Almrei (Re)

Almrei (Re)

On full review of public and classified material the Court found Ministers failed to show objectively reasonable grounds that Almrei is presently a danger to Canada or a member of an organization engaged in terrorism; key intelligence relied upon (notably some human-source reports and open-source citations) were unreliable, contradicted by surveillance/intercept material, or stale/non-authoritative; CSIS/Ministers breached duties of candour in preparing the SIR; given the Court’s weighing of all admissible evidence and limited deference post-Charkaoui, the certificate must be quashed as not reasonable.

Citation
2009 FC 1263
Parties
Referring Ministers: Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration; Named Person / Respondent: Hassan Almrei; Special Advocates: Special Advocates
Court
Federal Court
Jurisdiction
Canada
Judgment Date
14 December 2009
Procedural Posture
Security Certificate Review Under IRPA S.77 / Federal Court Reasonableness Determination (certificate Quashed)
Outcome
Security certificate quashed — not reasonable
Legal Topics
Security Certificates, Inadmissibility (s.34 Irpa), Reasonable Grounds to Believe Standard, Special Advocate Regime, Disclosure and Retention Obligations (charkaoui Ii), Human Source Reliability, Exclusion of Torture Tainted Evidence, Abuse of Process / Duty of Candour
Source Language
English
Immigration Law National Security Law Administrative Law Constitutional Law Evidence Law Criminal Law Security Certificates Inadmissibility (s.34 Irpa) +6 more

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Parties

Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration

Referring Ministers

Hassan Almrei

Named Person / Respondent

Special Advocates

Special Advocates

Procedural Posture

Security Certificate Review Under IRPA S.77 / Federal Court Reasonableness Determination (certificate Quashed)

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether the February 22, 2008 security certificate was reasonable under s.77 IRPA
  2. 2 Interpretation and application of s.34(1)(c),(d),(f) (terrorism; danger to security; member of organization)
  3. 3 Appropriate standard and application of proof in certificate proceedings

Ratio Decidendi

On full review of public and classified material the Court found Ministers failed to show objectively reasonable grounds that Almrei is presently a danger to Canada or a member of an organization engaged in terrorism; key intelligence relied upon (notably some human-source reports and open-source citations) were unreliable, contradicted by surveillance/intercept material, or stale/non-authoritative; CSIS/Ministers breached duties of candour in preparing the SIR; given the Court’s weighing of all admissible evidence and limited deference post-Charkaoui, the certificate must be quashed as not reasonable.

Court Disposition

Security certificate quashed — not reasonable

Orders

  • Security certificate signed February 22, 2008 quashed (not reasonable)
  • Formal certification questions for appeal deferred; parties to confer and propose certified questions to Court