Canada Introduces New Anti-Terrorism Bill
Canada is going to give enough power to its domestic spy agency so that it can carry out activities all over the world. The new anti-terrorism laws in the country were introduced on Monday, Oct. 27.
Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney introduced The Protection of Canada from Terrorists Act which would ensure legal protection to those who provided information or evident to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Blaney said that the bill would give the government sufficient rights to "seek earlier implementation of the citizenship revocation provisions" of the immigration law passed in June, Toronto Sun reported. The minister also said that the country's spy agency would have to be more capable of sharing intelligence with allies. The agency should also be able to track terror suspects trying to leave the country to get involved in extremist activities overseas, he said.
Blaney said that CSIS would be able to work with Canada's allies for finding information. At the same time, Canada is going to trust its own sources and promise them enough privacy and confidentiality. He said that the Monday bill was just to give an idea of the existing laws as more laws would soon be introduced. The anti-terrorism bill would have been introduced last week if there was no gunman attacking the Parliament last week. CBC News reported that the bill made amendments to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act and the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act. It also made a consequential amendment to the Access to Information Act.
CSIS' job is more about gathering intelligence than making arrests as it is not an agency for law enforcement. According to Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the recent anti-terrorism bill would get "expedited" due to the shooting at the Parliament on Wednesday. The NDP, on the other hand, said that it would study the latest anti-terrorism bill closely. Public safety critic Randall Garrison said that the party was interested to know the government's plans to counter radicalisation. "We are also interested in what steps the government will be taking to partner with communities to combat radicalization - something that we have been asking for action on for weeks," he said.
Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au