CBA calls for better balance and oversight mechanism in Anti-Terrorism Act.

• Position: News and notes

In a news release, the Canadian Bar Association announced that their evaluation of Canada's three-year-old Anti-Terrorism Act would include three key messages to the federal government: Striking the right balance between security and individual rights; expanding the scope of the review, and creating oversight mechanisms to ensure accountability.

"Our submission is about balance, scope and oversight," said CBA President Susan McGrath, of Iroquois Falls, Ontario. "In our view, the government has not yet come up with the right equation, which means invasions into personal privacy and violations of fundamental rights are creeping into Canadian law."

"We have urged the government to strike the right balance between individual liberties and national security since the day the legislation was introduced in October 2001. Since then, the federal government has enacted or proposed measures which dramatically expand state powers at the expense of due process and individual rights and freedoms," said McGrath.

In its 2005 submission, the CBA argued that the three-year review must go beyond the Anti-Terrorism Act. The CBA recommended the review be widened to include all security-related measures, and to look at the following:

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