Categories
Perspectives

The current terrorist threat environment in Canada

The CSIS Director and RCMP Commissioner both appeared at a House of Commons public safety committee recently and provided Canadians with some useful information on the nature of the terrorist threat we face (story here).  Both agencies understandably work in secret – that is the only way they can do their jobs – but the […]

Categories
Perspectives

Should thinking about violence be punished?

One of the greatest challenges a society has to face with respect to the delicate balance between privacy and freedom of thought and national security has to do with when organs of the state are allowed to take an interest in the activities of its citizens when those activities are believed to constitute a threat […]

Categories
Perspectives

Terrorism begins at home sometimes

In the wake of the Paris attacks and continuing developments, we have been inundated with dire warnings that everything has changed. These attacks were the harbinger of a “new wave” of terrorism  now that Islamic State has left the confines of Syria-Iraq and decided to spread its carnage elsewhere (Egypt, Lebanon, France…).   So much […]

Categories
Perspectives

Choosing between the letter and the spirit of the law

We make laws to reflect our values and to protect ourselves from those that would undermine them.  For instance, we say that murder is a crime because we value life.  We have laws against the theft of personal goods because we value our property.  In a more controversial vein, we have hate laws because we […]

Categories
Perspectives

Solitary confinement

It is not uncommon for inaccurate information to be held as accepted wisdom where no amount of data will convince people otherwise. Examples of this would include the conviction that crime rates are soaring (they have actually been plummeting for years) or that e-cigarettes are ok (there is no data yet suggesting that they are […]