CAT/C/CR/34/CAN
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(b)
The direct application of the criminal norms cited in subparagraph (a) above to
the State party’s military personnel wherever they are located, by means of the National Defense
Act;
(c)
The general inclusion in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act 2002 of
torture within the meaning of article 1 of the Convention as an independent ground qualifying
a person as in need of protection (section 97, subsection 1 of the Act) and as a basis for
non-refoulement (sect. 115, subsect. 1), where there are substantial grounds for believing that
the threat of torture exists;
(d)
Act 2001;
The careful constitutional scrutiny of the powers conferred by the Anti-Terrorism
(e)
The recognition of the Supreme Court of Canada that enhanced procedural
guarantees have to be made available, even in national security cases, and the State party’s
subsequent decision to extend enhanced procedural protections to all cases of persons
challenging on grounds of risk of torture, Ministerial expulsion decisions;
(f)
The changes to Corrections policy and practice implemented to give effect to the
recommendations of the Arbour Report on the treatment of female offenders in the federal prison
system;
(g)
The requirement that body cavity searches be carried out by medical rather than
correctional staff in a non-emergency situation and after written consent and access to legal
advice have been provided;
(h)
The efforts made by the State party, in response to the issue of overrepresentation
of indigenous offenders in the correctional system previously identified by the Committee, to
develop innovative and culturally sensitive alternative criminal justice mechanisms, such as the
use of healing lodges.
C. Subjects of concern
4.
The Committee expresses its concern at:
(a)
The failure of the Supreme Court of Canada, in Suresh v. Minister of Citizenship
and Immigration, to recognize at the level of domestic law the absolute nature of the protection
of article 3 of the Convention, which is not subject to any exception whatsoever;
(b)
The alleged roles of the State party’s authorities in the expulsion of Canadian
national Mr. Maher Arar, expelled from the United States to the Syrian Arab Republic where
torture was reported to be practised;
(c)
The blanket exclusion by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act 2002
(sect. 97) of the status of refugee or person in need of protection for persons falling within the
security exceptions set out in the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its Protocol;
as a result, such persons’ substantive claims are not considered by the Refugee Protection
Division or reviewed by the Refugee Appeal Division;