The statement published Thursday in the Globe and Mail and La Presse newspapers comes as the Conservative government proposes a new, expanded mandate for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
"Protecting human rights and protecting public safety are complementary objectives, but experience has shown that serious human rights abuses can occur in the name of maintaining national security," the statement says.
"Given the secrecy around national security activities, abuses can go undetected and without remedy.
"This results not only in devastating personal consequences for the individuals, but a profoundly negative impact on Canada's reputation as a rights-respecting nation."
The Security Intelligence Review Committee currently oversees CSIS, doing several studies each year and tabling a report in Parliament.
Critics point out the review committee is just that, a review body, not an oversight agency peering over the spy service's shoulder in real time.
The statement is signed by Jean Chretien, Paul Martin, Joe Clark, John Turner and 18 others involved in security matters over the years.
They include five former Supreme Court justices, seven former Liberal solicitors general and ministers of justice, three past members of the intelligence review committee, two former privacy commissioners and a retired RCMP watchdog.
The letter notes that detailed recommendations for a new oversight regime, proposed in 2006 by the federal inquiry into the Maher Arar torture affair, were never implemented.
Efforts to enhance parliamentary oversight of national security agencies have also been unsuccessful, it points out.
Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.ca/
Author: CP
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