Mr. Chair and honourable committee members, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you regarding Canada's national security framework.
At this point, I would like to commend the Liberal government for launching a public consultation to inform legal, policy, regulatory, and program-based changes to the national security framework. My testimony before the standing committee centres on the additional authority for domestic national security information sharing as established under the Security of Canada Information Sharing Act, hereinafter the SCISA, and its impact on the right to privacy under domestic and international human rights law.
Indeed, the most vital function of government is to ensure peace and security by protecting its populace and citizens abroad.
States are faced with the challenge of protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms while suppressing small groups of interconnected non-state terrorists who operate in detached networks and have the capacity to commit massive atrocities with minimal resources. These elusive factors amplify the risk posed to the state and members of the public by masking efforts to identify networks of individuals who are involved in or associated with terrorism, detect potential terrorist threats, and prevent terrorism from occurring.
This, however, does not negate the state's duty to respect, protect, and fulfil its domestic and international human rights obligations. Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canada's populace is guaranteed the “right to life, liberty and security of the person”, not life and security on the one hand and liberty on the other. These protections are interdependent and non-hierarchal.
Let us consider guidance from the International Commission of Jurists, urging states to:
adhere strictly to the rule of law, including the core principles of criminal and international law, and the specific standards and obligations of international human rights law, refugee law and, where applicable, international humanitarian law. These principles, standards, and obligations define the boundaries of permissible and legitimate state action against terrorism. The odious nature of terrorist acts cannot serve as a basis or pretext for states to disregard their international obligations, in particular, in the protection of fundamental human rights.