CREDIT: DEREK AUDETTE/HEMERA/THINKSTOCK
In the wake of the Ottawa shooting, support for Bill C-44 will undoubtedly come around.

In the wake of the horrific attacks on a Canadian military personnel on October 22, the Canadian government is attempting to reassure people that steps are being taken to prevent acts of terrorism. The unfortunate reality is that there is little that can be done to prevent a disenfranchised individual from deciding to target a member of the armed forces or the broader public.

Last week’s events will likely generate support for the Conservative’s Bill C-44 dubbed Protection of Canada from Terrorists despite issues that are cause for genuine concern.

The bill was introduced before the attacks, however, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney has announced that a second bill will be forthcoming with additional measures. The widely held belief is that the new bill would allow for pre-emptive arrests in the case of terror suspects while outlawing online dialogue that sympathizes with terrorists or terrorist organizations.

Although Ottawa shooter Michael Zehaf- Bibeau was known to police for drug-related charges, none of the proposed measures in Bill C-44 would have prevented the incident from occurring. The idea that anyone other than the perpetrators was aware of their respective plans has yet to be proven which casts the involvement of terrorist organizations into doubt. The timing may have been entirely coincidental, The RCMP has yet to release the entirety of a tape made by Zehaf- Bibeau, so it’s hard to draw substantial conclusions on any connection between the two incidents.

There’s a real danger that the climate of fear generated by these attacks could be used to pass legislation that gives Canadian security forces undue power. Metaphorically speaking, people are a lot more likely to purchase new locks when their home was just broken into. Our neighbours south of the border deal with substantially greater international and home grown terrorist threats, yet the myriad of precautions they’ve taken have had little effect.

The Canadian Security and Intelligence Service has been less than co-operative with an investigative review conducted by the national intelligence watchdog. The review found that CSIS representatives were slow to release pertinent documents and failed to volunteer details of an operation that could be considered controversial. In light of the Edward Snowden scandal with the National Security Agency there is an argument to be made for a body that would have oversight of Canadian security agencies to prevent the abuse of power.

The topic of national security is one of the most controversial. Experts and politician all have their own take on how grave the risk is and our level of preparedness for dealing with those risks. The CSIS website calls Canada “a highly attractive target for hostile intelligence agencies,” which is likely an overstatement of the danger those agencies pose to us

Above all else we must remember the Canadian mantra of innocent until proven guilty and never let the fear of the unknown overpower rational thought.
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