MONTREAL - Armed with a Supreme Court ruling, lawyers for suspected terrorist Adil Charkaoui will ask the Federal Court Wednesday to order immediate disclosure of the evidence in his file.
In June, the Supreme Court of Canada slammed Canada's spy service for destroying the original evidence behind its allegation that the father of three is a terrorist.
Mary Foster, a member of Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui, a support group, says the high court has recognized the French teacher's right to see all the evidence against him.
"It's not enough to give him a summary, which the government has been doing so far," she said in a telephone interview.
In a unanimous decision, the country's top court declared the Canadian Security Intelligence Service must retain the information it gathers, in order to "uphold the right to procedural fairness of people in Charkaoui's position."
Foster says Charkaoui's lawyers need all the information that exists in his file so he can prepare a proper defence.
"If he was going to have to pay a $50 fine, well, maybe a summary is enough, but the fact that he might have to pay with his life means that a summary is not enough," Foster said.
Charkaoui, a landed immigrant from a coastal town near Casablanca, was arrested in Montreal in May 2003.
He was accused of being an al-Qaida sleeper agent prepared to wage terror attacks against western targets.
Charkaoui denies any terrorist ties and has been trying to halt the case through various legal motions.
He faces deportation under a federal security certificate and his supporters say he risks torture if he is returned to Morocco.
Foster says CSIS claims to have destroyed at least two of the interviews Charkaoui had with the spy agency, but there were others.
His lawyers are also asking for a court order to allow them to cross-examine other witnesses who were interviewed by CSIS as well as any notes which were taken.
They argue that, as a result of the June Supreme Court ruling, all pertinent proof must be divulged.
In a statement from his office, Public Security Minister Stockwell Day reiterated the government is committed to ensure its policies and practices abide by the Supreme Court's decision.
But he stressed that its "most important duty is the safety of all Canadians."
Day continues to defend security certificates, calling them an important tool to safeguard national security.
"They are used to protect Canadians by providing a means to detain and deport non-citizens who are considered to pose a threat to our national security," he said.
Earlier this year, new security certificates were issued against Charkaoui, along with four others accused of terrorist inks.
In 2007, he was among those who successfully challenged the constitutionality of the security certificate regime before the Supreme Court, forcing the government to revamp the law.
A key issue for the Supreme Court was a set of interviews CSIS conducted with Charkaoui, including one in which he allegedly spoke of strategies for recruiting others to the terrorist cause.
The original notes and tapes of the interviews were destroyed and only general written summaries were retained, in keeping with the service's policy.
CSIS's policy of destroying original notes, transcripts and recordings of interviews has come under fire in the past, most recently in testimony before the inquiry into the 1985 downing of Air India flight 182.
