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to support accusations of terrorism. The security certificate against Charkaoui, a landed immigrant from Morocco, col- lapsed because the government said it did not think it was worth it to reveal national security secrets, as ordered by the court. Former CSIS director Jim Judd once referred to the court's scrutiny as a "judi- cial jihad" and former public safety minis- ter Peter Van Loan has publicly lamented that he fears for the government's ability to fight terrorism in light of "an increasingly complex legal environment." The government, which has been reviewing its entire national security pol- icy and practices, has not said whether it will replace the security-certificate pro- gram. Federal officials, however, secured a much-needed victory last December when the Federal Court upheld the certificate against Algerian-born Mohamed Harkat, a former Ottawa gas station attendant, and concluded that the enhanced regime, created after the Supreme Court struck down the former system, is constitutional. It was a victory that gave pause to those who had asserted that the Federal Court was becoming more emboldened and less likely to defer to lawmakers as it was in the early years following Sept. 11. While federal legislation has produced relentless litigation in the last decade, legal experts contend the greatest threat to human rights and civil liberties in post- Sept. 11 Canada is not the law, but the less formal and secret world of domestic and international intelligence sharing and surveillance. "The general public cannot assess blame," says Des Rosiers, "because we don't know what is happening." Roach, echoing wide sentiment that there is sparse scrutiny of national security practices, says public inquiries, such as the one into the treatment of Maher Arar, have exposed the need for strengthened oversight. "The fact is, by international standards, we have a subpar accountability structure in Canada," says Roach. "There is no effec- tive audit of how police, intelligence agen- cies, customs, financial intelligence, and foreign affairs departments share informa- tion about suspected terrorists." The legal community, the political opposition on Parliament Hill, human rights activists, and civil libertarians are among those who persist in calling on the federal government to act on a five- year-old recommendation from Justice Dennis O'Connor, the judge who led the Arar inquiry, for greater scrutiny of the security community and better informa- tion sharing between counter-terrorism bodies. Arar, an Ottawa software engineer who lived in relative obscurity before Sept. 11, became a national symbol of intel- ligence SNAFUs. The Syrian-Canadian was put on a plane and sent to Damascus and tortured after being arrested during a stopover at a New York airport in 2002, based on faulty information that Canadian authorities passed on to the United States. Among other things, O'Connor said the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, the independent watchdog for the Mounties, should be revamped and given the power to review all of the force's national secu- rity activities. The commission has been LET EXPERT GUIDANCE HELP YOU ANALYZE FEDERAL LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT LAW THE 2011 ANNOTATED CANADA LABOUR CODE RONALD M. SNYDER Stay up to date with legal developments applicable to Federal union and non-union employees with The 2011 Annotated Canada Labour Code. You'll gain a better understanding of the Canada Labour Code and jurisprudence with an extensive collection of case law annotations and the expert analysis of a leading lawyer to guide you. THIS PORTABLE TEXT IS A COMPREHENSIVE, CLEARLY ORGANIZED REFERENCE THAT GIVES YOU ACCESS TO: • The Canada Labour Code, its regulations and all other relevant legislation enacted pursuant to the Code • An extensive collection of case law annotations provides in-depth commentary and analysis on the case and how it relates to a particular section of the Code • The most recent pronouncements governing the practices and procedures of the Canada Industrial Relations Board as defined in the Regulations • The latest interpretations on health and safety laws governing federal undertakings, and the requirements which are necessary to invoke a refusal to work for dangerous reasons AVAILABLE RISK FREE FOR 30 DAYS Order online at www.carswell.com Call Toll-Free: 1-800-387-5164 In Toronto: 416-609-3800 ORDER # 982695-64220 $128 Softcover approx. 1580 pages December 2010 978-0-7798-2695-7 Shipping and handling are extra. Price subject to change without notice and subject to applicable taxes. 00181ZP-A26382-64220-CL 1/2Horz.indd 1 www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com SEPTEMBER 2011 29 7/27/11 10:17 AM