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| Subject: Stopping Terrorist CBSA going to far |
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To All
A recent ruling by the Federal Court of Appeal in Ottawa’s favour will make life even more difficult for people such as Kujjo and Joseph, immigration and refugee lawyers say.
In March, the appeal court reversed a decision by a lower court and denied a judicial review application by Muhsen Ahmed Ramadan Agraira, a failed refugee claimant from Libya, who was found to be a member of the Libyan National Salvation Front and inadmissible on security grounds.
The court reaffirmed the discretionary authority of the minister of public safety in granting relief to those deemed inadmissible. It said the minister need not look at humanitarian factors in the decision.
That discretionary power will “allow immigration officers to brand people as terrorists based on flimsy evidence,” said Agraira’s lawyer, Lorne Waldman, who has filed an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Canada’s immigration law says a person does not have to personally commit acts, or be involved in the management of a terrorist or subversive or criminal organization, to be inadmissible. All it takes is if he or she has knowledge of the essential nature of the group and there is “an objective manifestation” of participation in its affairs.
Although the Libyan National Salvation Front was an opposition group that tried to topple Moammar Gadhafi’s regime to build a democratic government, it falls under the definition of being a “subversive” organization.
Agraira admitted to joining the front and was a member for two years. He told immigration officials he wasn’t a committed member because he would support anyone who tried to remove Gadhafi’s autocratic regime.
*****One day a freedom fighter the next day a terrorist.
Toronto Star article http://www.thestar.com/mobile/news/canada/article/1003210--tenuous-links-to-terrorism-keep-refugees-in-limbo-devastate-lives
Roy
cvimmigration.com
[06-06-2011,10:10]
[**.229.192.41]
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