Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, Human Rights Action Group and Secure Canada have released Canadians Victimized Abroad, a 60-page report by Sarah Teich and Isabelle Terranova on how Canada treats its citizens harmed abroad by terrorism, acts of war, and mass violence.
Canadians have been victimized outside Canada for decades, yet Canada still has no standing policy for these victims and no office responsible for them. The Canadians Victimized Abroad Fund covers counselling only to a maximum of $5,000 over five years, pays nothing for lost earnings, and excludes anyone victimized before April 2007. The Canadian Victims Bill of Rights applies only to offences investigated or prosecuted in Canada, so Canadians attacked abroad often have no rights under it at all. The report traces what the literature establishes about the needs of cross-border victims, surveys the systems currently in place across the Five Eyes, draws out best practices, and sets out 61 concrete recommendations for a comprehensive Canadian policy.
On the same day, Human Rights Action Group filed an application in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on behalf of Maureen Basnicki and her children, Brennan and Erica, asking the court to recognize and enforce the judgments a United States court granted the family against the Islamic Republic of Iran for its role in the September 11 attacks. The application is brought under the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, the statute that allows Canadian victims of terrorism to sue state sponsors in Canadian courts, and it asks the court to give those judgments effect in Canada.
