The Urgency of Canadian Intelligence and Action

"With the growing number of radicalized Canadians travelling abroad to fight with ISIL, [Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant/ Islamic State in Iraq and Syria/ISIS] this government will take action to ensure our national security agencies can swiftly and urgently revoke the passport of any threat to Canadians and our allies."
Government of Canada source

"[The lure of violent jihad such as ISIS is] resonating with some individuals in Canada."
"In its previous public reports and elsewhere, CSIS [Canadian Security Intelligence Service] has raised concern about the growing number of Canadian citizens who have left the country to participate in foreign terrorist activities. In light of the growing menace posed by ISIL and its ability to attract foreign fighters, CSIS again draws attention to this problem."
"[The] threat posed here by frustrated extremists who have been unable to join the fight abroad [is a menace but permitting them to depart Canada was not a solution]."
CSIS report

"Even if a Canadian extremist does not immediately return, he or she is still a Canadian problem. Just as Canada expects other nations to prevent their citizens from harming Canadians and Canadian interests, we too are obliged to deny Canadian extremists the ability to kill and terrorize people of other countries."
"There are violent people and violent groups that want to kill Canadians. There was a period after 9/11 when many people assumed that an effective terrorist attack was necessarily one that involved a network of highly trained operatives bent on committing a spectacular mass-casualty event."
"In truth, a single assailant with low-tech weaponry -- a rifle or even a car -- can bring tragedy and insecurity to our communities."
Michel Coulombe, director, CSIS

Wayne Cuddington/Postmedia News     A soldier has been shot at the Cenotaph in Ottawa on October 22, 2014.

The government's controversial Bill C-51 passed its third-reading vote in the House of Commons with a vote of 193-96. It now goes to the Senate for passage into law. The bill was fast-tracked after the terror attacks that took place in Ottawa and Quebec in October of last year. The bill is set to expand the mandate and power of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, criminalizes the promotion and advocating of terrorism and added issues.

It will permit over a hundred government departments and federal agencies to share information more readily between themselves and with international counterparts, making it simpler for police to make arrests and to detain those individuals they suspect as national security threats, without charge. CSIS, the RCMP and other security agencies have needs recognized as perfectly legitimate that must be addressed to render them more effective in coping with threats from terrorists and related national security dangers.

Two weeks ago, CSIS director Michel Coulombe informed the Senate National Security Committee that Canadians leaving for Syria and Iraq to join Islamist jihad had risen by 50 percent in the past few months alone. The goal is to prevent them from leaving, and to that end police alert officials to effect the cancellation of passports of extremist travellers. It is a time-consuming  procedure, at a time when authorities are required to act more expeditiously.

The passage of Bill C-51 will allow for that more speedy action in the face of extreme threats. It has been revealed that similar to Martin Couture-Rouleau who killed a soldier through vehicular manslaughter in Quebec, one of the suspects shot dead in Texas who had opened fire outside a Prophet Mohammad cartoon free-speech event in Texas also had his passport seized, stopping him from travelling overseas to join ISIS.

It was also pointed out through the CSIS report that even though ISIL/ISIS continues to dominate the counter-terrorism focus since seizing large swathes of Syria and Iraq, al-Qaeda "remains a dangerous terrorist group" with significant support in Canada. Hezbollah, supported by Iran also remains a threat, added the report.