SP responds to Arar report

Surveillance Project investigators have written to the Canadian government in response the the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar.

Several Queen's University GPD investigators have written to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, and the Subcommittee on the Review of the Anti-terrorism Act. The letter, dated 18 October 2006, urges lawmakers to implement the necessary legislation to promote the recommendations of the Commission's report as soon as possible, and states, in part, that

[The SP's] research has helped to show that a combination of post-9/11 legal changes (including 2001's Anti-Terrorism Act) combined with information and communication technology developments raises a serious risk that surveillance and cross-border information sharing by police and intelligence agencies will lead to anti-democratic outcomes.

A copy of the letter is available here.