Almrei has demanded a written guarantee that the temperature in his cell will be kept at 22° Celsius (72° Fahrenheit). While officials of Ontario’s Ministry of Public Safety and Security insist that there is no problem, a prison guard’s report from 1996 stated that one inmate had died that year in the same cell. According to the report, the temperature at the time stood at 10° Celsius (50° Fahrenheit).

The October 19 rally marked the second anniversary of Almrei’s imprisonment without charges, two years after he arrived from Syria. He has been held in solitary confinement since his arrest.

The Syrian man is jailed under a government decree known as a “national security” certificate. Using secret evidence that he is denied access to, officials claim that he has links to Al Qaeda, and have ordered his deportation.

Kim Koyama told the rally, “I’m here to make sure history is not repeated.” As Japanese-Canadians, he said, “My family and their friends and community were imprisoned without charges during World War II and their property was confiscated. The same injustice is being repeated right now. When we allow this to happen to any ethnic group, all our rights are at risk.”

The continued jailing of Almrei is one of several ongoing abuses by the government of basic rights—justified as part of the “war on terror”—that have sparked protests in recent weeks.

The previous day, 85 people took part in a public forum demanding the release of seven men still held without charges in a maximum-security prison outside Toronto. They were among 21 men from Pakistan and India arrested in August and September under a “terrorist dragnet” dubbed “Project Thread.”

The government has since backed off from its terrorism allegations, and has released 14 of the men. Authorities have continued to pursue them, however, for alleged immigration violations.

The meeting demanded that the Canadian government clear the names of all 21 men and provide compensation to them. The speakers included two of the released men and Sophie Harkat, who is fighting to free Mohamed Harkat, her husband. He is also jailed without charges.

Sophie Harkat told the meeting, “I wish I didn’t have to be here in front of you, but there is a lot of injustice in Canada.” Mohammed Naeem, one of the released detainees, said, “I came to Canada with a dream to improve my medical career…. If people like yourselves had not jumped into the matter, where would I be?” The first “Project Thread” arrests took place in May, when two men were seized and then deported under allegations of citing a defunct business school on their visa applications.

The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act gives the federal government the power to jail indefinitely any foreign national if authorities claim a “reasonable suspicion” of a threat to “national security.”

Of the 14 “Project Thread” arrestees who have been released, one had his case withdrawn and left Canada, and four have received exclusion orders. As we go to press, 12 have claimed refugee status. At least two of those still jailed are slated to be deported. Several plan to sue the Canadian government over the way they have been treated.

Immigration Minister Denis Coderre and his officials have continued to defend Ottawa’s actions, in spite of the fact that they are not persisting with the “terrorism” allegations. Department spokeswoman Giovanna Gatti said that investigations had “alleviated” any security concerns, but that “we had reasonable suspicion, [and] whenever you have reasonable suspicion it is our duty to investigate.”

Meanwhile, the government has created a new Integrated National Security Assessment Centre (INSAC), bringing together officials from foreign affairs, defense, immigration, transport, and law enforcement. The “homeland security” setup will be located in the Ottawa headquarters of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Canada’s spy agency.

Ottawa is also probing instituting a national identity card, and introducing biometrics—the use of physical traits such as fingerprints and iris scans as security identifiers—on passports, as well as on the so-called “Maple Leaf” card, now mandatory for permanent residents.

Patricia O’Beirne is the Communist League candidate for mayor of Toronto.  
 
 
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