FOUNDED
1968
civil-liberties.ncf.ca
FONDÉE
1968
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FOUNDED
1968 |
civil-liberties.ncf.ca |
FONDÉE
1968 |
News and Announcements
(Last updated April 10, 2012)
April 10, 2012. Ontario Ombudsman André Marin will be speaking Sunday, April 22, at the Ottawa Public Library on the topic of "Effective Police Oversight in Ontario: Myth or Reality?" He will be presenting his latest report "Oversight Undermined." An account of the meeting can be seen by clicking here.
January 10, 2012. A rally to oppose the extradition of Hassan Diab will take place Friday, January 20th at 12 p.m., 275 Sparks St. The aim is to pursuade Justice Minister Nicholson to use his discretionary powers to halt the proceedings. You can help by signing the petition. Click here. For further information about the rally, click here.
December 16, 2011. Video clips of the December 4 meeting on Police conduct at the Ottawa Public Library are available on the Dialogue with Diversity Web site run by Qais Ghanem. To see the clips, click here.
David Burton, main organizer of the highly successful, well-attended public meeting at the Ottawa Public Library December 4, was interviewed on radio recently about the meeting. Here are the links the interview of David Burton about the event and other civil liberties matters, by Denis Rancourt on Radio Station CHUO, fm 89.1:http://trainradio.blogspot.com/2011/12/david-burton-on-civil-liberties-and_12.html
http://www.archive.org/details/2011-12-01CHUO-TrainDavid-Burton-Civil-Liberties-Association-Part-II
More news of the meeting can be found in the Public Meetings section of this site.
December 2, 2011. David Burton was interviewed yesterday on CHUO about our upcoming meeting on Sunday. To hear the interview click on the following:
http://trainradio.blogspot.com/2011/12/david-burton-on-civil-liberties-and.html
http://www.archive.org/details/2011-12-01CHUO-TrainDavid-Burton-Civil-Liberties-Association
November 21, 2011. Ottawa Kiosk is publicizing our event as described below. In return we have agreed to mention this assistance along with their URL. It is http://www.ottawakiosk.com/.
The Civil Liberties Association - National Capital Region, is putting on a public interest event, a panel discussion
on the topic of "Civil Rights & Liberties, Law Enforcement, Police Action & Police Conduct,"
on December 04/Sunday @ 2:00pm. at the Ottawa Public Library, Main Branch (Laurier and Metcalfe) Theatre.
“FREE ADMISSION” & “FREE PARKING ON SUNDAYS”
The participants on the discussion panel are:
Ottawa Police Services Board Chair, Eli El-Chantiry
Ottawa Police Chief, Vern White
Civil Liberties Association Honorary General Counsel, Lawrence Greenspon
Canadian Civil Liberties Association General Counsel, Nathalie Des Rosiers
U. of Ottawa legal aid general council, Blair Crew
Carleton U. Criminology professor, Darryl Davies
Moderator: David Burton – Civil Liberties Association – National Capital Region
There will be a reception at 4:00pm.
Everyone is invited and everyone is welcome….
This event is being hosted by the
Civil Liberties Association – National Capital Region
Contact David @ burtonx22222@hotmail.com for any additional information.
The purpose of this public interest event is to raise the awareness of Civil Rights & Liberties,
some of the issues involved with Civil Rights & Liberties and the connection and relationship
of the police to Civil Rights & Liberties.
* * *
September 30, 2011. At the recent demonstration on Parliament Hill Ottawa police handed out a letter explaining to demonstrators what behaviour is, and what is not, protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. To see the contents of the letter, click here.
August 12, 2011. Open Media recently sent a letter, signed by civil liberties associations, including this one, to Prime Minister Stephen Harper protesting plans to spy on Internet communications without civil liberties safeguards. Individuals who wish to sign a similar message can do so by going to <http://stopspying.ca>. The letter read as follows:
We oppose mandatory Internet surveillance. This scheme is poorly thought out, costly, and will leave our personal information less secure. Unchecked mass surveillance is a breach of our fundamental right to privacy.
Attn: Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Attn: Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson
Attn: Public Safety Minister Vic Toews
July 5, 2011. Letter from Leo Lehtiniemi to Anna Maria Tremonti, CBC "The Current," June 23, 2011, has just been posted.
June 26, 2011. The 2010-2011 annual report of the Office of the Ontario Ombudsman can now be read. Go to their Web site by clicking here. You can also reach it through our Links.
June 22, 2011. Due to the postal strike a letter notifying members of today's annual general meeting was not received by many people. There was discussion among the Executive about postponing the meeting, but there was agreement that there would be worse problems resulting from postponement, with the summer holidays coming up. So the meeting will be held tonight at 6 p.m. in the Ottawa Public Library in the lower floor near the auditorium. All are welcome.
April 4, 2011. The Executive meeting is postponed one week, until April 11, at 5:30 p.m.
March 16, 2011. To see the special report on Hassan Diab, submitted to the Board of Directors in January, 2011, click here.
February 23, 2011. The CLA-NCR postal address is Box 4458, Station E, K1S 2L0. Donations can be sent to that address and tax receipts will be issued to those who provide a return address.
February 22, 2011. The CLA-NCR is sponsoring an essay contest for students in any Ottawa area high school. For details click here.
August 28, 2010. First Executive meeting Monday, August 30, 5:30 p.m., McNabb Community Centre, Computer Lab Room. The following meeting will be October 4, 2010, same location.
June 16, 2010. The annual general meeting of the association will be held June 28, 2010 at 6 p.m. at the McNabb Community Centre, Computer Lab Room. See Agenda for details.
May 27, 2010. Ken Rubin, a pioneer in the use of Access to Information, and a speaker to our Association on previous occasions, has announced a new web site. Go to http://www.kenrubin.ca.
March 2, 2010. Meetings of the Association Executive are now held monthly at the McNabb Community Centre, 180 Percy St., Ottawa, on the first Monday of each month, starting at 5:30 p.m. There will be no meeting in April, as too many members of the Executive will be unavailable (out of the country, for example). The reason for moving meetings from City Hall to the new location is related to the considerable rental price difference. Parking is also more convenient.
June 10, 2008. The new Executive was elected last night. Names and contact information have been posted.
June 9, 2008. The annual general meeting of the association will be held Monday in the Billings Room at City Hall (upstairs, near the Lisgar Street entrance) at 5:30 p.m. The President, Jack MacKinnon, will present his report, together with the Treasurer, Rudy Kamel, and a new slate of officers will be elected.
January 3, 2008. Tom Trottier has given a link to a lot of documentation concerning Lawful Access. One of the most recent items is the BCCLA submission <http://www.bccla.org/Update/Oct07update.htm>.
March 10, 2005 Leo Lehtiniemi has a special report on the first day of the University of Ottawa conference on The Concealed Eye, dealing with Privacy and Anonymity, March 4-5. Click here to see it.
March 10, 2005. Leo has a report on the Raoul Wallenberg Human Rights Symposium held in Toronto in January. To see it click here.
October 11, 2004. A public meeting on the subject of Whistle-Blowing will be held Monday, November 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the downstairs auditorium of the Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library, corner Laurier and Metcalfe. Further details will be posted when available.
October 7, 2004. An important letter was received from the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, The Honourable Irwin Cotler, dated September 10, 2004, in response to Leo Lehtiniemi's letter of March 2, 2004.
1. The Ottawa Citizen, in response to our request, has sent us their policy statement on the use of ethnic, racial and religious descriptors in headlines and articles (Letter, May 5, 2004). To see the letter and policy, click here. Donald Rowat, a director of our association, has an article dealing with how to remove the democratic deficit by the use of the Ombudsman in Canada in Policy Options. To see it go to http://www.irpp.org/po/po_home.htm#rowat.
2. A letter was received from Hon. A. Anne McLellan, P.C., M.P., Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada. To see the letter click here, or view the Letters box.
3.
As a result of annual consultation meetings between the Department of Foreign
Affairs and International Trade and non-governmental organizations, the executive
meeting scheduled for February 2 has had to be postponed to February 9. See
the Draft Agenda.
Several letters have been sent to various recipients, including the Ottawa
Citizen, most recently a letter by Leo Lehtiniemi published February 8.
4. Donald C. Rowat, Director (Academic) of our Association has just published an article, "The new private-sector ombudsman," in the November Policy Options. The web site address of Policy Options is www.irpp.org.
5.Leo Lehtiniemi has drafted a policy paper on the proposed National Identity Card. The draft was approved by the Executive at the monthly meeting December 1, 2003. To see the paper go to "Special Reports" on the main CLA-NCR web page.
6. In view of Mr. Andrew Telegdi's speech on June 10, it is worth pointing out that the Canadian Civil Liberties Association wrote in their Spring newsletter: "While acknowledging the acceptability of revoking the citizenship of those who obtained it through a 'significant deception', CCLA argued that the government should be required to prove such deception on the basis of more than 'a mere proponderance of evidence'." According to CCLA, "People do not pull up stakes and relocate from one country to another with ease. It is often accompanied by 'substantial hardship'." The CCLA also argued to the Parliamentary committee reviewing C-18 that there should be a right of appeal. It urged that "special advocates be appointed, with security clearance, to represent the interests of impugned citizens at in camera hearings of the Federal Court in which deportations on security grounds are being considered."
7. The annual meeting of the Association will be held Tuesday, June 10 at 7 p.m. in the Public Service Alliance of Canada building, 233 Gilmour. The featured speaker will be Andrew Telegdi, M.P. (L., Waterloo-Kitchener) who will talk on "Naturalized Canadians and Second-Class Citizenship." Mr. Telegdi is a former Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. He is actively involved at the committee level with Bill C-18, an Act respecting Canadian Citizenship. He has been concerned among other things to make revocation of citizenship a matter for judicial scrutiny, as distinct from mere ministerial fiat. To learn more about Mr. Telegdi go to www.telegdi.org. His talk will begin at 7:30 p.m., following the business part of the meeting. Everyone is welcome and there is no charge. The scope of discussion could extend to the recent profiling of immigrants from the Middle East and other Muslim areas.
8. The Executive meeting scheduled for February 3 has been changed to February 10 to accommodate the annual meeting on human rights sponsored by DFAIT. The postponed meeting will be at the usual time, 5:30 p.m., in the Billings Room at City Hall.
9. A brief has been submitted to the Lawful Access Consultation in the Criminal Law Policy Section of the Department of Justice. The document was written by Leo Lehtiniemi and approved by the Executive at its meeting on December 2, 2002. To see the document, click here.
10. Letters have been sent to Deputy Police Chief and the Ottawa Witness Group to praise their successful efforts to ensure that demonstrations in June concurrent with the G-8 meetings would be non-violent. To see the letters, go to the home page and click on "Letters."
11. The Executive meeting took place September 30 and will take place October 28 this month, contrary to the usual practice of holding it on the first Monday of the month. At this meeting it was decided to hold a public meeting in mid-November on the topic of Racial Profiling.
12.
A new report on Bill C-55 by Leo Lehtiniemi has been posted under Special
Reports. Click here to see it.
Leo has been interviewed by CJOH and other media on civil liberties issues
recently. Randal Marlin made comments to Le Droit on police initiatives
towards dialoguing with protesting groups. The comments appeared June 5, page
2.
13.
Minutes of the May 6 Executive meeting have been approved. Click
here to see May 6 Minutes.
Minutes of the April 1 meeting are also now posted. Click
here to see April 1 Minutes.
To
see Minutes of the March 4 Executive
meeting click here.
14. Leo Lehtiniemi's letter to the Ottawa Citizen was published March 16. To see a copy click here.
15. At the March 4, 2002, meeting, there were reports from members of the Executive who attended the February 25-27 consultations with non-governmental human rights organizations, sponsored by DFAIT. It was agreed that Leo would write a letter expressing his viewpoint to Mr. John von Kaufmann, Second Secretary, Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations. To see his letter, click here.
16.
The Citizens Panel on Policing and the Community (see the February Minutes)
has a web site full of documentation about police policies relating to the
G-20 summit held in Ottawa in November. To connect with this web site, http://members.rogers.com/citizenspanel,
click here. Dr. Anne Squire, the first Lay woman to be elected moderator
of the United Church of Canada (1986-1988) has been added to the panel.
17. The question of boycotting the Rideau Centre was an agenda item for the January 7 meeting of the Executive. The Charlatan reported in its December 7 issue that Vincent Mosco, a Carleton University mass communications professor has undertaken such action following several arrests and the banning of an anti-globalization protester from the mall's premises November 17. An e-mail was sent December 7 to Robert Hasler, general manager of the Rideau Centre, inviting him to state his position on the matter. His response has been received, and was noted at the meeting.
18. Donald Rowat has sent a letter to the Globe and Mail on the appointment of the Integrity Commissioner and the inadequacies of his power to protect whistleblowers. Click here to read it.
19. A brief on Bill C-36, the government's Anti-terrorist Bill, has been submitted from our Association November 9, 2001 to the Commons Committee and on December 4, 2001 to the Senate Special Committee. Look for it under the Special Reports section, or click here.
21. Public meeting on tax credit for private school tuition, October 22, 2001.
The Civil
Liberties Association - National Capital Region (CLA-NCR) sponsored a public
forum October 22. 2001, to discuss the recent Ontario tax credit for private
schooling, and its future implications for the education system in the province.
Panelists were Heather-jane Robertson, former director of professional development
for the Canadian Teachers Federation; Elaine Hopkins, president of the Ontario
Federation of Independent Schools, Erica Shaker, an education researcher with
the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives; Joseph Ben-Ami of the Ontario
Association of Jewish Day Schools; and Qasem Hasan Mahmud, chair of the Islamic
Schools Federation of Ontario. A representative of the Roman Catholic school
community was also been invited. The event was chaired by Jack MacKinnon,
former chair of the Ottawa Roman Catholic Separate School Board and a past
president of the CLA-NCR. A full report
of the meeting was made by Ray Pearmain, of Legiscan; click here to see it.