CAT/C/CAN/CO/6
The Committee recommends that the State party take all necessary measures with a
view to ensuring the exercise of the universal jurisdiction over persons responsible for
acts of torture, including foreign perpetrators who are temporarily present in Canada,
in accordance with article 5 of the Convention. The State party should enhance its
efforts, including through increased resources, to ensure that the “no safe haven”
policy prioritizes criminal or extradition proceedings over deportation and removal
under immigration processes.
Civil redress and state immunity
The Committee remains concerned at the lack of effective measures to provide
redress, including compensation, through civil jurisdiction to all victims of torture, mainly
due to the restrictions under provisions of the State Immunity Act (art. 14).
15.
The State party should ensure that all victims of torture are able to access remedy and
obtain redress, wherever acts of torture occurred and regardless of the nationality of
the perpetrator or victim. In this regard, it should consider amending the State
Immunity Act to remove obstacles to redress for all victims of torture.
Torture and ill-treatment of Canadians detained abroad
16.
The Committee is seriously concerned at the apparent reluctance on part of the State
party to protect rights of all Canadians detained in other countries, by comparison with the
case of Maher Arar. The Committee is in particular concerned at (arts. 2, 5, 11 and 14):
(a)
The State party’s refusal to offer an official apology and compensation to the
three Canadians despite the findings of the Iacobucci Inquiry. Their cases are similar to the
case of Arar, in the sense that all of them were subjected to torture abroad and the Canadian
officials were complicit in the violation of their rights;
(b)
Canadian officials’ complicity in the human rights violation of Omar Khadr
while detained at Guantánamo Bay (Canada (Prime Minister) v. Khadr, 2010 SCC 3; and
Canada (Justice) v. Khadr, 2008 SCC 28) and the delay in approving his request to be
transferred to serve the balance of his sentence in Canada.
In the light of the findings of the Iacobucci Inquiry, the Committee recommends that
the State party take immediate steps to ensure that Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou
Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin receive redress, including adequate compensation
and rehabilitation. Furthermore, the Committee urges the State party to promptly
approve Omar Khadr’s transfer application and ensure that he receives appropriate
redress for human rights violations that the Canadian Supreme Court has ruled he
experienced.
Intelligence information obtained by torture
17.
While taking note of the State party’s national security priorities, the Committee
expresses its serious concern about the Ministerial Direction to the Canadian Security
Intelligence Service (CSIS), which could result in violations of article 15 of the Convention
in the sense that it allows intelligence information that may have been derived through
mistreatment by foreign States to be used within Canada; and allows CSIS to share
information with foreign agencies even when doing so poses a serious risk of torture, in
exceptional cases involving threats to public safety, in contravention to recommendation 14
from the Arar Inquiry (arts. 2, 10, 15 and 16).
The Committee recommends that the State party modify the Ministerial Direction to
CSIS to bring it in line with Canada’s obligations under the Convention. The State
party should strengthen its provision of training on the absolute prohibition of torture
in the context of the activities of intelligence services.
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