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Lawyers say Canada government needs to move forward with an apology and com- pensation for its lack of action in protecting these individuals. "The [Stephen] Harper government has done nothing," said Gail Davidson, executive director for Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada. Davidson pointed out that despite the Iacobucci inquiry report filed in 2008 that found Canada contributed "indirectly" to the torture of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou- Elmaati, and Muayyed Nureddin, plus a 2009 Commons public safety standing committee recommendation calling for an apol- ogy and compensation, and the efforts by Vancouver NDP MP Don Davies, there has been little done for the three men. "There has been no public accountability," said Davidson, L adding that the process of the Iacobucci inquiry was flawed as commissioner Frank Iacobucci provided one report to gov- ernment, which was said to contain information sensitive to national security, and a second public report. She said when information is held in secret, there is no opportunity for lawyers to examine the information upon which inquiry findings are based. Davidson, along with executive director David Eby of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and moderator and lawyer Louisa Winn, formed a discussion panel after the airing of the documentary Ghosts which looks at the plight of the three men, unknown to one another at the time of their confinement, and their fight to get an apology and compensation from the gov- ernment. It looks at the role that Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the government played in the men's detention after the 9-11 tragedy and the ensuing anti-Muslim sentiment. A later film shown at the four-day event was War Don Don, which focused on the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the trial of Issa Sesay, a rebel commander and leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and now convicted war criminal following the bloody decade-long Sierra Leone civil war. Participating in a discussion with the audience was B.C. lawyer Wendy Harvey who had gone to Sierra Leone to work with the prosecutor's office during trials. Harvey spent 18 months at the special court from 2006 to late 2007. She participated in the trials of the Civil Defense Force, a paramilitary group that fought for government but was also prosecuted for war crimes, and the RUF, where Sesay was a leader and before leaving was the interim head of the Charles Taylor trial team until Brenda Hollis arrived and hearings were moved to The Hague. Taylor was the former president of Liberia and heavily involved in the civil war. The experience of working with the court brought awyers attending the 2010 Amnesty International Film Festival airing of a documentary on the torture of three Muslim Canadians in Egypt and Syria said the Canadian (L to r) Lawyers Louisa Winn, David Eby of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, and Gail Davidson of Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada participated in a panel discussion with the audience after the airing of . Harvey into contact with witnesses who told of heinous crimes that ranged from rape and murder to amputating limbs in a reign of terror that included child soldiers. She worked in an environment where there was little infrastructure, great pov- erty, and was "humbled by the resilience shown by the people who make the best of very, very little." — JS ABORIGINAL LAW SINCE DELGAMUUKW Editor-in-Chief: Maria Morellato, Q.C. and contributors EXPLORE THE SHIFTING LEGAL LANDSCAPE With the Supreme Court of Canada's 1997 seminal decision in Delgamuukw v. British Columbia, the complexity, nature and substance of Canadian jurisprudence on Aboriginal law continues to rapidly evolve. This text analyzes the major legal developments since Delgamuukw and provides practical guidance for those who work in this quickly changing legal landscape. Hardbound • 592 pp • 2009 • $120 P/C 0828010000 • ISBN 978-0-88804-486-0 canadalawbook.ca For a 30-day, no-risk evaluation call: 1.800.565.6967 Canada Law Book, a Thomson Reuters business. CL0111 Prices subject to change without notice, to applicable taxes and shipping & handling. www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com JAN UARY 2011 13 Ghosts needs to apolo g ize