This project will compile information on criminal and scandalous activities of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) from its founding in 1984 to the present. It will attempt to track the consequences for CSIS of each scandal which has come to light. Finally, it will analyse the data according to a set of questions developed in collaboration with the People’s Commission Network in the course of this project.

Part A. Scandalous activities and consequences for CSIS.

Drawing on a wide variety of public sources (literature review; media coverage; SIRC reports; internal Public Safety audits; court decisions and transcripts; interviews with activists and lawyers; reports by human rights and community organizations), information on CSIS misdemeanors will be gathered, synthesized, and categorized.

We are interested not only in illegal activities but any “”shocking”" behaviour: actions that are broadly held to be incompatible with justice and freedom. To narrow the scope of the research, we have categorized the kinds of activities that have in the past provoked public scandals. The following ten categories can be refined and modified in the course of the research, but serve as an initial basis:

- destruction of evidence;

- misleading/lying to the court;

- manipulation of media and public perception;

- break and entry;

- failure to obtain warrant;

- harassment, intimidation and disruption activities (including unannounced visits);

- racism and racial profiling;

- political profiling;

- incitement to criminal activity;

- involvement in torture and repression.

As far as possible, the immediate consequences for CSIS of each scandal will be traced: was anyone held responsible?; was there an internal inquiry (and if so, what were the results)?; was there a police (RCMP) inquiry?; negative publicity?; was the issue discussed in Parliament or a Parliamentary committee?; any changes in policy or legal framework?; was information withdrawn from court proceedings as a result? etc.

Finally, the incident and its consequences for CSIS will be catalogued, with each entry including the following information: date; summary of incident; profile/community targeted; category; consequences for CSIS; sources.

Part B. Analysis

After the preliminary information gathering stage, the researcher will analyse the data according to the following questions and others developed in the course of the research and in consultation with the People’s Commission:

* To what extent can the various misdemeanours be considered systematic rather than isolated incidents?

* How have the various oversight mechanisms worked (or not) to hold CSIS in check? What are the main factors creating a culture of impunity around CSIS misdemeanours?

* Whose security and what kind of security does CSIS tend to privilege?

* Which political viewpoints are privileged and which seemed to be viewed as suspect or dangerous by CSIS?

* Which communities are privileged and which seem to be viewed as suspect or dangerous by CSIS?”

This project will be used to support the People’s Commission CSIS Watch campaign, and particularly our work to convince organizations and individuals – directly and through media – to adopt a policy of complete non-collaboration with CSIS. The larger goal is to break some of the fear and secrecy surrounding CSIS, particularly in immigrant communities; challenging the way in which “national security” is used to privilege white, male-heterosexual, middle class identities and to protect capitalist systems.

The People’s Commission network includes a broad variety of individuals and community associations who are racialized or immigrant and have been targeted by “national security” measures. The list of organizations who are supporting our CSIS Watch project, for example, can be found at: www.peoplescommission.org/en/csis/endorsers.php. (Though this represents only a part of the community groups we work with.)

Many of the community groups and individuals the People’s Commission work with are currently facing CSIS intimidation tactics. CSIS intimidation and harassment plays a role in our political, social and economic marginalization. This project will hopefully help to challenge CSIS’s ability to continue such activities with impunity.

Duration of Project:

Smaller (One Semester), Minimum of 5 hours per week for 12 weeks minimum
Final Product:

Difficult to assess, but an estimate would be that the database would have around fifty entries and the analysis would be twenty pages. This depends on what information is uncovered and the number of students that work on the project. We are available to meet up to a couple of hours every two weeks, (to be set with student(s)). The first meeting will be to review the project and decide on an initial direction. We will suggest sources and put student(s) in contact with lawyers, activists and community leaders for interviews. We can also provide some reports and court documents. Subsequent meetings will be to discuss results and questions, evaluate need for further research and identify new sources, re-formulate categories and analysis, etc.

Skills desired in Student Researcher:

English and French, Student should have good research and analytical skills and have a strong grasp of issues relating to racial profiling, political oppression, and familiarity with the history of the state as a way of organizing power. Knowledge of history of state oppression of popular movements in North America (COINTELPRO, Mccarthyism, etc) would be useful. A background in law could also be helpful but not essential.

http://www.peoplescommission.org/en/csis

- How many students (at Concordia/ provincial level) apply for CSQ (Certificat de Selection de Quebec)? How many/what percentage are accepted?
- How many apply to become Canadian permanent resident? How many/what percentage are accepted?
- (question asked another way) What percentage of permanent residents accepted in a given year in Canada, or only in Quebec entered/landed in the country on student visa (that is what percentage of overall new permanent residents come in the country on student visa).

Four ways professors can help CURE:

1- Schedule a classroom visit by one of our CURE members. Usually done at the beginning the semester, our coordinator gives a short 5-10 min presentation on CURE, describe how they can get involved and answer questions about the program. If you would like to book a classroom presentation, please fill out the on-line application form.

2- Make CURE apart of your curriculum. This is an excellent way of promoting CURE. Several professors have already integrated CURE into their syllabus, and it is the most successful way to attract students. Here is one example

3- Talk to your colleagues. Although CURE continues to evolve every year, we are still a relatively small project and need help keeping up with faculty and course changes.

4- Supervise an Independent Study Course for a student who will be completing a CURE project.

Group: Réseau D’Entraide De Verdun 
Issues addressed:
The project is based on community organizing and food solidarity. It addresses issues such as poverty, food insecurity, isolation, marginalization, class, gender and race.

Size of project:
We would like to have someone work with us for the duration of a semester at around 10-15 hours/week. The work would be split amongst three major tasks. First, gathering participants and organizing student and youth based collective kitchen groups. Second, activity-leading the groups during cooking sessions. Third, evaluating our recruiting and organizing strategies.

Project description:
There are roughly 4000 collective kitchen groups in the province of Quebec. Their popularity is based on the fact that they lower food costs, provide a social space where individuals can break with their isolation and prove that cooperative forms of work are superior to competitive ones. 43% of wage-earners in Montreal live below the poverty line. 50% of residents in Verdun (excluding Nuns Island) live below the poverty line. Many of these residents are young workers and students.

We would like to offer services and activities to these sectors of the population. To do that we need to extend our schedule to evening hours. The researcher/organizer will work with the Director of activities in organizing and animating student and youth based collective kitchen groups.

The researcher/organizer will then facilitate an evaluation of our recruiting strategies specifically in terms of how we target certain issues and interests when recruiting participants (income, occupation, family situation, age, gender, etc.) and compare an organizing model based on specific issues and interests (specific kitchen groups for specific social sectors) versus a general organizing model (all participants in a general group regardless of background). Parallel to this, the researcher/organizer would also be asked to orient a reflection process on how to bring participants together for larger projects and events within the organization (meals on wheels, community suppers’, catering for community events and demonstrations, etc.)

How do you plan to use the results of this project?
We would like to continue with the student and youth based collective kitchen groups. It is important for us to have a diverse membership and we consider that young people are often under-represented in community organizations. If the researcher/organizer succeeds in forming minimally one student/youth collective kitchen group it could be a building block towards attracting more young people and organizing more groups.

With the evaluation of our recruiting strategies we would like to confirm that our organizing model based on specific issues and interests is the best one and, if not, how we could modify it or move to a new model. We would eventually share the results of the evaluation with other community organizations involved in the collective kitchen movement via the Regroupement des Cuisines Collectives du Québec (RCCQ)

What larger goal is served by undertaking this project?
We really do consider the collective to be just as important as the cooking. We use food solidarity as way of getting people together and promoting collective action to solve social problems. We believe that low-income communities have been marginalized and, through gentrification, been somewhat robbed of the social fabric, resources and services that previously bound them together. To begin rebuilding that confidence and solidarity individuals need positive experiences in community settings. Food, cooking as group, sharing what has been produced, are powerful ways of conveying that experience. Ultimately, what we are trying to achieve is building a belief amongst ordinary people that, if they organize, they can do extraordinary things.

Student area of study/experience:

We are looking for someone with a background in social sciences or education (not restrictive). The student must have strong communication skills, some sociological knowledge of south-west Montreal and some life experience within low-income communities (either as a member of one or an ally).

The contact person is the Director of activities for the community organization. He’s on site 45 hours a week on average. He would be available to support the researcher/organizer approx. 7-8 hours a week.

The contact person has over 10 years experience in community organizing and some experience in union organizing. He has organized over 20 collective kitchen groups in the last 3 years. The direction and support provided will be based on the successes of part organizing experiences. The contact person also has some academic experience and could help with the analytical aspects of the project.

Over the years, the Immigrant Workers Centre (IWC) in Quebec has been working with temporary foreign workers in different industries such as landscaping, telecommunications, aerospace manufacturing and video game developers.  Their precarious situation is compounded by the fact that it is almost impossible to find a list of employers who have LMOs as this information is not made public.  Many workers are forced to go through placement agencies in order to find new employment. A situation that tends to complicate their labour relations.

The student working on this research will compile a detailed list (Name, profile, contact number, address, etc…) of Quebec based companies that have an LMO or are hiring temporary foreign workers.

The final product of the research will help the IWC for it’s outreach and rights training work to temporary foreign workers in Quebec, as well as a resource guide for temporary foreign workers who are seeking new employers who hold an LMO.

The IWC was founded in 2000 by union activists and community organizers.  The IWC’s work includes: education – worker’s skills and leadership development (including rights training), advocacy – promoting and protecting the rights and welfare of new immigrant and migrant workers, organizing – helping workers to form organizations that protect and promote their rights, as well as build their collective power to challenge the exploitative and oppressive status quo in their work place and their communities.

Quebec industries are hiring migrant workers under the federal Temporary Foreign Workers Program.  Little is known by the public about the conditions of workers in this program, particularly those workers under the Low Skilled Pilot Project.  Under this program the worker’s status in Canada is tied to their their employment.  Once the employment ends for whatever reason, the worker has a very limited grace period to find a new employer that has been granted an Labour Market Opinion (LMO) in order to hire temporary foreign workers.

Over the years, the Immigrant Workers Centre (IWC) in Quebec has been working with temporary foreign workers in different industries such as landscaping, telecommunications, aerospace manufacturing and video game developers.  Their precarious situation is compounded by the fact that it is almost impossible to find a list of employers who have LMOs as this information is not made public.  Many workers are forced to go through placement agencies in order to find new employment. A situation that tends to complicate their labour relations.

The student working on this research will compile a detailed list (Name, profile, contact number, address, etc…) of Quebec based companies that have an LMO or are hiring temporary foreign workers.

The final product of the research will help the IWC for it’s outreach and rights training work to temporary foreign workers in Quebec, as well as a resource guide for temporary foreign workers who are seeking new employers who hold an LMO.

The IWC was founded in 2000 by union activists and community organizers.  The IWC’s work includes: education – worker’s skills and leadership development (including rights training), advocacy – promoting and protecting the rights and welfare of new immigrant and migrant workers, organizing – helping workers to form organizations that protect and promote their rights, as well as build their collective power to challenge the exploitative and oppressive status quo in their work place and their communities.

Tadamon is an anti-authoritarian, grassroots collective based in Montreal which struggles in solidarity with social movements for justice in the Middle East. Since 2006, we have been working on the campaign for Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid.

Research Description: We are looking for a student or a group of students to do research on links between the 4 universities in Montreal (Mcgill, Concordia, UQAM, and UdM) and Israeli academic, corporate, military, or government institutions. Specifically, this research would focus on links to Israeli institutions who are complicit in human rights abuses in Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and the Middle East region. Particular attention should be paid to Boards of Governors, inter-university research exchanges, and repression against Palestine solidarity organizing on campuses. The reseach should detail both the links between the universities in Montreal and Israel, and also the impacts of those links on the ground in Israel/Palestine.

The context for this project is within the framework of the global BDS movement against Israeli apartheid, modeled on the similar campaign that helped to defeat apartheid in South Africa. In 2005, a coalition of over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations put a call out to the international community for a BDS campaign, which included a call to boycott Israeli academic institutions based on their ideological, logistical, and military support for apartheid structures and occupation in the region. For more information on the academic boycott, see http://www.pacbi.org/.

Description of Final Product: The final product of this research project would be a pamphlet or a document that clearly relates the research findings to students and community members. It would be used by Tadamon and other Palestine solidarity organizations as a popular education tool. This is a short-term project that would ideally be completed by the end of a semester.

Skills/attributes required: A moderate amount of background knowledge on Israel/Palestine issues and history, some knowledge on the BDS campaign and its aims and objectives, good writing and layout skills.

For more background information, see:

http://www.bdsmovement.net/

www.tadamon.ca

Project description: Queer McGill has operated at McGill in various forms since the early 1970’s, and has played its own particular role in queer history. Being able to access and reflect on this aspect of our local queer history would be incredibly meaningful to present and future generations of queers and activists.

We would like a detailed history of Queer McGill, starting with how its predecessor organization Gay McGill came to be, and discussing the group’s changing role within the McGill, Montreal, Quebec, and Canadian contexts up until the present day. This document would be used both on the part of our organization and reproduced for public/academic use.

Final product: Written report in narrative style: academic research and citations are required, but should ideally be readable and accessible. Visual presentation tools such as timelines would also be appreciated.

Skills required: The student should have appropriate research skills and interest in/understanding of queer issues. English proficiency required, French proficiency preferred.

About the organization: Queer McGill (QM) is a non-profit organization under the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) which promotes politically and socially the well-being of queer people and allies. QM provides resources to this end and provides spaces in which to speak safely about queer identity and other topics.

http://queermcgill.ca/en/index.php

Research Description:

How does CUTV compare to other campus and community television stations in Canada?
What is the importance of accessibility to television stations by Northern Communities in Quebec?
What are the challenges that community and campus television stations are now facing?
What similarities and differences do campus and community television stations share in their development, history, policies and experiences?
What are the advantages of community and campus televisions stations building alliances with their surrounding communities?
What are ways in which campus and community television stations can support each other?
How will the switch to digital television affect audience accessibility to campus and community television?

Desired form of Final Product:

Any form but Video format is highly encouraged

Skills Desired in Student Researcher:

Person interested in community/campus media (particularly in the field of television). Understanding of the impact on local, national and international communities.
Previous experience working in community/campus media.
It would be very beneficial for the students working on these projects to volunteer at CUTV to get to know the station and community.

Student Area(s) Of Study:

Any.

Most beneficial/complimentary fields: Media Studies/Communications, New media/Journalism, Political Science, Community and Public Affairs, Sociology/Anthropology, History, Business etc…

Duration of Project:

Depending on commitment. An average would be 5-10 hours per week for one semester.

About the Organization:

Founded in 1969, Concordia University Television is Canada’s oldest student-run television station. For 38 years your campus and community television station has been dedicated to making visual media accessible to students and community members. The station is essentially a media hub, providing students avenues to create and distribute video-based programming, artistic content and short films. In addition to this website, CUTV broadcasts throughout the Hall building via a network of monitors and occasionally screens content at pubs and community centres in and around the city.
CUTV is currently working closely with local community groups to develop media-literacy programs. In early 2007, it was a partner in the Atwater Library Digital Literacy Project, which taught inner-city youth media skills. That summer was also the inaugural year for CUTV’s Summer Video Bootcamp, which took 9 high-school students and taught them to make movies. CUTV’s community work revolves around media skills, community programming, and organizing free off-campus screenings of locally-produced content in and around the Montreal area.

http://www.cutvmontreal.ca/