Canadian on no-fly list for over a decade still searching for answers

The return of Parliament later this month will also mean the return of Bill C-51.

The legislation has been contentious from the start. It will expand the powers of Canada's civilian spy agency, streamline information sharing among government departments and allow police to hold people for longer before laying charges.

And though Trudeau voted in favour of Bill C-51, he's vowed to amend some of its more controversial parts. 

Shahid Mahmood is all too familiar with one aspect of the anti-terror legislation — the part expanding the scope of Canada's no-fly list. He is an urban planner and part-time political cartoonist whose name is on a no-fly list. 

• As It Happens spoke with Shahid Mahmood about his never-ending saga to get off Canada's no-fly list

The expanded no-fly list is just one of several contentious issues included in Bill C-51 and just one of the areas the government could move to amend. 

For a broader discussion about Bill C-51, its strengths and its weaknesses, The Current spoke to:

• Monia Mazigh, the national coordinator of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group. Her husband, Maher Arar, was renditioned from New York to Damascus, Syria in 2002 where he was tortured and held without charge for over a year.
• Phil Gurski, a former analyst with CSIS, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. He is now the chief executive of Borealis Threat & Risk Consulting. 

The Current did invite the Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale, but he was not available for this segment. 
 

This segment was produced by The Current's John Chipman and Kinsey Clarke.