Secret Hearings and the Right to a Fair Trial: 2015 and Beyond

2015 was a busy year. It saw the passages of Bills C-51 and C-44, which made it easier for the government to gather and share information in the name of security, while limiting disclosure and adversarial challenge in legal proceedings concerned with substantive rights. Less conspicuous developments included a timely evaluation of the Special Advocate Program (SAP) and a finding, by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), that Manickavasagam Suresh is inadmissible to Canada - presumably for reasons relating to national security. I say “presumably” because the finding rested on secret evidence and has not yet been reported. Readers may be familiar with Mr. Suresh by virtue of the famous 2002 case Suresh v. Canada, where the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) ruled that Canada may deport persons to face the substantial risk of torture under “exceptional” circumstances.