By Elizabeth Bowie
Members of minority groups in Ottawa say they are targeted by the government’s new anti-terrorism law and are afraid to speak out for fear they will be persecuted.
“I know everyone is nervous. Certainly the impression that people have is to keep a low profile, keep quiet, don’t put your head above water. People are frightened to put it simply,” says Carl Nicholson, executive director of the Catholic Immigration Centre, a group that aids immigrants and refugees in the Ottawa area.
Members of the Muslim community say they are especially fearful of the new law, which came into effect in December. Critics say it compromises civil liberties and perpetuates racial profiling.
The legislation gives the authorities new powers such as allowing the preventative arrest of anyone who is suspected of planning a terrorist act, forcing suspects to appear before a judge to give evidence and allowing secret trials.
Muslim organizations were prompted to speak out against the law when the home of an Ottawa area couple was searched recently by police and RCMP.
According to Mohamed Elmasry, president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, officers occupied the home for six hours and confiscated computer and telephone files along with Islamic religious books. Before the couple’s two young children were allowed to leave the residence with a family member, their jackets and boots were searched, he says.
Elmasry says members of the family are not suspects in a crime but were told by police they are acquainted with an individual who is a friend of a current suspect.
He says it is alarming that police now have the power to question individuals, search their residences and confiscate belongings when the person might be one or two people removed from the suspect under investigation.
“The community is very fearful, they are under stress, they don’t know when they will get these visitors (police) and they don’t know how to respond to it or what their rights are under the new law,” says Elmasry.
The fact that the law allows for individuals to be questioned or searched when they are not directly linked to a suspect or are a suspect themselves is making the Muslim community in Ottawa very nervous, says Nazira Tareen, a trustee of the Ottawa Muslim Association. Tareen says her family is concerned she could be targeted under the law because she is active in helping people in the community. Nazira says she realizes she is putting herself in a sensitive position by assisting people she doesn’t know very well.
“What if I’m seen delivering food to a house and that house is under surveillance? I’ll be in trouble. That’s scary,” she says.
Tareen, who is a Canadian citizen and has lived in Ottawa for 34 years, says the younger members of the Muslim community are the most fearful of the new law. She says young people with names such as Jihad or Osama have approached her in recent weeks saying they “have been the butt of all kinds of comments or looks.”
Tareen says many immigrants came to Canada to escape persecution in their homelands but are now questioning how they will be treated in this country. “Now they are saying if Canada is going to target us, what’s the use of staying here,” she says.
Ottawa Centre Liberal MP Mac Harb, says he disagrees with the allegation that minorities are targeted by the law. He has not had any complaints from constituents and feels that the legislation is in conformity with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. “I am confident the law does not target any individual or groups,” he says.
Faisal Joseph, legal counsel for the CIC, says Harb’s comments show he has no idea what the Muslim community in Canada is going through.
“For him to say that he doesn’t believe there is an element of racial profiling or that targets have been set, I would suggest that he take a look around to what’s happening in the country,” he says.
Joseph says the CIC has been handling complaints from all over Canada similar to those of the Ottawa couple.
He says an additional problem is that police are not properly trained to conduct terrorist investigations.
He says he feels many officers were working in different divisions and after Sept.11, are being called upon to investigate terrorism.
“They know nothing about the religion, they know nothing about the customs, they know nothing about the community,” he says.
Many Muslims are afraid to go public with complaints because they do not want to be seen as terrorists in their neighbourhoods, he says.
Tareen says the Muslim community has been cautious with what they say in public since the law went into effect. “Before we felt so free and secure, now we have to watch p’s and q’s and watch what we are saying and doing, which is not a nice feeling,” she says.