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A good decision by the Crown to appeal a terrorism guilty verdict reversal

One of the more ‘interesting’ terrorism cases to develop in Canada over the past few years is that of John Nuttall and Amanda Korody, two converts to Islam who planted pressure cooker bombs on the grounds of the BC Legislature in Victoria on Canada Day 2013 with a view to punishing average Canadians for their […]

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Innocence vs guilt in terrorism cases

Shakespeare must have had a lot against lawyers.  It was the great English playwright after all who had a character in Henry IV Part 2 say “the first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers’.  There has been a lot of debate over what this quote means – in any event it has stood […]

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The Canadian family that just won’t go away

When I was growing up in London (Ontario) there was a famous quasi-mythical family that lived near the town of Lucan, about a half-hour away, in the 19th  century.  The Donnellys, or the ‘Black Donnellys’ as we were taught about them, were Irish immigrants who were killed by a mob in 1880 in a feud […]

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A better way to write a terrorist threat report

As it is wont to do, the federal Department of Public Safety has just issued its annual “Public Report on the Terrorist Threat to Canada”.  This year’s edition contains statements such as: The main terrorist threat to Canada continues to stem from violent extremists inspired by terrorist groups, such as Daesh and al-Qaida Daesh, and […]

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Intelligence agencies use unsavory sources – is this news?

Canadians seem to have a love-hate relationship with their security and law enforcement agencies.  They rightfully demand to be kept safe and want their spies and cops to stop terrorism and serious crime before it happens.  At the same time they sometimes express horror at the methods used to guarantee that safety.  I am fully […]

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Canada cannot seem to get terrorism 100 % right

We have had a couple of very good successes in terrorism trials in Canada.  The Toronto 18 back in 2006.  Operation Samossa in Ottawa in 2010.  The VIA train plot in 2013.  The Victoria legislature Canada Day plot also in 2013 (before a judge erroneously – in my opinion – dismissed the jury verdict on […]

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What new Canadian torture directives will mean for intelligence gathering and sharing

There are few people, I imagine, that condone the use of torture.  Well, except those countries or governments who engage in it I suppose.  The list of those actors is one that most would find obvious: Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan.  And yet Amnesty International finds that torture is practiced in 141 nations, i.e three quarters of […]

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Preventing terrorism is rarely tied to immigration

This article appeared in The Hill Times on December 4, 2017 Canada is a nation of immigrants.  After all, each and every one of us, with the exception of our First Nations, an immigrant or the offspring of immigrants, whether we can trace our families back to the 16th century or the 21st.  Among many […]

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Counter terrorism and the evidentiary chain in Canada

Published in the Hill Times December 4, 2017 We in Canada do not have a lot of experience when it comes to terrorism.  That is, of course, a good thing as the opposite scenario would be tragic.  No, despite the fact that the Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre (ITAC) in Ottawa has pegged the threat level […]

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When terrorist attacks succeed and why

Another successful terrorist attack, another inquiry as to why it was not stopped.  This is becoming a common occurrence at least in Western societies where the exigencies of liberal democracies demand accountability. There may very well be post facto reviews in non-democracies like Russia and Saudi Arabia as well but we do not tend to […]