Canada Seeks to Strengthen Spy Agency After Attacks
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Version 0 of 1. OTTAWA — Citing the attacks by radical Islamists that killed two Canadian soldiers in October and the more recent assaults in France, Prime Minister Stephen Harper introduced sweeping legislation on Friday that would greatly expand the role of Canada’s spy service, allowing courts to remove online postings and increasing police detention powers. “Jihadi terrorism is one of the most dangerous enemies our world has ever faced,” Mr. Harper said at a campaign-style event in the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill. “It seeks to harm us here in Canada, in our cities and in our neighborhoods, through horrific acts like deliberately driving a car at a defenseless man or shooting a soldier in the back as he stands on guard at a War Memorial,” he said, referring to the two deaths last fall. The bill, which was introduced in the House of Commons shortly before Mr. Harper spoke, is the second piece of antiterrorism legislation his government has proposed since the October attacks. Some legal experts questioned the constitutionality of its crucial measures, while political opponents accused the prime minister of exploiting those killings in an election year. The voting majority held by Mr. Harper and his Conservative Party in the House of Commons all but ensures that the bill will pass without amendment. Under it, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service would change from an agency that only gathers information to one that can actively intervene in what it regards as terrorist actions in Canada and abroad, and, with court approval, disrupt them. While it would not gain powers of arrest, the spy agency would, among other things, be able to cancel travel arrangements, shut down bank accounts, provide fake versions of dangerous materials to plotters and compel access to buildings in order to plant surveillance devices. The threshold required for agents to arrest and detain people without charge would be greatly reduced. The police now must convince a judge that a person “will commit” an act of terrorism, and the suspect can be held for three days. The bill would change the standard to “may commit” a terrorism-related crime and it would allow such people to be held without charges for up to a week. Promoting or advocating terrorism, even in general terms, could bring a five-year prison sentence, and the police would be able to seek court orders to remove such material from Canadian websites. When asked by a reporter if the new measure would inadvertently make criminals out of teenagers who are behaving inappropriately online but who are not terrorists, Mr. Harper visibly stiffened and said, “We cannot tolerate this anymore than we tolerate people who make bomb threats at airports.” The prime minister acknowledged that the bill’s measures would probably not have prevented the killing of a soldier in Ottawa by a radicalized Muslim in late October. But he suggested that the soldier who was run over by another Islamic radical in Quebec earlier that week might have been stopped under the proposed powers. Mr. Harper’s platform for this year’s election had been based on the country’s economic performance. But the collapse of oil prices has changed his approach. Mr. Harper suggested, even before opposition leaders responded, that only the Conservatives would ensure national security. “We do not buy the argument,” he said, “that every time you protect Canadians you take away civil liberties.” Errol Mendes, a law professor specializing in constitutional rights at the University of Ottawa, said that while some of the measures in the bill are similar to British laws, the Canadian Parliament lacks the oversight powers its British counterpart has over national security agencies. “The chances of abuse will be very high if we don’t have adequate oversight,” he said. “This is part of an agenda of raising fears.” |