Canada announced a new anti-terror law on Friday that would allow anyone suspected of being involved in a terror plot to be detained without charge for up to seven days.
The law would also make it a crime for people to call for a terrorist attack — even if they do not make a specific threat — and empower Canada’s spy agency to thwart attacks directly in a significant expansion of its powers.
Work on the law began in October last year after a gunman in Ottawa killed a soldier at Canada’s National War Memorial and then stormed Parliament. The attack came two days after a man, said to be inspired by the Islamic State group — formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant — ran over two soldiers in a parking lot in Quebec, killing one and injuring the other before being shot to death.
The new law has yet to be passed by Parliament, but Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party has a majority of the seats so passage is all but ensured.
Under current law it is a crime to make a specific threat. The new law would make it a crime for a person to call for general terror attacks in Canada or to promote or advocate others to carry out terrorism elsewhere.
“We cannot tolerate this any more than we tolerate people that make jokes about bomb threats at airports,” Harper said. “Anyone engaging in that kind of activity is going to face the full force of the law in the future.”
The penalty would be a maximum of five years in prison. Authorities would also be able to remove material related to terrorism from any Canadian Web site.
Harper said Muslim militants have declared war on Canada and it would be a grave mistake to ignore their threats.
“Over the last few years a great evil has been descending upon our world, an evil that has been growing more and more powerful; violent jihadism,” Harper said.
Under the current law those suspected of being involved in a terror plot can be detained for up to three days. The new law extends that period to seven days, provided Canadian police get a judge’s permission.
The new law would also allow the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to directly approach terror suspects in order to disrupt their plans. The agency is currently only permitted to collect intelligence and pass the information on to police.
Under the new law, the CSIS would be able to cancel plane or other travel reservations made by Canadians suspected of being involved in terrorism. Police already have many of the powers that the agency would acquire, but the Canadian government wants the CSIS to be able to act quickly if it sees a threat.
University of Toronto law professor Kent Roach said the law that makes it a crime to encourage terrorism would likely not hold up in court. He called it too vague.
“There is a potential that it will chill expression,” Roach said. “It could be seen as disproportionately targeting the Muslim community and expressions of general support for terrorism in some parts of the world.”
Canadian Minister of Justice Peter MacKay said it targets those who advocate terrorism with intent and does not deal with glorification. MacKay said the government wants to work with other nations to remove terrorist material that’s coming from Web sites outside Canada.
“We need to work toward a system that will allow for the removal or at least the blocking of information that is provocative and that is aimed at promoting terrorism,” MacKay said. “That will require international protocols and a greater level of cooperation with our international partners.”
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