Professor Reem Bahdi
Security Certificates Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act: The Problem with Profiling

Focussing on the security certificate provisions of the IRPA, this paper will analyze how racial profiling and stereotyping can pollute the decision-making process at the administrative, executive and judicial levels. The paper posits that agencies such as the RCMP and CSIS hold ‘tunnel-vision’ stereotypes of Arab/Muslim men as terrorists. Relying on historical and recent experience, the paper argues that Ministerial involvement does not subdue the tendency to act on stereotypes.

Finally, the paper examines the extent to which stereotypes can also survive judicial oversight, notwithstanding the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Charkaoui.

Reem Bahdi teaches Access to Justice and Torts at the University of Windsor. Her current research focusses on the feasibility of using Tort Law to hold government decision-makers accountable for actions resulting in the torture of Canadian citizens abroad. Professor Bahdi is Co-Director of the Project on Judicial Independence and Human Dignity, a multi-million dollar initiative which aims to support access to justice in Palestine through continuing judicial education and directed civil society engagement.