Borealis Threat & Risk ConsultingIn a recent video appearance before the Canadian national security and defence committee, charged with preparing a report on threats to national security, former Muslim Ayaan Hirsi Ali warned the Canadian government that “you should be looking out for the sprouting of mosques and Islamic centres. You should be looking out for the establishment of Islamic schools […]
Remember when we were all inspired by the grassroots efforts made across North Africa and the Middle East in the name of freedom and democracy? And how these movements were going to change the region and the world? Without wanting to denigrate the sacrifices made by millions, I think we can conclude that – for […]
While driving through Perth last week, I listened to an interview with a University of Windsor academic who had studied the effects of a program offered on Canadian university campuses aimed at reducing sexual assault . Her research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that the training resulted in a significant decrease in […]
This ain’t good. In an interview with Vice, Immigration Minister Chris Alexander, while defending the government’s position that wearing a niqab (face veil) during citizenship ceremonies is not concomitant with Canadian values, uttered the following sequence: ” The overwhelming majority of Canadians want that rule to continue to apply. We’ve done a lot in the […]
You find provocative pieces related to terrorism just about anywhere these days. Remember the Rolling Stone cover piece on Dhzokhar Tsarnaev (one of the Boston Marathon bombers) that got all that attention last year? I recently read an essay on the “Hydra paradox” in the UK magazine New Scientist (full disclosure: I have been reading […]
As more and more Canadians are identified trying to leave the country to link up with terrorist groups such as ISIS, more and more programs are being put forward to deal with the underlying radicalization problem. Quebec is the latest jurisdiction to announce such an initiative (see link here). What are the elements to consider […]
When I worked as an intelligence analyst I always wanted more information. More and better data always trumps less, as it may assist in more in depth and accurate analysis. So what should we make of the Canadian government’s decision to expand its collection of fingerprints and digital photos, in part to catch “terrorists…and jihadis […]
The RCMP in Winnipeg detained a 23-year old Manitoban and seized a number of hard drives they said he used to express support for the Islamic State (see story here). The youth arrested is a convert to Islam and the son of a member of the Canadian Armed Forces. He as apparently been on CSIS’ watchlist […]
A Vancouver jury found John Nuttall and Amanda Korody guilty of terrorism yesterday after three days of deliberation (see Globe story here). This is good news from several perspectives a) it shows that terrorism cases can successfully be prosecuted through the court system b) our security and law enforcement agencies (CSIS was the first to […]
I have already talked a bit about the Sunni-Shia split in an earlier piece (Brothers at Arms). Today’s thoughts are along a different pathway. When I worked in the intelligence world and looked at violent radicalization, the focus was entirely on Sunnis, not Shia. Of course, there were other kinds of violence to worry about […]