Will Canada’s New Security Work?

by John Thompson

January, 2001

Draconian or desperately needed? The new "anti-terror" measures rushing through Parliament are probably both, and the only thing that could justify some of these extraordinary measures would be effective safety.

Most Canadians have long been little aware of the murderous undercurrents that move through the world. Our innocent prosperity has been used to help feed these undercurrents, but successive Canadian governments have been slow to recognize this. The net result is that our security and defence capabilities have grown rusty and blunt, it remains to be seen if Ottawa can sharpen up effectively.

There are two reasonable tests to determine if the new "Anti-Terror" legislation is effective and useful. These are the "Ahmed Ressam" and "Colombo Bombing" tests.

Ahmed Ressam is the poster-child for the failures of Canada’s immigration and security systems. In February 1994, he arrived in Canada from France with a doctored French passport under a different name. Alert immigration officers detected the passport and interviewed him, whereupon he admitted that he had participated in the Islamic insurgency in Algeria and had been in prison there for weapons smuggling. In most countries the matter would have ended right there, but our officials were obliged to honor his request for refugee status and released him into the country.

Later that year, Ressam was arrested for some minor thefts in Montreal — and linked up with other Islamic Fundamentalists who were operating an automobile theft ring and dabbling in fake IDs. In 1995 he dropped his refugee claim but remained in the country — without being pursued by Immigration officials. Later, after having created a false Canadian identity, he acquired a new passport (as Benni Noris), traveled to Afghanistan and got more training as a terrorist. In December 1999, he was arrested when entering the United States with a load of explosives and bomb-timers that were created in Canada.

In Colombo, Sri Lanka, there was a World Trade Centre building too. It was demolished shortly after it opened in October 1997, when a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber drove a car bomb through the front window. The attack killed 18 people and wounded 100. The military explosives used in the attack — and in many other attacks that had killed hundreds of civilians — had been acquired in the Ukraine with money that came from the Tamil community in Canada.

Cultural and community life among Canadian Tamils is dominated by the supporters of the Tigers, who use their compatriots to generate financial and political support for a largely pointless civil war in Sri Lanka that has killed over 65,000 people. Considering that Sri Lanka has never done any harm to Canada, and that many Tamils fled here to get away from the Tigers, the continued overt presence of this highly organized terrorist group is an affront.

Will Ottawa’s new laws keep the likes of Ahmed Ressam and the Tamil Tigers from operating in Canada?

With 171 pages of often harsh and slightly disturbing new laws, the new measures will be complex, confusing for many lawyers and cops, and — notwithstanding the sterling personal character of most Canadian police — likely to be abused. Yet it almost passes the "Colombo Bombing" test. Front organizations that raise money for terrorists can be shut down and their principal officers can face prison… if the group is on Ottawa’s list of terrorist groups and their supporters. Considering the efforts that some front groups have spent wooing members of the Canadian government, it will be interesting to see who is on the list.

Passing the "Ahmed Ressam" test looks less likely. There appear to be no provisions for debarring a traveler like Ressam from making a refugee claim and entering the country. Nor do there seem to be provisions for rapidly sharing information between police departments (who would notice organized criminal behavior) and Immigration’s databases that could alert local police to other realistic concerns. The new "Maple Leaf" Card doesn’t hold biometric data, and would be no barrier to the acquisition of a new passport under a false name.

Ottawa gets an A for effort, but a C+ on the Colombo test and an F on the Ressam test. If one could send a note to the Government’s parents, it might be useful to make some comments about threatening behavior and a tendency to over-elaborate when presented with simple problems.

John Thompson is President of the Mackenzie Institute which studies political instability and terrorism. He can be reached at: mackenzieinstitute@bellnet.ca