Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for providing us with the opportunity to offer our thoughts on the committee's study of Bill C-20.
My name is Nadia Hasan and I'm a Ph.D. by training and the COO of the National Council of Canadian Muslims. I'm joined today by Fatema Abdalla, the communications coordinator for the council. I will be sharing time with Ms. Abdalla.
I would also like to acknowledge the work of our summer students Zena and Hasna, who have significantly helped in the preparation of the submissions that we'll present before you today.
At the outset I just want to say that we at the National Council of Canadian Muslims have been advocating for many years for CBSA oversight legislation. NCCM has heard countless stories over the last two decades about the challenges that Muslims face at the border. That is why one of our key battles over the last two decades has been in calling for oversight of the Canada Border Services Agency.
While we support the passage of this bill, we would like to see three key amendments, without which we have grave concerns that the impact of this bill will be a very limited first step rather than the kind of comprehensive reform we need to see now.
First, we suggest that the definition of national security in Bill C-20 needs further clarification. We believe the current language of the bill means that there could be an unforeseen consequence arising from subclause 31(2). As the bill is currently drafted, this subclause suggests that all national security matters should be referred to the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency or NSIRA.
Let me give you an example. There's a well-publicized case about an Egyptian human rights activist, Abdelrahman Elmady, who was deemed a security threat by a CBSA officer in Vancouver, where he was also subjected to detention and was not given medical support that he needed. For example, they took away his hearing aids.
If CBSA oversight legislation still required Mr. Elmady to go to NSIRA, we know that it would take years until Abdelrahman received a review of the alleged impugned conduct. More importantly, it would mean that Bill C-20 would not at all help Mr. Elmady and other Muslims allegedly unfairly targeted by CBSA agents for supposed “national security reasons” to get appropriate oversight and would simply add to the administrative burden NSIRA currently faces.
We agree with other voices before you that the commission should have jurisdiction to conduct reviews of activities that are in relation to national security in certain cases. We recommend, amongst other potential solutions, that an amendment to clause 31 be made to clarify that only complaints that require complex top secret clearance or documentation should go to NSIRA. All other matters around national security complaints arising from alleged CBSA misconduct should be dealt with by the commission.
Second, we recommend that clear timelines be enshrined. As you have heard from a number of other colleagues, there should be strict timelines for the CBSA and the commission to investigate and report on complaints. On the same point, regarding concern about delayed review, our concern is that without the installation of a set timeline in legislation, this new oversight body could take a lot of time to process and initiate reviews.
We recommend an amendment to subclause 8(1) to require a timeline of three months for the oversight body to deal with the first step of a review process for a complaint, rather than leaving it to the commission and the RCMP to establish the time limits.
I'll turn it over to my colleague Fatema to continue.