Bill to give Canadian torture victims right to sue

New legislation introduced in the House of Commons Thursday would give Canadians tortured abroad a chance to sue the perpetrators — including foreign states and officials — in Canadian civil court.

In the past, attempts by torture victims such as Maher Arar and Houshang Bouzari have failed because Canadian courts have ruled they did not have the right to sue foreign states under the State Immunity Act.

"Our present legislation criminalizes torture, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide  — the most heinous acts known to humankind," said Montreal Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, who tabled the private member's bill. "But Canadian law does not allow a civil remedy for the victims of such horrific acts."

As it stands, a Canadian can sue a foreign government on commercial issues, like a breach of contract. But Canadian victims of torture, crimes against humanity and genocidal governments have no redress.

"It is time to rectify this inversion of rights and remedy, this inversion of law and morality," said Cotler, who served as justice minister in the Liberal government of Paul Martin.

It's a move being welcomed by human-rights activists, who say it is long overdue.

"We need to make sure that as many survivors [as possible] of torture and other atrocities can have some sort of access to some sort of justice, some sort of legal remedies for what happened to them," said Matt Eisenbrandt of the Canadian Centre for International Justice.

Canada introduced its Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act in 2000. Two people have been charged since the law was enacted. One, Rwandan Désiré Munyaneza, was convicted this year of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The second, Rwandan Jacques Mungwarere, was arrested earlier this month in Windsor, Ont., and charged with war crimes related to the 1994 genocide in his country.

Giving victims the ability to sue in civil court would give them another option to pursue their abusers.

"Although we strongly support criminal prosecutions of human-rights abusers who might be in Canada, we know that there are limitations on how much the government can do in terms of its funding and its own resources," Eisenbrandt said.

While private member's bills rarely pass, Cotler said he is hopeful because his bill will be seconded by a member of each party in the House of Commons.

"Torture is always wrong — as are crimes against humanity," NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar, who seconded the bill.

Conservative MP Scott Reid and Bloc Québécois MP and foreign affairs critic Francine Lalonde also supported Cotler's legislation.

Canadians failed in attempts to sue foreign countries

Two well-known attempts by Canadians to sue foreign states have failed because courts in this country ruled they had immunity.

Arar, a Syrian-Canadian engineer, was tortured in a Syrian prison for a year over false allegations of terrorist involvement. A Canadian inquiry ruled he had been tortured and the government awarded Arar a $10.5-million settlement.

But he was not successful in suing the Syrian and Jordanian governments in Canada. Neither was Bouzari, an Iranian-Canadian man who attempted to sue the Iranian government for torture in that country.

Bouzari, who went on to found the Toronto-based International Committee Against Torture, said he hoped the amendment would give torture victims a chance to fight the "ugliest and ancient form of human rights abuse."

"Everybody [that's a victim of torture] is looking for closure, and this will help," Bouzari said.

"If you make it financially difficult for countries to torture people — say a slap to the face costs $10,000 — they won't do it, I can assure you."