Normalizing Exceptional Practices: Security Certificates, Disclosure and Use of Evidence, and Administrative Detention

• Author: Marlys Edwardh & Adriel Weaver
• Pages: 254-292



NormalizingExceptionalPractices

SECURITYCERTIFICATES

DI SC LOS UR EAN DU SE OF EVI DE NC E

ANDADMINISTRATIVEDETENTION

Marlys Edwardh & Adriel Weaver*

A. INTRODUCTION

Thischapterexplorestherelationsh ipbetweenanextraordinarynationa l

security andcounterterrorismmeasurenamelytheuse ofsecurity cer

ticatesandestablishedcrimi nallawprinciplesandcarceralpractices

In Part Bwe exam ine issues surroundi ng the disclosure and use

ofev idencearg uing that the courts pa rtial reject iona nd subsequent

interpretationof certainaspe ctsofthe security certicateschemeh ave

signicantly normalized secu rity certicate proceedings  that is

madethemi ncreasinglysubject tolegalandcon stitutionalnormsOur

contentionhere isnott hatsecurity certicateshave beenrendereden

tirelyunexceptionalorindeedentirelyunexceptionablebutsimplythat

they have been normalized to a sucient degree t hat they no longer

representa morearactiveorex pedientmethodof proceedingagainst

individualsbelievedtobetiedtoterroristorgani zationsoractivities

InPartC weturn totheissue ofdetentionfocusing ontheimple

mentation of the detention provisions of the Immigration and Refugee

Protection Act asadopted in Wesuggest thatwhat appearsto be

anexceptiona lregime ofadministrative detentionin practicerelies on

and reects established correct ional practices particularly the use of

administrative segregation Although itself a h ighly exceptional prac

 GoldblaPartnersLLP

Normalizing Exceptional Practices

tice ofpreventivea ndindenite detentionadmi nistrativesegregation

hasbeennormali zedinavery dierentsenset hatismadeordin

aryandcommonplaceinbothfederalandprovincialcorrectionsWe

examine variouseorts to makeadmin istrativesegregation subject to

independentrigorousandprocedurallyfairreviewincludingmostre

centlytwoconstitutionalchallengestothelawandpracticeofadminis

trativesegregationinfederalcorrectionali nstitutions

Weconclude thatthe history of security certicates andadmi nis

trative segregation strongly underscores the importance of the cou rts

indisc ipliningexceptional lawsandpractices andmakingthemmore

subjecttolegalandconstitutionalnor ms

B. SECURITY CERTIFICATES AND THE

DISCLOSUREANDUSEOFEVIDENCE

 OverviewandHistory

Asecuritycerticateiseectivelyadeclarationbytheministerofpublic

safety andemergenc ypreparedness the ministerand the minister

ofcitizenshipandim migrationthatapermanentresidentorforeignna

tionalisinadmissibleonsec uritygroundsfor

a engaging inan actofespionage oranact ofsubversionagainst a

democraticgovernment institutionor processasthey areunder

stoodinCanada

b  engaginginorin stigatingth esubversionbyforceofanygover nment

c engagingi nterrorism

d beingada ngertothesecurityofCanada

e engaging i n acts of violence that would or might endanger the

livesorsafetyofpersonsi nCanadaor

f bei ng a member of an organization that there are r easonable

grounds tobelieve engagesha sengaged orwil lengage inacts

referredtoinparagraphaborc

In practicethe security certicate processbeg inswhen the Canadian

SecurityI ntelligenceServiceCSISortheServicepresentsthemin

isters with a Securit y Intelligence Report seing out the allegations

againsttheindividualandtheinformationandevidencereliedonbythe

Serviceinass essingthatindividualtobeinadm issibletoCanadaIfthe

 Immigration and Refugee Protection ActSCcasamendedsIR PA

MEAW

ministersconcludethattheinformationprovidedestablishesreasonable

groundstobelievetheallegationstheyissueasecuritycerticate

Onceacerticateisissueditisreferredtoadesignatedjudgeofthe

FederalCourttodeter minewhetheritis reasonableNotablythebases

forasecu ritycerticatearedisjunctiveand thefactst hatconstitutein

admissibility includefacts arising fromomi ssionsand factsfor which

there arereasonable grounds tobelieve that theyhave occurred are

occurring ormayoccurIneectt hereforethetask ofthereview ing

judgeis todetermine whetherthere arereasonable groundsto believe

thatt heperson namedi nthe certicate thenamedpers onhasen

gagedisengagingorwil lengageinoneoftheproscribed actsorwas

isorw illbea dangertothe security ofCanadaoramemberofa nor

ganization thereare reasonablegrounds tobelievehas engagedise n

gagingorwillengageinespionagesubversionorterrorism

Thejudgemayreceiveintoevidenceandbasethatdeterminationon

anythingt hatinhisorheropinionisrel iableandappropriateevenifit

wouldbeinadmissibleinacourtoflawThejudgei srequir edtoens ure

thecondenti alityoftheinfor mationonwhichthec erticateisbased

dened assecurity orcr iminali ntelligenceinformation andi nfor

mation that is obtained in con dencefrom a sou rce in Canada from

thegovernmentofaforeignstatefromaninternationalorganizationof

statesor fromani nstitutionof eitherofthemas wellas anyother

evidenceth atmayb eprovidedifin his orher opinionits disclosure

wouldbe i njurious to national secur ityThe judge may on his or her

ownmotionand shallatthe requestoftheministerhearallorpartof

thein formationorevidencei ntheabsence oftheperson namedin the

certi cateandt heircoun selifi ntheopin ionofthejudgeitsdisclosure

wouldbei njurioustonat ionalsecurity ortot hesafety ofanyperson

Thejudgeisalso requiredtoensuret hatthenamedpersoni sprovided

throughoutt heproceeding with asummary ofi nformationand other

evidencethatenableshimorhertobereasonablyinformedofthecase

 Oneofthesamesele ctgroupofjudgesstatutorilyempoweredtohea rCSISwar

rantapplicationsCanadian Security Intelligence Service ActRSCcCss

CSIS Actmakepublicinterestimmun itydeterminationsi nvariousproceedings

includingcri minaltrialsCanada Evidence ActRSCcCsseealsoR v

AhmadSCCandreviewdecisionsofthem inisterofpublicsafet yandemer

gencypreparedn essonapplicationsfordelisti ngofentitiesidentiedasterror ist

groupsCriminal CodeRSCcCasamendedss

 IR PAabove notes

 Ibidsh

 Ibids

 Ibidsc