Since Canada’s adoption of the Anti-terrorism Act in 2001, 56 people have been charged with terrorism-related offences in this country. The outcomes have been mixed
National security and legal experts say they’re hopeful Ottawa’s plan to create a new office specializing in terrorism prosecutions will improve this country’s track record of holding accountable those who threaten public safety.
When Ayanle Hassan Ali went on a knife rampage at a Canadian Forces recruiting centre in Toronto in 2016, injuring two people, federal prosecutors took the position he did so for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group of which he was the only member. But the trial judge found him not guilty of the terror charge and found him not criminally responsible for other offences, including attempted murder, on account of mental disorder.
Prosecutors, for instance, have to show the perpetrators not only intentionally caused death or serious harm to the public but were motivated by an ideological, political or religious purpose, he said. “How, when and why the government is choosing to classify some attacks as terrorism and not others has become hard, if not impossible, to figure from outside government,” he wrote in a soon-to-be-published blog post.
The creation of the Director of Terrorism Prosecutions is in line with recommendations from the Air India Commission, and would help build specialized expertise on terrorism cases
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