Summary

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Summary

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Public international law - Constitutional law - Canadian Charter (civil) - Civil rights - Canadian Charter (criminal) - Immigration law - Procedural law - Evidence - Security certificate - Inadmissibility - Judicial validation of certificate by determination, by designated judge of Federal Court, of reasonableness of grounds for this document signed by Minister of Immigration and Solicitor General of Canada - Evidence partly (in instant case) or entirely secret - Procedure partly ex parte - Prohibition against appeal from or judicial review of decisions of designated judge - Detention incidental to inadmissibility - International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 14 - Constitution Act, 1867, preamble, ss. 96 et seq. - Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, ss. 7 to 15 - Canadian Bill of Rights, ss. 1 and 2 - Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, S.C. 2001, c. 27, ss. 33 and 77 to 82 - Whether proceeding and judicial review procedure provided for in s. 9 of Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (ss. 33 and 77 to 85) violate s. 2(e) of Canadian Bill of Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and in particular arts. 2, 14 and 26 thereof, or Constitution of Canada.

Adil Charkaoui was a permanent resident when, in May 2003, he was arrested and stated to be inadmissible under a certificate issued by the authorized ministers, and upheld by the designated judge of the Federal Court, on the basis of information that was partly secret. The portion of the evidence that was disclosed included an identification of Mr. Charkaoui by persons who were probably involved in the Al-Qaeda network. Mr. Charkaoui attempted unsuccessfully to appeal his continued detention and then challenged the Canadian security certificate procedure by means of forty objections relating to the Constitution or to international law. The designated judge held that he had jurisdiction to rule on these questions and then answered them in the negative. The Federal Court of Appeal affirmed his judgment. Following a fourth review of the grounds for his detention, Mr. Charkaoui was conditionally released on February 17, 2005.

Lower Court Rulings