Spy service pushed for Abdelrazik’s inclusion on Canadian no-fly list, court hears

OTTAWA — A former senior Canadian Security Intelligence Service official has acknowledged the spy service wanted Abousfian Abdelrazik’s name on Canada’s no-fly list.

David Vigneault struggled to recall other details as he testified Monday in Federal Court in Abdelrazik’s civil lawsuit against Ottawa over his detention and alleged torture in Sudan two decades ago.

The Sudanese-born Abdelrazik became a Canadian citizen in the 1990s and was arrested during a 2003 visit to his native country to see his ailing mother.

CSIS officers travelled to Khartoum to interrogate him in October 2003 about suspected extremist links.

Abdelrazik, who denies involvement in terrorism, says he was tortured by Sudanese authorities during two periods of detention.

Federal lawyers argue Abdelrazik is an author of his own misfortune, saying Canada did not urge Sudan to keep him in detention or mistreat him, or create a risk that these things might happen.

The court has heard about the contrasting concerns of CSIS, which considered Abdelrazik a security threat, and Canada’s foreign ministry, which had a duty to provide consular assistance to him. American officials were also concerned that Abdelrazik posed a danger in the tense post 9-11 era.

Following Abdelrazik’s first release from Sudanese detention in 2004, his inclusion on a U.S. no-fly list prevented his return to Canada, says a document presented in court.

Abdelrazik’s second release from Sudanese custody came in summer 2006. However, his presence on a United Nations security watch list, at the request of the U.S., further complicated his efforts to fly home to Canada.

In mid-2007, CSIS “was the originating agency” in getting Abdelrazik added to Canada’s no-fly list, the document says.

Vigneault, who testified in French, accepted the notion that CSIS was behind the move. But he did not remember any role he might have played.

Vigneault was a senior CSIS official from December 2006 to June 2009, became the spy service’s director in 2017 and left the service earlier this year. He now works in the private sector.

Paul Champ, a lawyer for Abdelrazik, asked him about the findings of the inspector general’s office, a watchdog over CSIS who examined the case.

The report found a gap in operational policies regarding the “quasi-consular role” that CSIS employees were called upon to play in Abdelrazik’s file, citing an apparent conflict of interest.

Canada’s foreign ministry provides impartial consular assistance to Canadians in distress abroad, the report said. “On the other hand, the role of CSIS employees involves gathering security intelligence on threats.”

Vigneault indicated he had limited recollection of the inspector general’s findings.

“I don’t recall the details of this report,” he said.

However, Vigneault suggested that scrutiny of CSIS by review bodies and the courts during this period generally spurred change within the intelligence service.

“There was an important acknowledgment that our practices should evolve, given the expectations of the government and of Canadians.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 2, 2024.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press