Mohamed Harkat wins court round in deportation fight
Federal court judge rules 2018 decision that barred him from staying is unreasonable; case sent back for redetermination.
The day's top stories, food & events — every morning at 7. Unsubscribe anytime.
Mohamed Harkat, an Algerian-born resident fighting deportation for nearly two decades, has won a significant court victory in his long legal battle to remain in Canada.
Federal Court Justice John Norris ruled Thursday that a 2018 government decision denying Harkat permission to stay is unreasonable. Norris found that a key finding — that Harkat was complicit in acts of terrorism committed by Chechen extremists — is not adequately supported by the record or the decision-maker's reasoning.
The judge sent the case back for redetermination by a new delegate of the immigration minister.
Harkat, 57, says he fled strife-ridden Algeria and worked with an aid agency in Pakistan before arriving in Canada in 1995 using a false Saudi passport. He denies any involvement in terrorism. The federal government has long pursued his deportation using a security certificate — a legal tool for removing non-citizens suspected of ties to extremism or espionage.
Another Federal Court judge reviewed the security certificate in 2010 and ruled there were grounds to believe Harkat was a security threat who maintained ties to Osama bin Laden's terror network after coming to Canada. Harkat challenged the 2018 decision, arguing he faces a risk of torture if returned to Algeria.
The ruling is a vindication for Harkat, though the case remains unresolved. Civil libertarians have long criticized the security certificate process as fundamentally unjust because detainees see only a summary of accusations, making them difficult to challenge. In 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada said the security certificate regime does not violate a person's right to know and contest the allegations they face.
The case illustrates the tension between national security and individual justice in immigration law.