U.S. has detained 83,000 in war on terror. By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States has detained more than 83,000 foreigners in the four years of the war on terror, enough to nearly fill the NFL’s largest stadium. The administration defends the practice of holding detainees in prisons from Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay as a critical tool to stop the insurgency in Iraq, maintain stability in
Afghanistan and get known and suspected terrorists off the streets. Roughly 14,500 detainees remain in U.S. custody, primarily in Iraq.

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Citizenshift-Measuring Security Measures
CitizenShift (NFB) & überculture present

MEASURING SECURITY MEASURES
A close look at immigration, media and law in a secure Canada
• Are recent security laws and policies in Canada undermining civil liberties?
• Has mainstream media in Canada adequately framed and analyzed this issue?

>From Halifax to Vancouver, CitizenShift and überculture with the participation of refugee and immigrant advocacy groups have organized two exciting weeks of film screenings and panel discussions in over ten Canadian cities. These symposiums will be held from October 17-30, 2005, and are meant to provide an open and accessible forum for debate on the issues of immigration, media, law and national security in our country.

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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP OPPOSES BEEFING OF TRANSIT SECURITY

Vancouver August 9, 2005- Immigrant and refugee communities represented in No One is Illegal Vancouver  are outraged at the security meetings conducted by Federal Transportation Minister Jean Lapierre to discuss security in Canada’s public transit system in the wake of the London bombings. 

Upgraded security measures in the post 9/11 climate have led to an increase of racial profiling and invasion of privacy rights. Within weeks of 9/11, Canada has implemented a wide array of laws and practices in the areas of criminal law, immigration law, tax law, employment, intelligence services, and airport security. Further Orwellian measures, such as the increased use of cameras in subway and trains proposed by LaPierre, will have a devastating effect on the right to privacy in public spaces and despite government assurances, will have a disproportionate impact on racialized communities.

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National Post. Union activist belongs to terror group, CSIS says By Stewart Bell

Toronto – A Toronto trade union activist and 50-year-old mother of three has been identified by Canada’s intelligence service as a secret member of the Colombian terrorist group FARC.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) alleges in a newly released report that Amparo Torres is a member of the outlawed Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, better known as FARC.FARC is a Marxist guerrilla group formed in 1964 that is responsible for a brutal campaign of bombings, assassinations, kidnappings and hijackings in Colombia.

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Coalition warns of global mass surveillance By JIM BRONSKILL

OTTAWA (CP) – Civil liberties groups called on countries around the globe Wednesday to rein in “intrusive and discriminatory measures” – from national ID cards to no-fly lists – implemented in the name of fighting terrorism. The International Campaign Against Mass Surveillance decried the growing web of security tools employed by governments in the post-Sept. 11 era to profile, monitor and track individuals.

Driven largely by the United States, countries are aggressively using information gathered and shared through electronic systems to crack down on dissent, close borders to refugees and activists, and seize and detain people without reasonable grounds, the ad-hoc coalition says.

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