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Harper Government Uses Boston Bombings to Push Police State Measures in Canada—the S-7 ’Combating Terrorism Act’
24 April 2013
(LPAC)—Taking advantage of the Boston Marathon bombings, the Conservative government of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has stepped up its efforts to ram S-7 through the Parliament. The proposed Combating Terrorism Act goes beyond the post-9/11 measures that expired in 2007. As Maclean’s, the Globe and Mail, and other Canadian media report, S-7 would authorize pre-emptive detention of Canadians, and allow them to be held for up to three days without being charged. Bill S-7 would also give law enforcement the power to compel individuals to answer questions and produce relevant information in circumstances where a terrorism offense is under investigation. If a person doesn’t comply, he could be incarcerated for up to 12 months. Late last week the Harper government, citing the Boston bombings as a reason, cleared the legislative schedule for this Monday and Tuesday to conduct third readings of S-7, which had been creeping through Parliament. Yesterday it was revealed, on queue, that a bomb plot targeting the train between Montreal and New York City, had been foiled after a year-long investigation. While the alleged plot was not linked to the Boston Marathon bombing, the hype over the possible blind terror attack on a major passenger train added to the climate already built up to ram through the police-state measures. The bill would also allow the police and courts to place conditions on a person, without incarceration. Those conditions could include regular reports to police or a ban on foreign travel. This measure is known, in legal jargon, as ``recognizance with conditions.’’ On preventive detention and recognizance, the relevant section of S-7 reads: ``a peace officer may lay information before a provincial court judge if he or she believes that a terrorist act will be carried out and suspects that the imposition of a recognizance with conditions or the arrest of a person is required to prevent it.... If the peace officer suspects that immediate detention is necessary, he or she may arrest a person without a warrant....’’ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, said: ``The [bill] in its present form would provide the potential for a recognizance with conditions to be imposed...even where the person who would be subject to the recognizance with conditions is not necessarily the person carrying out a terrorist activity. The [New Democratic Party] amendment would seek to restrict the application of this measure. Because that is inconsistent with the policy intent underpinning the provision, we are opposed to it.’’ In the House debate, NDP member Craig Scott concluded: ``The government is on record as wishing to permit conditions to be imposed on perfectly innocent people. Failure to comply can lead to 12 months imprisonment. Is that a regime we want in our country?’’ [FHB] |