraph could be included in your request:

The Canadian people need to know how the new anti-terrorist measures are being enforced. I, therefore, call upon you to provide for self-initiated independent audits of police policies and practices with respect to these measures. An independent agency should be endowed with special powers of ongoing access to police records, facilities, and personnel and this agency should be mandated to make periodic public reports of its findings.

The federal Solicitor General's address is:

The Hon. Lawrence MacAulay
Solicitor General of Canada
13th Floor, Sir Wilfrid Laurier Building
340 Laurier Avenue
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0P8
Fax: 613-952-2240

Please send copies of your letters to the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

2) If you have not yet done so for 2002, please renew your membership as soon as you can. If you have already paid your dues, would you consider adding a contribution to help with the costs of this campaign and the many others in which CCLA is involved?

Thanks to you and your predecessors, CCLA has been able to fight for the rights of Canadians for more than 35 years. The need to stand up for our rights has not and will not go away. As someone once said - if you see that something is wrong and you don't do anything about it - you are part of the problem. As a member of CCLA, you can proudly say that YOU are part of the solution!

Thanks very much for all of your help and for your loyal support of this organization.

Sincerely,

Allan Blakeney, President
Canadian Civil Liberties Association

P.S. As you know, this organization accepts NO government funding. Our independence is just too important. For this reason your dues and contributions are the life-blood of CCLA. The campaign for an independent audit agency will be costly. If you have not yet done so for 2002, please make your donation TODAY.