Opinion: Liberals Must Amend Anti-Terrorism Act and Add More Oversight

Document Type

News Article

Publication Date

12-30-2016

Abstract

Despite Charter violations, Supreme Court slap downs and even a government apology, hastily drafted post 9-11 extraordinary security laws became even more draconian thanks to Stephen Harper’s Anti-terrorism Act, 2015. The omnibus Bill C-51, introduced new acts and amended a slew of existing laws.

Harper’s fear mongering worked in convincing too many that terrorism was the gravest threat. On the contrary, in the words of University of Ottawa Prof. Paul Robinson, the biggest danger is “self-inflicted threat inflation,” where actual threats are minimized while exaggerated ones dictate policy and fuel rights violations.

The Liberals supported the ATA, but assured critics that they would amend it once in power. The promised public consultations wrapped up recently and Ottawa may now use it as a fig leaf to maintain the status quo with cosmetic changes.

Publication Title

Windsor Star

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