Embassy of the United States Ottawa, Canada

Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their Government

e law provides citizens the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.

Elections and Political Participation

In the British Columbia provincial general election held on May 12, the British Columbia Liberal Party, led by Gordon Campbell, formed its third successive majority government. In the Nova Scotia provincial general election held on June 9, the New Democratic Party (NDP), led by Darrell Dexter, won a majority government and formed the first NDP government in the province's history after 10 years of rule by the Progressive Conservative Party. The provincial elections were free and fair. Political parties operated without restriction or outside interference.

There were 68 women and five indigenous people in the 308-member federal House of Commons. There were 34 women and six indigenous people in the 105-seat Senate (whose members are appointed by the government). Women held 11 seats in the 38-member cabinet. The governor-general and four of the nine members of the Supreme Court, including the chief justice, were women.

On March 11, the Chief Electoral Officer testified that some indigenous people were unable to establish their residency for voting purposes in the October 2008 general election due to a lack of, or difficulty in obtaining, authorized identification with a home address.

Section 4 Official Corruption and Government Transparency

The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and the government generally enforced these laws effectively. There were isolated reports of government corruption during the year. The Federal Accountability Act provides for transparency and accountability in government. The Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner reports annually on allegations of corruption. On June 30, the government appointed the first Commissioner of Lobbying to administer the 2008 Lobbying Act, including a new national registry of lobbying activity.

A conflict of interest and ethics commissioner administers the conflict of interest code for members of the House of Commons, as well as the Conflict of Interest Act in relation to public office holders. Provincial governments provide independent audits of government business and ombudsman services. Public officials are not subject to financial disclosure laws for personal assets.

The law permits public access to government information, and in practice the government granted access for citizens and noncitizens, including foreign media. The law provides for denial of legal requests for information on limited and specific grounds, for which reasons are given and cited in law, and there is a mechanism to appeal denials. The government released quarterly information on the public expenditures of senior government officials and also published expense information on individual ministerial Web sites and on a centralized Web site.

Section 5 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights

A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were cooperative and responsive to their views.

The government cooperated with international governmental organizations and permitted visits by UN representatives. From October 13 to 23, the UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues met with government officials and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver (see section 6, National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities). Also in October, officials from the country's Office of the UNHCR visited 76 ethnic Sri Lankan Tamils detained by the Canadian Border Services Agency after they arrived off the coast of British Columbia in a suspected human-smuggling incident.

Federal and provincial human rights commissions enjoyed government cooperation, operated without government or party interference, and had adequate resources. Observers considered them effective. Parliamentary human rights committees operated in the House of Commons and the Senate. The committees acted independently of government, conducted public hearings, and issued reports and recommendations to which the government provided written, public, and timely responses.

In July the government complied with an order of the Federal Court of Canada and facilitated the return to Canada of Abousfian Abdelrazik, a Canadian-Sudanese dual national, after the Court determined that Canadian officials had been complicit in his detention in Sudan in 2003 on suspicion of links to terrorism. The Security Intelligence Review Committee, a federal watchdog for the domestic security and intelligence community, announced that it would investigate Abdelrazik's formal complaint concerning the alleged involvement of Canadian security agencies in his detention. In September Abdelrazik filed suit against the federal government, alleging that it was responsible for his detention and abuse in Sudan and had obstructed his repatriation. The suit sought monetary compensation and a formal apology from the government. The case remained pending at year's end.

In February three Muslim dual citizens filed amended lawsuits against the federal government based on the October 2008 report of a judicial inquiry into the role Canadian officials may have played in their detention and alleged abuse in Syria and/or Egypt on suspicion of links to terrorism. The complainants' suits alleged that the government facilitated their detention and abuse. The suits sought monetary compensation for the complainants as well as a formal apology from the government. The case remained pending at year's end.

On November 13, the Supreme Court heard an appeal by the federal government of a June Federal Court of Appeal decision upholding a lower court order that the government must seek the repatriation of Canadian citizen Omar Khadr from Guantanamo Bay. The lower court had ruled that the government's refusal to request Khadr's repatriation offended a principle of fundamental justice and violated his rights. The federal government had argued that foreign affairs decisions are the exclusive domain of the prime minister and his cabinet. The Supreme Court's decision was pending at year's end.

On October 29, a Quebec court sentenced Desire Munyaneza, a Rwandan national who entered the country in 1997 claiming refugee status, to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 25 years. In May Munyaneza was convicted on seven counts of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The trial was the first under the country's Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act. In November Munyaneza filed notice to appeal.

On November 7, authorities arrested Jacques Mungwarere, a Rwandan immigrant, on war crimes charges related to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Mungwarere was the second individual to be charged under the country's Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act.