Canada Immigration Refugee Protection Act and Permanent Resident

foreign national: If the certificate named a permanent resident, he or she was entitled to a hearing within 48 hours, according to Guelph Mercury. If the certificate named a foreign national, a hearing was not necessary until 120 days after a federal judge had made a determination, based on secret evidence, that the issuance of the security certificate had been reasonable. Canada in 2007, provisions within Canada Immigration and Refugee Protection Act allowed immigration or public safety officials to issue "security certificates" for persons suspected of terrorist activities. This process often took years. Before the state can detain people for significant periods of time," Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin declared, "it must accord them a fair judicial process." The New York Times hailed the Charkaoui decision, noting the "contrast with the United States could not be more disturbing." The Charkaoui decision came only days after a U.S. federal appeals court ruled that Congress could deny habeas corpus to anyone designated an "enemy combatant." "Lawmakers have only to look to the Canadian court for easy-to-follow directions back to the high ground on basic human rights and civil liberties," said a Times editorial. The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously condemned the security certificate system in Charkaoui. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.