The Federal Government and Antiterrorism - Essay Example

? The federal government and Antiterrorism Introduction Canadian criminal law section 83 subsection of the criminal code, defines terrorism as acts that are partly or wholly executed to fulfil individuals ideological, religious or political objectives. Further, terrorism entails the acts of intimidation where a terrorist tends to jeopardize the social, political and economic security of the members of the general public. Canadian law further defines terrorism acts to include the following; massive destruction of property, human harm/death, disruption of human activities and systems/institutions just to mention but a few. However, the Canadian law has been experiencing difficulties in defining terrorism due to various impediments/factors. Among those impediments include; political factors which fail to define well the beginning and the end of terrorism acts. Secondly, government’s attempt to have a broad definition of terrorism has made the term to become so ambiguous and controversial as it tends to include non terrorism acts (The Government of Canada Ministry of Justice, 2013). The Canadian federal government established Antiterrorism Act, a legal framework that was aimed at establishing measures to deal with terrorism activities. The framework consists of the following elements; penal law for terrorism acts, listing of terrorism groups/entities, definition of terrorism acts/offences, investigation of terrorism acts, recognition of terrorism condition/acts, establishment of tools and equipments for detecting terrorism activities such as surveillance, identification of hate/prejudice crimes, identification of ways of terrorism financing, amendment of information security act and finally establishment of various amendments of security intelligence act (The Government of Canada Ministry of Justice, 2013). Therefore, the study will focus on the federal government of Canada's response to the events of 9/11 with particular focus on the legislation. Discuss the federal government of Canada's response to the events of 9/11 with particular focus on the Antiterrorism legislation (Canadian Antiterrorism Legislation) The federal government of Canada made amendments on its Anti-terrorism Act on 11th September 2001 following numerous terrorism attacks during this period. Some of the acts that were amended include; the act of criminal code, official secret Act, the Canadian evidence Act, money laundry Act to mention just but a few. The Anti Terrorism Amendment Act led to the establishment of the major elements of the Canadian government plan. The main objectives of the Canadian Anti-terrorism plan include: securing Canadian territorial boarder against antiterrorist attacks, to collaborate with international community in arresting and prosecuting terrorist, prevent the acts of terrorism in Canada as well as establishing tools for convicting and punishing terrorists (Rollings-Magnusson, 2009). The above mention act may be discussed as follows: The act of criminal code act The criminal code act was the first one to be amended under part one of the Canadian federal government Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).The act was amended to define terrorism in two major ways. The first definition states that terrorism as acts of omission that are committed inside or outside Canada that amounts to a criminal offence as defined by the international agreements in respect to the acts of terrorism such as bombing and hijacking. The second definition under the first part of ATA, defines terrorism as acts that are undertaken inside or outside Canada for the purpose of fulfilling individual ideological, religious and political purpose with an aim of threatening public economic peace/security. In addition, other amendments that were made under the Canadian criminal code include but not limited to the definition of terrorist groups, terrorism offences, investigation of terrorism acts, recognition of terrorism acts, establishment of tools and equipments for detecting terrorism activities to mention just but a few of the amendments under the ATA criminal code. The code defines terrorist groups as an entity that is aimed at financing/facilitating terrorism activities. In addition, the Canadian criminal code stipulates that criminal acts/offences include but not limited to the following acts: understanding and facilitating of terrorism activities. In addition, Antiterrorism Act included any involvement in terrorism by any member of the public who is inside or outside Canada as a terrorist activity. Additionally, collaborating with terrorists with an aim of executing terrorism was also included as an act of terrorism. In addition, knowing and hiding a terrorist or a terror group was also considered as a terrorism offense. The Canadian Anti terrorism criminal code further provided measures to be used in recognition and detection of terrorism activities in order to assist law enforcement agencies to arrest and prosecute terror groups (Government of Canada, Department of Justice, 2013). The Anti terrorism Act further provided amendments to incorporate surveillance in investigation and detection of terrorism activities. The acts included terrorist activities under the electronic surveillance plan. The criminal code act eliminated the requirement of last resort to allow the application of electronic surveillance as well as to increase the duration for its application. For example, the wiretap duration was increased from sixty days to a period of one year while the duration for notification to target was increased to three years after surveillance installation was accomplished. In addition, the DNA and Data bank were to be applied in forensic investigation in order to help the law enforcement agencies to carry out terrorism investigation and prosecution. The criminal code under section 430 subsections 4.1 was further amended to include hate/prejudice crime offences which aims to determine whether mischief offence was promoted by biasness on the basis of colour, religion, race or ethnicity. In addition, the criminal code section 320.1 was also amended to allow any propaganda messages that promote discrimination to be deleted from all Canadian computer systems. The Canadian Anti Terrorism Act amended the Human Rights Act to include hate messages passed through internet and other technologies as criminal offences because they tend to discriminate some members of the public (Government of Canada, Department of Justice,2013). The official secret Act Part two Anti-Terrorism Act is the official secret Act which is commonly known as Security of Information Act (SOIA). This act focuses on eliminating any conduct such as espionage that might be detrimental/jeopardize the security of Canadian people. The act tends to protect the interest and safety of the Canadian people from all acts of terrorism by ensuring that there is no disclosure of information that might put the lives of Canadian people at the risk of terrorism attacks. In the above connection, Canadian Anti Terrorism Act made amendments of the Charities Registration Act (CRSIA) which is commonly known as Security of information Act. The act was amended to prevent any aid that might be extended to the terrorists through registration of Charities under the Tax Act. This act provided the ministry of public safety in Canada with an authority to issue a certificate that indicated action should be taken against a particular organisation for supporting terrorism activities. The ministry of public safety may support its assertion by arguing that based on the criminal investigation and records available to them, there is substantial ground to believe that a particular organisation has been supporting or is supporting terrorism activities. However, after the ministry of public safety had issued the certificate, it had to be reviewed by judiciary under the federal court whereby, the alleged organisation might be given a chance to appear before the court for a defence (Government of Canada, Department of Justice, 2013). Canadian evidence Act The other part where the federal government of Canada made amendments in the Canadian Anti terrorism Act was the Canadian evidence Act (CEA). The act made amendments in section thirty seven and 38 respectively. The act was amended to ensure that during information disclosure, there was a balance between the interest of the public and that of the international community. Section thirty eight of the Canadian Evidence Act (CEA) aims to foster the evidence scheme in three major ways namely: Introduction of system flexibility, ensuring the ability of federal government in ensuring that high standards of confidentiality are observed among all parties involved. Finally, section 38 aims to provide an earliest solution of evidentiary issues. The Canadian Evidence Act further under the access of information act made amendments to ensure that personal information and private electronic documents were protect in reference to section thirty eight of the Canadian Evidence Act (Government of Canada, Department of Justice,2013). Money laundry Act The Canadian Antiterrorism Act was further amended to include the crime of money laundry as defined in the Proceeds of Crime Money Laundry Act (PCMLA).This act increased the responsibilities of Financial Transaction and Report Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC).The Anti Terrorism Act provided the Financial Transaction and Report Analysis of Canada with an authority to detect and combat the acts of money laundry in financing of terrorism activities. Further, the ATA provided Canadian Security Intelligence Service and law enforcement agencies with the information concerning the acts of terrorism financing. In addition, the Financial Transaction and Report Analysis Canada was authorised to gather information concerning the acts of terrorism financing from the public, law enforcement agencies and from foreign intelligence units. Finally, the Anti Terrorism Act further amended Charities Registration Act to combat the acts of terrorism financing (Government of Canada, Department of Justice, 2013). Conclusion The Canadian federal government has made various amendments with an aim of combating the acts of terrorism. Canadian criminal law under section 83 subsection 1 of the criminal code, defines terrorism as acts that are partly or wholly executed to fulfil individuals ideological, religious or political objectives. Following the terrorist attacks on 11th September 200, the federal government of Canada made amendments on its Anti-terrorism Act. Some of the acts that were amended include; the act of criminal code, official secret Act, the Canadian evidence Act and money laundry Act. Conclusively, the criminal code act was the first one to be amended whereby, terrorism acts were broadly defined into two broad categories as discussed. Other acts such as official secret Act, the Canadian evidence Act, money laundry Act were also amended. References Government of Canada, Department of Justice.(2013).About Anti-Terrorism Acts. Retrieved :< http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/ns-sn/act-loi.html> on 7th December 2013. Rollings-Magnusson, S. (2009). Anti-terrorism: Security and insecurity after 9/11. Halifax, N.S: Fernwood Pub. The Government of Canada Ministry of Justice.(2013). Definition of Terrorism under Canadian Context. Memorializing the Victims of Terrorism. Retrieved :on 7th December 2013. Read More