Senators: Please reinstate amended version of security bill

If you have been following the progress of Bill C-22, you will know that this bill, intended to improve oversight of security agencies, has thus far endured a rather tumultuous existence: On June 16, 2016: First Reading. On December 8, it was amended by SECU*. On April 4, 2017, the government overturned the amended version on … Read more

Bill C-22 Update: Liberals toss out the SECU recommendations

By Jack Dodds Bill C-22 is the Liberal government’s bid to fulfill their election promise of parliamentary oversight of Canada’s security agencies. As first introduced in the Commons, C-22 was criticized for creating an oversight committee that had too little power and independence to allow it to restore public confidence in the security agencies. After second reading in … Read more

Bill C-22: Security agency activities may be legal, but are they democratic?

This is one of the questions posed by CUSJ today, in a letter to Senator Jaffer, Deputy Chair of the Senate committee on National Security and Defense (SECD) that is studying Bill C-22. As you may recall, CUSJ has already submited a brief on Bill C-22. This letter is a follow-up, that draws Senator Jaffer’s attention to three relatively … Read more

CUSJ Brief on Public Safety, National Security, & Human Rights

We are grateful to Jack Dodds, CUSJ member from Toronto, for stepping up and presenting our brief during the government public hearing process.  The link to the final brief submitted to the public safety committee is here. CUSJ is concerned that the government is going too far and that pervasive surveillance of innocent people without … Read more