The first time emergency powers changed my life, I was six years old. In 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency in India. My father, a former editor of an opposition magazine, was wanted for his writings.
We moved from place to place. Eventually, we had to sneak out of the country. At six, I knew nothing about constitutional rights, due process or emergency powers.
I just knew my father was wanted and we had to leave. Almost two decades later, as a law student, the subject found me again. My first law review publication, in 1994, was a review of the book Human Rights in Crisis: The International System for Protecting Rights During States of Emergency.
The question was personal as much as legal: What happens to rights when governments confront a crisis and decide the ordinary rules are no longer enough? I later pursued the same questions in my doctoral research on national security and emergency powers. Seven years later, it wasn't academic anymore.
On September 11, 2001, I was driving to my law office in Toronto when a friend called and asked, “Did you see?” I hadn't. I changed course and stopped at my parents' home. We watched in horror and disbelief.
How could anyone deliberately do this to innocent people? Nearly 3,000 people were murdered that morning. We had no idea then how much more death and suffering would follow.
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