The Anti-Terrorism Act 2001 brought Part II.1 of the Criminal Code into being and with it, Canada’s terrorism offences. In the twenty years since that time, 62 individuals have been charged with terrorism offences by our counting. This blog post is not meant to be a comprehensive overview of the field. Instead, we set out merely to remind the reader of what constitutes a terrorism offence in Canada and then review some of the trends that we can see from the prosecuting and charging numbers to date.
Read MoreThis blog post is a medium for providing a series of tables that provide information on all terrorism cases and charges to date—a public release of information collected over the past five years that, I hope, will be of interest to students, lawyers, national security practitioners and academics. The tables strive to provide further information related to each of these cases, such as the specific offences charged, whether individuals were convicted or not, their sentences, and so on.
Read MoreThis week, Hussein Borhot was charged with terrorism offences for allegedly travelling to Syria in 2013. He has been charged with four offences, with the kidnapping offence being a first in Canadian history. These charges demonstrate that the RCMP is willing and able to press forward with charges based on events that largely transpired overseas and even after nearly a decade has elapsed. Foreign fighters should take note.
Read MoreThe conventional wisdom about repatriating and prosecuting foreign fighters is wrong. Amar Amarasingam and Leah West explain why Canada has a moral duty to prosecute our foreign fighters, and why it is a realistic policy that Canada should pursue.
Read MoreThe repatriation of Canada’s “foreign fighters” (more accurately called extremist or terrorist travelers, since not all engaged in combat) is one of the most contentious issues in Canada in terms of national security, and was once again in the news this past week. This post will outline one reason favouring repatriation: threat management.
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