Bring Them Home : An analysis of possible Canadian court responses to a Section 7 Charter challenge on behalf of the Canadian former ISIS members now detained in Syria

Abstract

The Canadian government has thus far refused to examine the issue of detained Canadian foreign fighters. A legal case being brought on their behalf argues that this constitutes a violation of the detainees Section 7 Charter rights and this paper finds that is sufficient precedent in the Canadian legal cannon to support this assertion. This conclusion was reached through an analysis of key Section 7 Charter cases containing elements similar to the case being brought on behalf of the detainees including the application of the Charter overseas, a discussion of the Canadian anti-terrorism regime, and the potential for positive rights under Section 7. There is little existing literature on this topic, so broader academic writings on Section 7 rights was considered alongside the selected cases. Although this paper is limited by a lack of information pertaining to the individuals involved, there does appear to be strong evidence that the non-actions of the Canadian state do constitute a violation of the detainees Section 7 Charter rights.