by Matthew Behrens

“In a constitutional democracy, governments must act accountably and in conformity with the Constitution and the rights and liberties it guarantees. ... Security concerns cannot be used to excuse procedures that do not conform to fundamental justice.” - Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice McLachlin, Charkaoui v. Canada, February 23, 2007

On February 23, 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled unconstitutional the notorious secret-hearing security-certificate procedure. A process so invested in secrecy, lack of procedural safeguards, and the complete inability of a person named in the certificate to know the case against him condemns the process as fundamentally flawed and unfair.