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CCPA MONITOR ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVES Volume 21 No. 7 Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives December 2014 / January 2015 Maher Arar – Ten Years Later Still waiting for proper oversight of security and intelligence activities By Gar Pardy (Photo by Adam(Photo Scotti) Former ambassador and long-serving diplomat Gar Pardy delivered t has been a long day. It has been an even a longer the following speech to a conference in Ottawa on October 29 called week in the affairs of our country. The events, last week, Arar+10: National Security and Human Rights, A Decade Ileading to the murder of two members of the Canadian Later. The day-long event, co-organized by Amnesty International, Armed Forces, have provoked commentaries ranging from the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, the Human Rights the ridiculous to the profound. Each in its own way provides Research and Education Centre, and the Centre for International a tragic backdrop to the substance of this conference. Policy Studies, brought together judges, lawyers, journalists and It is important we dismiss the idea that something called rights defenders to discuss the personal dimension of national Canadian “innocence” has been lost in the midst of these security–related human rights violations, challenges for the legal tragic events. Unfortunately, a Canada “innocent” from the profession, and ongoing concerns related to oversight of national troubles of the world is one of our national conceits that do security activities. Pardy, a self-described son of the Rock, was the head not withstand close examination. of consular affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs at the time of A more telling observation may have come from an ad Canadian citizen Maher Arar’s rendition from the United States to in last Thursday’s Globe and Mail.
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