Canadian Arab Federation
La Fédération Canado-Arabe
NEWS RELEASE
Established in 1967, the Canadian Arab Federation is a national, non-partisan, non profit and membership-based organization. CAF represents Canadian Arabs on issues relating to public policy.
NEWS RELEASE
Toronto – Today bakerlaw intends to file a Human Rights complaint on behalf of Mr. Shahid Mahmood against Air Canada over being refused entry onto an Air Canada flight in 2004. The complaint is being lodged with the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The Canadian Arab Federation (CAF), the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG), the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) and Peggy Nash, NDP Member of Parliament are supporting the case.
Mr. Shahid Mahmood is a born Canadian citizen who is Muslim. Mr. Mahmood was refused entry onto an Air Canada flight from Vancouver to Victoria on May 28, 2004 on grounds that his name had been “flagged” for security reasons. At the time, Canada did not have an official “no-fly list”.
Mr. Mahmood has tried persistently to obtain credible answers as to why he was refused entry onto the flight despite having valid government-issued photo identification and despite being present at the airport well before the flight was due to take off. To date, credible answers have not been forthcoming. In fact, Air Canada’s reaction to Mr. Mahmood’s request for answers has thus far been dismissive, forcing Mr. Mahmood to take legal action for answers.
“Over these past few years of searching for credible answers, I still do not know why I was not allowed to board flight AC8087,” said Mr. Mahmood. “Am I on a ‘No-fly List’ because of active racial profiling or is this a case of mistaken identity? Or could it be because of my political views as an editorial, syndicated cartoonist? Air Canada needs to come forth with a credible explanation and apology. As a citizen of a democratic country I was not given a reason for not being allowed to fly. I was not provided any means of recourse.”
“Mr. Mahmood’s experience raises serious equality issues” said Mr. Mahmood’s lawyer, Nicole Chrolavicius of bakerlaw. “As a Muslim Canadian man, he was denied entry onto a flight while his wife, a non-Muslim, did not encounter the same mobility restrictions or differential treatment. He has been left to wonder for over three years about whether, how and why he was erroneously flagged as a threat to Canada’s national security such that he would be prevented from flying. The cloak of secrecy surrounding the decision to refuse Mr. Mahmood’s entry onto the domestic flight compounds the impairment to his human dignity and must be removed.”
"Without fail, no-fly lists of any kind always demonstrate a pattern of racial profiling" said Mohamed Boudjenane, Executive Director of the Canadian Arab Federation. "Aside from encouraging the racial profiling and targeting of Arab and other racialized communities in Canada, no-fly lists further undermine and hinder the mobility rights of people to travel across the country and overseas."
“The case of Mr. Mahmood highlights the urgent need for greater transparency and accountability on the part of airlines and transport authorities as an increasing number of travelers are being caught, more often than not because of mistaken identity, by the proliferation of massive U.S. watch lists and linked data bases” said Roch Tassé, coordinator of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group. “And the situation is bound to worsen early in the new year with the implementation of the new U.S. Secure Flight rules that will impose additional passenger screening procedures for all continental flights in the Americas”.
“Mr. Mahmood’s case of being too dangerous to fly but too innocent to charge is not unique. Increasingly, innocent Canadians are being denied mobility rights because of secret lists that are often hastily collected and inaccurate. Regularly barred without clear explanations, Canadians find themselves unable to remove their names from secret lists,” said Sameer Zuberi, CAIR-CAN’s Communications Coordinator.
Listen to: CBC’s The Current, part 3; Dec 7, 2004
See: Now: Since when do Canadians need passports to travel in our own country?; Sept 2, 2004
See: CBC: U.S. no-fly lists still grounding Canadians, says civil rights group; July 7, 2006
See: The Eyeopner, Aug 14, 2006
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For more information, please contact:
Nicole Chrolavicius
Counsel to Mr. Mahmood
416-533-0040 ext. 226
Mohamed Boudjenane
Canadian Arab Federation
416-493-8635 ext. 23
Roch Tassé
International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group
613-241-5298
Sameer Zuberi
Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations
613-795-2012 or 613-254-9704
Peggy Nash
Member of Parliament, NDP
613-992-2936 / 416-769-5072
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