Anti-terrorism Act, 2015
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The ''Anti-terrorism Act, 2015'', introduced and commonly referred to as Bill C-51, is an act of the
Parliament of Canada The Parliament of Canada (french: Parlement du Canada) is the federal legislature of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and is composed of three parts: the King, the Senate, and the House of Commons. By constitutional convention, the ...
passed by the
Harper government The premiership of Stephen Harper began on February 6, 2006, when the first Cabinet headed by Stephen Harper was sworn in by Governor General Michaelle Jean. Harper was invited to form the 28th Canadian Ministry and become Prime Minister of ...
that broadened the authority of Canadian government agencies to share information about individuals easily. It also expanded the mandate of the
Canadian Security Intelligence Service The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, ; french: Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité, ''SCRS'') is Canada's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for collecting, analysing, reporting and disseminating int ...
(CSIS) and was described as the first comprehensive reform of this kind since
2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
. The bill was introduced and passed by the
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
government of Prime Minister
Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...
. The
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...
supported the bill, although promised to amend the bill to improve it if elected. It was opposed by the
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
, the Bloc Québecois, Strength in Democracy, and the
New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...
(NDP).


Background

Between 2013 and 2014, there had been twelve threat-to-VIP incidents according to the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
(RCMP). On October 20, 2014, Martin Couture-Rouleau deliberately rammed a car into a pair of Canadian Armed Forces soldiers in a shopping centre parking lot in
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu () is a city in eastern Montérégie in the Canadian province of Quebec, about southeast of Montreal. It is situated on the west bank of the Richelieu River at the northernmost navigable point of Lake Champlain. As of De ...
. "Ahmad" Couture-Rouleau had been radicalized after converting to Islam. One month before, the spokesman of the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
(ISIL), Abu Muhammad Adnani, asked exactly for this kind of vehicular homicide. As such the attack was linked to terrorism by government and police officials, including in a statement by Prime Minister Harper. On October 22, 2014, a series of shootings occurred on Parliament Hill and inside the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa, conducted by
Michael Zehaf-Bibeau The 2014 shootings at Parliament Hill were a series of shootings that occurred on October 22, 2014, at Parliament Hill in Ottawa. At the Canadian National War Memorial, Corporal Nathan Cirillo, a Canadian soldier and reservist on ceremonial ...
, which left one Canadian soldier and Zehaf-Bibeau dead. Prime Minister Harper labelled the shootings as a 'terrorist act', stating that "this will lead us to strengthen our resolve and redouble our efforts and those of our national security agencies to take all necessary steps to identify and counter threats and keep Canada safe here at home, just as it will lead us to strengthen our resolve and redouble our efforts to work with our allies around the world and fight against the terrorist organizations who brutalize those in other countries with a hope." After the incident security on Parliament Hill was transferred to the RCMP. The Conservative government argued that various legislative amendments were needed to address and preempt such security threats, as well as to discourage Canadian nationals from participating as foreign terrorist fighters in conflicts abroad. The government introduced multiple pieces of legislation that affect security, privacy and the power of policy agencies such as the ''
Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act The ''Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act'' (S.C. 2014, c. 31) was introduced by the Conservative government of Stephen Harper on November 20, 2013, during the 41st Parliament, and received royal assent on December 9, 2014. Commonly known ...
'', the ''Digital Privacy Act'' and the ''Protection of Canada from Terrorists Act''.


Objective

With an expanded mandate, CSIS would be granted the ability to "disrupt terror plots, make it easier for police to limit the movements of a suspect, expand no-fly list powers, crack down on terrorist propaganda, and remove barriers to sharing security-related information." The law's changes would make it easier for seventeen Canadian departments to exchange information between each other, including tax information from the
Canada Revenue Agency The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA; ; ) is the revenue service of the Canadian federal government, and most provincial and territorial governments. The CRA collects taxes, administers tax law and policy, and delivers benefit programs and tax credit ...
. The law provided that the Canadian government would have the ability to intercede and stop "violent Islamic jihadi terrorists" inspired by the existence of ISIL. Public Safety Minister
Steven Blaney Steven Blaney (born April 8, 1965) is a Canadian businessman and Conservative politician. He served as the Minister of Public Safety Canada (July 15, 2013 – November 4, 2015) and previously as the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Minister o ...
stated that the international jihadi movement had "declared war on Canada" and other countries around the world. He also stated that the new tactics granted to CSIS would only be used if there are reasonable grounds to believe a particular activity constitutes a threat to the security of Canada. Liberal Party leader
Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...
listed three ways the law will, in his view, improve the safety of Canadians: #by making "preventive arrest" easier when police suspect someone may be planning to carry out a terrorist activity; #by strengthening Canada's "no-fly list"; and #by improving communication and coordination on potential threats among federal agencies. During the same exchange, when asked about what he would like to see amended further, he also said, "narrowing and limiting the kinds of new powers that CSIS and national security agencies would have." Trudeau also said the Liberals would bring in mandatory review of the law every three years, and introduce oversight of CSIS by a committee of MPs.


Legislative history

Prime Minister Harper's government proposed the legislation, stating that the bill offered "considerable" oversight, and that it is a fallacy to suppose that "every time you protect Canadians, you take away their liberties." On February 23, 2015, Bill C-51 passed the second reading in the House of Commons with a vote of 176–87. In order to supervise the proper construction of the bill, the Conservative government planned to allot three sessions to witness testimony. After an NDP
filibuster A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking out ...
, the number of testimonies expanded to nine. Prior to voting in favor of the amended bill Liberal leader Justin Trudeau said to students, "My hope is that this government actually realizes from public pressure that it is going to have to make significant amendments to this bill." On March 26 the Liberal Party unveiled their proposed amendments to the bill in an online posting. Liberal Wayne Easter summarized the amendments as, "We believe that our amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act, if accepted, will strike the right balance and address Canadians' general concerns. Our amendments fall into three categories: ensuring parliamentary oversight, instituting mandatory legislative reviews, and narrowing overly broad definitions." The Conservatives amended the bill to include: :* Removing the word "lawful" from the section listing exemptions to the new counterterror measures addressing protests :* Clarifying that CSIS agents, while newly empowered to "disrupt" potential threats, will not be able to make arrests. :* Establishing limits on inter-agency information sharing. :* Adjusting a provision that would have given the public safety minister the power to direct air carriers to do "anything" that, in his or her view, is "reasonably necessary" to prevent a terrorist act. The Liberal Party supported the amended bill on its third reading on May 6, which took place in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
with a final vote of 183 to 96. It later passed in the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
on June 9 following a vote of 44 to 28 in favour.


Criticism

The Canadian arm of
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
indicated that the anti-terrorism bill could be used to target environmental activists and aboriginal protesters, or any other form of protest without an official permit or court order."Bill C-51 Could Be Used To Target Activists: Amnesty International"
The Huffington Post.
An RCMP report names
Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...
in language that would permit CSIS powers against them.
Daniel Therrien Daniel Therrien is a Canadian lawyer and civil servant who was the privacy commissioner of Canada from June 5, 2014 to June 26, 2022. Education Therrien holds a Bachelor of Arts and a law degree from the University of Ottawa. He was called to th ...
, the federal privacy commissioner, suggests that the bill fails to protect the safety and privacy of Canadians, for it grants unprecedented and excessive powers to government departments and agencies. His analysis indicates that Bill C-51 "opens the door to collecting, analyzing and potentially keeping forever the personal information of all Canadians," including every instance of "a person's tax information and details about a person's business and vacation travel." Ultimately, Therrien calls for significant changes and amends to Bill C-51, so that it respects privacy rights. Law professor Craig Forcese suggests that the increase of information the bill permits would "create a new concept of information sharing that is so vast that it risks increasing the size of the haystack to such a magnitude that it becomes more difficult to find needles". Former British Columbia member of Parliament and cabinet minister
Chuck Strahl Charles Richard "Chuck" Strahl (born February 25, 1957) is a Canadian businessman and politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1993 to 2011. First elected for the Reform Party, he was the leader of the Democratic Representative Caucus that ...
argued that there is no need for greater oversight, and the existing five-member
Security Intelligence Review Committee The Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC; french: Comité de surveillance des activités de renseignement de sécurité) was a committee of Privy Councillors that was empowered to serve as an independent oversight and review body for the o ...
has done a good job to date. Lorne Dawson, a
University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...
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professor, stated that "CSIS is likely more interested in argetingthe kind of anti-immigrant, anti-Islam sentiment that has taken root in some parts of northern Europe." On March 4, the Conservative Party released a promotional graphic over
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featuring an Al-Shabaab spokesperson threatening western shopping malls, naming
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specifically. It was reported in the ''
Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' that the post was judged to be "fear mongering" by some on social media. Law professors Craig Forcese and Kent Roach state that Bill C-51 could lead to the misidentification of Canadians as terrorist suspects. They believe that the power accorded to the state to detain suspects more easily will lead to more people being falsely identified as terrorist suspects.


Response


Open letters from Canadians

One hundred law professors have written against the bill. Over 150 Canadian business leaders and followers signed a
open letter
to the government condemning bill C-51, circulated by OpenMedia.ca. The
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Council of Kahnawà:ke sent an open letter against the bill writing: "We feel that Bill C-51, in its current state, could potentially and perhaps even predictably be used to future oppress our defense of our Aboriginal rights and Title."


Public protest

Under the leadership of Paul Finch, the BCGEU called a major anti-C51 rally for Vancouver and began funding LeadNow to organize actions nationally. After a successful post on the social media website
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, under the site's subsection /r/Canada, a group of online activists generated another subsection for the organization of protests across the country. Within a few weeks, over 70,000 Canadians spoke out against the bill. Through 'we.leadnow.ca', forty-five protests occurred across Canada on March 14, which organizers called a Day of Action. The rally drew thousands of demonstrators across fifty-five Canadian cities. NDP leader
Thomas Mulcair Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...
joined demonstrators in Montreal in a march to Justin Trudeau's office, while Green Party leader Elizabeth May joined the rally in Toronto. Following the success of Lead Now's national public protest a subsequent grassroots effort led in part by
Bowinn Ma Bowinn Ma, MLA is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2017 provincial election.Anonymous claimed responsibility for a
denial of service In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host connect ...
attack against Canadian government websites, which they said was to protest of the passage of bill C-51. The attack temporarily affected the websites of several federal agencies.


Political response

On February 4, the
Communist Party of Canada The Communist Party of Canada (french: Parti communiste du Canada) is a federal political party in Canada, founded in 1921 under conditions of illegality. Although it does not currently have any parliamentary representation, the party's can ...
began a campaign against Bill C-51 stating they "will do everything in our power to help defeat Bill C-51". On March 4, the party publicly supported the cross-Canada Day of Action against Bill C-51. On February 17,
Elizabeth May Elizabeth Evans May (born June 9, 1954) is a Canadian politician, environmentalist, author, activist, and lawyer who is serving as the leader of the Green Party of Canada since 2022, and previously served as the leader from 2006 to 2019. Sh ...
, the leader of the Green Party of Canada voiced that she has "a number of concerns with the proposed legislation and wants it scrapped entirely". On February 18,
Tom Mulcair Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in '' Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...
, the leader of the NDP showcased his party's opposition to the bill. During
Question Period Question Period (french: période des questions), known officially as Oral Questions (french: questions orales) occurs each sitting day in the House of Commons of Canada, in which members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (i ...
in the House of Commons, Mulcair stated that Canadians "should not have to choose between security and their rights". On February 19, a joint statement was published and signed by four former prime ministers:
Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. Born and raised in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Chrétien is a law graduate from Uni ...
,
Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son o ...
,
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, and
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. Eighteen others signed the statement, including five former Supreme Court justices, seven former Liberal solicitors general and ministers of justice, three past members of the intelligence review committee, two former privacy commissioners and a retired RCMP watchdog. The statement calls for stronger security oversight, as "serious human rights abuses can occur in the name of maintaining national security". On March 1, the
Pirate Party of Canada The Pirate Party of Canada (french: Parti Pirate du Canada; PPCA) was a minor party in federal Canadian politics. Founded in 2009, the party officially registered with Elections Canada in 2010. The PPCA is modelled on the Swedish Pirate Party and ...
provided a press release in opposition to the bill, calling for debate, criticism and discussion. Among their criticisms, they believe that the bill is redundant as there are existent laws dealing with terrorists, and this proposal opens the potential for governmental abuse as it "will also allow the government to arrest and incarcerate any citizen based on subjective evidence, then have that evidence destroyed". On March 6, Daniel Therrien, the privacy commissioner of Canada, stated that the powers of Bill C-51 "are excessive and the privacy safeguards proposed are seriously deficient". He speaks to the potential of limitless powers within the 17 federal agencies that would exist if this bill were to be passed. On March 8, during an interview on CTV's ''Question Period'', BC Premier
Christy Clark Christina Joan Clark (born October 29, 1965) is a former Canadian politician who was the 35th premier of British Columbia (BC), from 2011 to 2017. Clark was the second woman to be premier of BC, after Rita Johnston in 1991, and the first female ...
expressed opposition to the Bill. On April 16, Powell River passed a municipal resolution to petition the federal government to withdraw the bill.


See also

*
Anti-Terrorism Act (Canada) The Canadian ''Anti-terrorism Act'' (french: Loi antiterroriste) (the ''Act'') was passed by the Parliament of Canada in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. It received Royal Assent on December 18, 2001, as Bill C-3 ...
*
Anti-terrorism Act, 2015 The ''Anti-terrorism Act, 2015'', introduced and commonly referred to as Bill C-51, is an act of the Parliament of Canada passed by the Harper government that broadened the authority of Canadian government agencies to share information about in ...
*
Anti-terrorism legislation Anti-terrorism legislation are laws with the purpose of fighting terrorism. They usually, if not always, follow specific bombings or assassinations. Anti-terrorism legislation usually includes specific amendments allowing the state to bypass its ...
*
PROFUNC PROFUNC, an acronym for "PROminent FUNCtionaries of the communist party", was a Classified information, top secret Government of Canada project to identify and observe suspected Communism in Canada, Canadian communists and Crypto-communism, crypto ...
*
Patriot Act The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropr ...
(United States)


References

{{Reflist, 30em


External links


LEGISinfo page on the bill
2015 in Canadian law Canadian federal legislation Terrorism laws in Canada