Canada’s counter-terrorism strategy is failing. From the 2014 attack on Parliament hill to the January massacre at the Quebec city mosque, it is clear that terrorism is an imminent threat, both to Canada and to the world. Backlash against Western culture provides ammunition to extremist Islamic groups globally, which is only exacerbated by the West’s disproportionate military responses to legitimate and perceived threats through drone strikes or other military operations. Anger towards domestic policy decisions fuels far-right white supremacists, and government’s unwillingness to label the violence perpetrated by these groups as terrorism only provides them with impunity. The lack of lack of multilateralism and international …show more content…
Nevertheless, this policy is criticized for its disregard of the globalized nature of terrorism, for its indifference to the role of international law and global cooperation in maintaining international support, for its neglect to consider the risks that supporting foreign indigenous forces may engender, for the inevitable resource drain such a policy would generate, and for anti-Canadian narrative that would be incited by terrorists, simply leading to increased attacks. Conversely, another counter-terrorism strategy Canada may pursue is to support UN leadership in the fight against terrorism. Recognizing the global nature of terrorism, proponents of this policy argue that Canada must strengthen the UN’s effectiveness on security matters to ensure any international response to this issue reflects the interests and the needs of all in the global community. Under such a policy, Canada would have to debate all possible counter-terror strategies in front of the UN and would have to adhere to established treaties and work towards drafting more resolutions aimed to limit chemical, nuclear and biological weapons. Additionally, such policy proponents encourage Canada to become an active participant in established international institutions such as the ICC. This approach to dealing with terrorism is criticized however, opponents claiming that the UN is ineffective, slow and tied up by bureaucracy. Moreover, the UN’s
Foreign and domestic policies are not linear, rather the policies are connected in a circle, with each policy reinforcing the values of another. Domestic American terrorism in the prison and detention systems and governmental reforms are influenced by the mobilization and ethnocentrism abroad. The militarization internationally is justified by the domestic handling of the same cultural issues within the United State borders. The United States has strangely used a near Catch-22 to handle dilemmas. The United States has allowed perspective to become reality, whether with oneself or regarding issues abroad, specifically in the Middle East. Terrorism is the use or threat of fear for political or economical gain. An internal characteristic of terrorism is how dependent it is of perspective, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. To understand “terrorism,” a focus must be applied to the history, what drove an organization to commit such acts. Respectively, the Middle East has been a hotbed for the key word “terrorism,” especially because of 9/11. Subsequently, Muslims have been stigmatized by the United States as terrorists. The consequences spawned because of 9/11 require a look to the past to understand the present.
Since the 9/11 attacks on U.S. soil at the outset of the twenty-first century, western states have enacted vast changes in the way that they deal with terrorist groups and terrorists. Due to the fact that civilian casualties have escalated as a result of terrorist acts, western polities have steered away from a punitive paradigm that criminalizes terrorist acts and aims at penalizing individuals who perpetrate such acts. Instead, there has been a dramatic shift towards a preventative approach in which terrorist acts are prevented prior towards any manifesting and inflicting harm on innocent victims. In Jonathan Shapiro’s “An Ounce of Cure for a Pound of Preventive Detention: Security Certificates,” published in Queen’s Law Journal in 2008, discusses the paradigm shift in Canadian foreign policy as it pertains to terrorism through a cogent discussion of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). The IRPA authorizes the government to detained suspected terrorists amidst deportation proceedings. However, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered a decision that the Charter was provisionally violated by certain provisions of the Act, which is the central point of contention Shapiro has in this article. Indeed, he critiques the approach of the Supreme Court in the Charkaoi v. Canada decision, positing that the security certificate process violates several of the liberty and equality
Canadians pride themselves on being a “peacekeeping country” and many believe that peacekeeping represents a defining aspect of Canadian identity because it reflects fundamental values, beliefs and interests. Canada has been a leader in peace operations since its development that spearheaded by a Canadian. In fact, Canada’s role as peacekeeper remains the main focus of the Canadian military after its invention around 60 years ago, originally started by a Canadian. Their efforts have gained an international reputation for Canada as a significant contributor to international peace and stability. While Canada has an exemplary history in UN peacekeeping, the current extent of its contribution, both in terms of peacekeeping personnel and percentage of funds to peacekeeping missions, are on a clear decline. The belief that Canada is a peacekeeping country is misguided because recent Canadian commitment shows a sharp decline in Canadian participation in UN peacekeeping. Surprisingly, as of March 2007, Canada ranked 59th out of 114 countries in terms of military and police contributions to UN operations. Despite Canadian declined involvement in peacekeeping during the last decade, it still remains a valuable and important mission that greatly deserves Canadian resources including monetary support, resources and personnel.
On the date September 11, 2001, the world stood still and watched the horror of terrorism unfold in the heart and soul of the United States of America. For the world, this was just the beginning of the terrorist attacks that will take place. In my essay I will carefully evaluate the measures taken by Governments to stop the terror attacks from happening, through my paper I will discuss the United Nations (UN) and global counter-terrorism, summarising the facts on the 9/11 attacks, furthermore the connection between Muslims, United
Recently there have been two “anti-terrorism” bills that are really affecting Canadian citizens who weren’t born here. Bill C-24 is an attack on duel citizens that were not born in Canada or are eligible for another citizenship. This bill allows these the Canadian government to revoke your citizenship if you have committed or are suspected of serious crimes. They could also deport you. This creates the idea of second class citizens. Some are not able to be targeted well others are immune. Bill C-51 is one that is really complicated, but the something it does are: It gives CSIS and the RCMP larger power in order to “prevent” terrorism. The issue is no checks and balances, no safeguards, and nothing in place to make sure what CSIS is doing is legal. It also even has allowed CSIS to break the charter of rights with permission without the public ever being notified. It also vastly expands our definition of security and that of which terrorism falls under. The terms definition of terrorism is very vague. Threats of terrorism can now be considered: interfering with public safety, the economy or financial security of Canada East. This could trap illegal protestors or the blockading railways and much more under terrorism charges. The bill also effects a lot more and threatens the rights and freedoms of many
In the last three years there have been 4 students from Mississauga that are thought to have left the country to join ISIS, which is the successor to AL-Qaeda. People who go abroad to join terrorist groups are called extremist travelers. There have been approximately 130 Canadians put on a no fly list. Counter-terrorism became much more important in the days after 9/11. The Department of Foreign affairs is charged with keeping Canadians safe against terrorism working with other
So far, terrorism has been a key obstacle to many foreign nations, as they are struggling to prevent terrorist attacks. From the year of 1997 up to the year of 2003, international terrorist attacks have gone from less than 500 to almost 3000. Overall, global terrorism has grown by almost 1200% from 1997 to 2003. (Johnston 1). This massive increase in terrorism reflects on other nations' lack of control of the safety of their nation. These statistics also show that something needs to be done to protect the
Terrorism is a massive problem--everybody realizes that. Regardless of origin, culture, country, or political standpoint, every sane person understands that terrorism is something that is still relatively prevalent in the world, and something needs to be done about it. The problem, however, is that there is no easy solution. The United States tends to take overbearing control and responsibility for all terrorist threats, groups, and attacks, but this is simply not reasonable. Although we cannot expect every country to take initiative against terrorist threats like ISIS, sustained international coordination is necessary to effectively confront transnational terrorist groups (Shirkey). This way, the US can begin taking care of themselves and their own country, as they still have many issues that have yet to be solved. While working together is important, though, it is not the key to solving the problem. What we must do in addition is investigate and address the root causes of terrorism, and analyse them in detail in order to best combat terrorist groups at their roots.
As the nature of conflict has changed from that of interstate conflict to transnational attacks, the world must discuss how to effectively combat terrorism in a way that minimizes harm. Throughout the following paper, I will summarize four contrasting responses to terrorism, included in a document adapted from Terrorism: How Should We Respond, of the Choices Program at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. I will then discuss why I believe Canada’s most effective response to terrorism would be a unique combination of Options Two and Four. I believe that Canada should embrace relations with the international community, and seek solutions to terrorism as a global issue. This response would satisfy
Security mechanisms used to protect the entirety of the Canadian state at the behest of certain ethnic and religious categories become legitimized through violence acts towards political institutions or figures (Bell 155). These ethnic and religious categories that experience biopolitical racial profiling by the security state are typically Middle Eastern or Islamic in appearance or action. These groups of people are increasingly being viewed as connected to terrorist activities in Middle Eastern countries. Critics arguing the Canada’s security regime breaches the Charter of Rights and Freedoms because of the possible use of surveillance and security provisions against Canadian citizens who are members of these ethnic and religious groups (Shaffer 200). Racial profiling in the surveillance provisions of these security acts against politically unpopular groups should not be underestimated” (Shaffer
What is Mr. Trudeau solution? A “guarantee” that all warrants would respect the Charter and the judges. Whether this “guarantee” will hold up is questionable but at the very least it is better than nothing.
Anti-terrorism policy has become a more important legislative issue since the September 11th incident in 2001. Prior to this event, North American countries felt the need to implement new policy that would protect their citizens from criminal activity associated with acts of terror. In Canada, anti-terrorism policy consists of three main components identified in the literature: 1) The criminal code and relevant violations; 2) Anti-Terror Legislation; and 3) policy in practice. In this briefing note, all three will be analyzed based on whether or not the current policy is sufficiently protecting Canadians while ensuring that civil liberties are not being violated.
“To exercise your right of free speech you have to fight against economic pressure and against strong sections of public opinion, but not, as yet, against a secret police force” (George Orwell). Terrorism is designed to wreak havoc unto everyday lives. It is designed to provoke governments into making mistakes. It is orchestrated through brutality and rooted under the belief that the mass murder of ordinary citizens will cause nations to crumble under their very (backbone?) and abandon their most basic commitments. Taking a wondrously broad view of national security, the Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act, Bill C-51, enables, under the strictest sense, a “modern day Gestapo” (Rocco Galati).1 It provides a reckless, dangerous, and ineffective measure
As a direct consequence of September 11, a number of substantial challenges lie ahead in the area of counter-terrorism.. The most prominent of these is the changing nature of the terrorism phenomenon. In past years, when terrorism was largely the product of direct state sponsorship, policymakers were able to diminish prospects for the United States becoming a target using a combination of diplomatic and military instruments to deter potential state sponsors. Today, however, many terrorist organizations and individuals act independently from former and present state sponsors, shifting to other sources of support, including the development of transnational networks.
Bill C-51 also known as the Anti-terrorism Act, 2015, is a bill that was first tabled in Parliament in January 2015. It was introduced to enhance Canada’s original anti-terror laws which were created shortly after the terrorist attack on September 11th 2001 in the United States of America. Moreover, the need to revise and amend these laws became even more evident after recent attacks both in Canada and abroad. In doing so the government recognized the need to adopt a more preventative approach to dealing with internal and external threats. However, there are a large number of individuals, groups and institutions which opposed this bill. This was evident in March of 2015 when political protests were held and over fifty-five rallies took place across Canada (Lepore, 1). The majority of those opposed to the new anti-terror legislation expressed concerns with three major components of the bill and the vagueness; to privacy concerns with the new information sharing between agencies, new amendments to the Criminal Code surrounding terrorism offences and the increased powers provided to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS); specifically their perceived lack of oversight. Although this piece of legislation is crucial to the safety and security of Canada against acts of terrorism it requires some amendments in order to ensure proper oversight and respect for Canadian values. This paper will argue that changes need to be made to the CSIS act, specifically regarding