Join a Public Vigil at Skyservice and write to the executives of a company that is likely to receive the contract to deport Canada’s five secret trial detainees to torture…unless we can persuade them to refuse an act of complicity in torture

Monday, August 11, 12 Noon
Skyservice, 31 Fasken Drive (just west of Carlingview)
Rides from Downtown Toronto leave at 11 am
Call (416) 651-5800 or email tasc@web.ca to book a seat or it you can help drive people to the vigil

*****If you are unable to attend, please email the company executives with a simple message: Please meet with representatives of Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture to discuss the serious human rights concerns they have been trying to raise with you since February, 2008. Please let us know if you receive any responses! rob_giguere@skyserevice.com, jackie_smalec@skyservice.com, russell_payson@skyservice.com

DEPORTATIONS TO TORTURE

On February 13, 2007, Eugenie Hébert, Manager for Investigations and Removals at Inland Enforcement at the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA), testified in Federal Court about arrangements then being made to forcibly remove secret trial detainee Mahmoud Jaballah to Egypt, even though he would likely face a substantial likelihood of torture or worse upon his arrival there. Mr. Jaballah, along with fellow secret trial detainees Mohammad Mahjoub, Hassan Almrei, Mohamed Harkat, and Adil Charkaoui, all face a substantial likelihood of torture if deported to their countries of birth.

“We will arrange for a charter to remove the individual, on a commercial flight or a charter,” Ms. Hébert explained. “In the case of Mr. Jaballah it will be a charter. That will have to be done with a private company…For the charter, we have used a company called Skyservice in the past. I have contacted them, and they say between 48 hours and a week they could organize the flight.”

ATTEMPTS TO DIALOGUE WITH SKYSERVICE

Upon learning who would be contracted to assist in these deportations to torture, members of Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture have been attempting to have a discussion with Skyservice to ensure its executives and workers have been fully informed about the shoddy human rights practices of one of their clients, the Canadian Border Services Agency. We aim to convince Skyservice that they should refuse any contract that involves deportation to a substantial likelihood of torture or other cruel and inhumane treatment.

Skyservice has been in the news before in relation to the deportation of two individuals to Djibouti. One June 14, 2007, the Globe and Mail quoted Sandy Buik of Skyservice as saying such deportations are “absolutely the nature of some of the work that we do,” and added that CBSA had engaged their services 8 times since September, 2005.

Indeed, in a listing of government contracts worth over $10,000 for the CBSA, it was revealed that on numerous occasions, Skyservice has transported “non-public servants.” If CBSA is composed of public servants, would this refer, then, to refugees who are being deported?

Typical 2008 Skyservice contracts have charged the government figures such as $195,415 and $182,453.

CBSA: NOT REVEALING THE WHOLE PICTURE?

In a July 2008 letter sent to Skyservice, Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture noted: “We are concerned that the CBSA is not necessarily being open and honest with you regarding these matters, and certainly trust that if they were being honest, then your company would turn down the offer to fly someone to a substantial likelihood of torture. But at this point, we do not know exactly what you have been told, and what your response would be were you given the full picture. That is why we want to speak with you. CBSA has gone on record in Federal Court that you are the go-to company for these security certificate cases, all of which are based on potential deportation to torture. When we spoke briefly with a company representative on May 1, he confirmed that Skyservice does take government contracts for what he termed the movement of prisoners.

“The urgency of this situation cannot be underestimated. The wheels are turning, and the five security certificate cases…will likely be wrapped up by the end of the year. Hence, it is possible that sometime in 2009, you will be contracted to deport these individuals to countries where they face torture. Knowing that this is a possibility places legal, ethical, and moral obligations on you and your company.

“It equally places those obligations on all of us who are aware of this possibility.

“Since we share in those obligations, we already have some common ground. Now we hope to move to the next step: an opportunity to discuss with you what, exactly, we will all be doing to ensure that no one is exposed to the risk of torture, and that no one is complicit in the transfer of some of our fellow human beings to such a horrific fate.”

More information: Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture, PO Box 73620,
509 St. Clair Ave. West, Toronto, ON M6C 1C0.

Be sure to join the Fall 2008 Caravan to End Canadian Involvement in Torture, October 16-23: Brampton, Georgetown, Acton, Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, New Hamburg, Stratford, Tavistock, Woodstock, Ingersoll, London, St. Thomas, Delhi, Tillsonburg, Simcoe, Dunnville, Port Colborne, Welland, Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, St. Catharines, Grimsby, Beamsville, Stoney Creek, Hamilton, Burelington, Oakville, Mississauga, Toronto