Canada to ramp up anti-terrorism efforts

TRENTON, Ont.

Canada’s public safety minister told a chiefs of police conference in Ottawa on Wednesday that the country would beef up its anti-terrorism measures in the wake of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) foiling a terrorist attack.

But Ralph Goodale added that the government would not be rushed into new laws because of the threat posed by Daesh sympathizer Aaron Driver.

Driver had explosives and planned to detonate a bomb in a major center but acting on a tip from the FBI, the RCMP was able to stop the plot and shoot and kill the would-be terrorist.

The FBI acted after finding Driver had made a so-called “martyrdom video” in which he pledged allegiance to Daesh and said he was planning an attack within 72 hours.

It was a close call. Driver was able to detonate a bomb in the back seat of a taxi and the cabby escaped harm by diving out of the vehicle seconds before the blast. It is thought that Driver may have survived the explosion but was shot by RCMP.

But Goodale said there was no need to rush a new anti-terrorist law because of the incident.

“You don’t develop good law in a panic,” he told the chiefs of police gathering in Ottawa, as reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation [CBC].

Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau referenced the Driver incident and said any legislation would have to balance civil liberties with public safety.

“Canada is a country that values its freedom (and) its basic charter rights,” Trudeau commented during a news conference to announce a new infrastructure project in Nova Scotia, the CBC reported. “Getting that balance isn’t always easy in the situation we now live in but it’s extremely important.”

Driver was under a court-ordered peace bond – where he promised to be on good behavior – that was instituted after police discovered he was an acquaintance of Daesh supporters in the U.S. and the U.K.

Goodale admitted that the peace bond was “not effective” as applied to Driver.

“They’re a tool that has limitations,” he said.

Goodale told reporters that the government would hire a senior advisor to lead an anti-terror program that would be initiated in a bid to prevent radicalization. That is expected to begin sometime this fall.

A peace bond is used in the case of people who are known to be sympathetic to terrorist organizations such as Daesh, but have committed no crime for which they could be arrested.

The government is considering making counter-radicalization counseling mandatory under anti-terrorism peace bonds, Goodale said, as reported Wednesday by CTV News.

[W]e are examining very carefully what we need to do to make our police and security activity more effective,” he said.