I will just wrap up by referring to two other recommendation in the protection charter, each of which deals with issues that often get a bit overlooked when we consider the consular realm. The first is justice after release. Once freed and back to family and safety in Canada, understandably many individuals think of justice, accountability, and redress. It's important personally. The desire for an apology, for the truth to be acknowledged, for compensation for terrible violations, is an essential part of healing. It is also important more broadly, as part of tackling impunity. Many released prisoners—Mohamed certainly did—talk of how important it is to seek justice as a means of preventing others from experiencing the same injustice. But once back in Canada one key avenue of justice is closed off. It is not possible for a released prisoner to turn to the Canadian courts and launch a lawsuit against the foreign government officials responsible for the torture and other violations they have endured because those officials are shielded by the State Immunity Act, which protects foreign governments from being sued in Canadian courts for actions outside Canada. There is an exception for commercial activities, but not for grave human rights violations. A foreign government can be sued for a breach of contract that occurs outside of Canada, but not for a brutal act of torture. It's time to open up this avenue of justice.
Finally, it's also important to turn our attention to permanent residents and other individuals with strong connections to Canada, usually because they have close family members who are citizens or permanent residents. They are not citizens, and thus, of course, do not legally under international or national law constitute consular cases. But very often these individuals have no closer connection to any other government aside from Canada. Their spouses, children, parents, siblings call Canada home. Understandably they look to Canada for assistance.
Going back decades, government's standard responses have been that in such cases generally there's not much that can be done because the individual is not a citizen. However, some of these cases do nonetheless still get taken up by government in various ways. I know for instance the government at this time, rightly so, is engaged in the cases of Saeed Malekpour, a permanent resident in Iran, and Raif Badawi, the husband and father of permanent residents in Saudi Arabia. What is lacking, though, is predictability and consistency. There is a need for guidelines that will clearly establish when and in what ways the Canadian government will take up cases of non-citizens with close Canadian connections facing serious human rights violations.
Let me end by highlighting how important it is to be innovative and imaginative in advocacy with respect to what are often termed “complex consular cases”. Years ago Prime Minister Jean Chrétien sent Senator De Bané to Syria with a personal letter from the Prime Minister, and Maher Arar was free several weeks later. Canada recently turned to the Government of Oman, an unlikely partner perhaps, for assistance with the case of Homa Hoodfar, and she was released soon after. The Prime Minister's national security adviser leads a mission to North Korea and Pastor Hyeon Soo Lim is freed from imprisonment in that country.
Appointing special envoys, finding help from unexpected allies, exploring new avenues by leveraging trade, business, and investment channels, more can be done to draw on the experience, insights, and connections of family members, relevant diaspora communities, and civil society groups, who often have “out of the box” strategies to share that may help move difficult cases forward.
Thank you. Those are our comments, and we look forward to the exchange.