I do believe it exists. First, contrary to what is stated in certain documents, security certificates existed before 1991. So there is a whole series of other cases that have either been forgotten or remain unknown.
But the main argument is that security certificates truly reveal the current rights crisis in Canada. Let’s take the example of deportation to torture: international and humanitarian laws recognize as an absolute that people cannot be deported to torture, disappearance or death. It is an absolute. European courts recognize this, but in Canada, as the government underscored in its response to a hearing request for Mohamed Harkat’s conditional release, the government does not subscribe to the notion of absolute rights. So on one hand, there is the notion of a made-in-Canada policy that recognizes that it’s very wrong to deport someone to torture, but on the other there is the notion of a made in Canada policy that says it can be done in extenuating circumstances.
This notion comes from the belief that rights are not absolute, that human beings are not entitled to them by reason of their humanity, but that laws can limit them. According to one of the foundations of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, in Canada, rights must be exercised in a reasonable manner and it is the very essence of the definition of rights that is causing this crisis.