Canada's top court strikes down anti-terror law

Canada's Supreme Court struck down a controversial anti-terror law on Feb. 23 that allows foreign suspects to be detained indefinitely without trial on the basis of secret evidence. The court ruled unanimously that the government had broken the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by issuing so-called security certificates to imprison people, pending deportation, without giving them a chance to see the government's case. "The overarching principle of fundamental justice that applies here is this: before the state can detain people for significant periods of time, it must accord them a fair judicial process," Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote on behalf of all nine judges. "The secrecy required by the (certificates) scheme denies the named person the opportunity to know the case out against him or her, and hence to challenge the government's case." Critics compare the system to what is happening in the US prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where hundreds of foreign captives have been held as suspected terrorists without trial and mostly without charges. The Ontario jail housing those detained under security certificates has been dubbed "Guantánamo North." The court suspended the ruling for a year to allow parliament time to rewrite the relevant part of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act–under which the certificates are issued–to address the court's concerns. The court said while it recognized the state had a duty to protect citizens against acts of terror, the certificate system was too intrusive on the rights of individuals. "I would declare the procedure to be inconsistent with the Charter, and hence of no force or effect," McLachlin wrote.