Anti-terror law is hot topic

Federal prosecutor engages CFHU crowd in lively discussion.

BAILA LAZARUS EDITOR

If you contribute to an organization that may have ties to Palestinians, can you be arrested and held without being charged? If a Canadian commits a terrorist act in another country, then returns to Canada, would they be extradited to face trial outside of Canada where they might face a death sentence?

These are complicated, technical questions that are being discussed more frequently since Sept. 11 and particularly since the creation of Bill C-36, Canada's new anti-terrorism legislation. Though amendments to the bill are still being debated, it is almost sure to become law once the table talk settles. And that made it a hot topic of debate when David Frankel, a member of the Federal Prosecution Service of the Department of Justice spoke about the bill recently.

The occasion was a social gathering sponsored by the Canadian Friends of Hebrew University (CFHU) Nov. 8. The evening wine and cheese event, which followed CFHU's mandate to provide educational programming, as well as let people know about the university, brought together about 25 people with a variety of backgrounds.

Frankel began with an overview of the new bill, describing it as, for the most part, a set of amendments to make various existing statutes tougher, especially in the Criminal Code. It addresses such myriad issues as damage to religious property, money laundering and hate sites on the Internet, Frankel said.

In the code, there already exist provisions to deal with criminal acts that may be committed by a terrorist, such as the bombing of a building or a hostage-taking, which are domestic crimes but are not automatically considered terrorist acts. Now, however, these criminal activities may fall under the definition of terrorist activity. This has implications in terms of how those associated with the event are treated and how harsh the sentences might be for those who are found guilty of the terrorist offence.

For the first time, as well, Frankel pointed out, there is a definition of terrorist activity as "An act or mission, inside or outside of Canada, that is committed in whole or in part for political, religious or ideological purpose, objective or cause; and in whole or in part with the intention of intimidating the public or a segment of the public with regard to its security, including its economic security, or compelling a person in government or domestic or international organization to do or refrain from doing any act, whether the person in government or organization is inside or outside of Canada."

Anticipating questions about who might fall under that definition, Frankel said, "Some of you have probably heard concerns expressed that the breadth of the bill may catch certain activity which is legitimate, domestic protest, not terrorism, but nonetheless falls under the terms of the definition. That may or may not be true."

Thus, a wildcat bus strike might, at first glance, look like it fits the definition of terrorist activity, but that doesn't mean people participating in the strike are going to be arrested for being terrorists, Frankel said.

Some of the more controversial aspects of the bill involve provisions that list organizations as terrorist in nature.

Amendments to the Income Tax Act in the new legislation, for example, are meant to remove tax benefit status from certain organizations who are financing terrorist groups. This provision is meant to discourage donations to those organizations.

The concern here, Frankel noted, is that people who might have legitimate forms of political protest might end up being labelled terrorists. Groups who want to be removed from the list will have to make an application before a federal court judge, Frankel explained. Other issues that might arise due to the new legislation are "charter challenges," Frankel said, referring to situations in which people may claim their rights have been abrogated. For the first time, people who are only suspect in criminal activities can be held without being charged, if that activity is linked to a terrorist act. Police may also be able to obtain an order that would force someone to disclose information about terrorist activities. As the law stands now, clients are told by their lawyer not to say a word.

"This is the first time in the Criminal Code that a person's liberty can be restricted on the basis of being suspected of being involved in a criminal offence," said Frankel. But he added that it won't be that easy to use these new orders.

"A lot of these provisions require the consent of the attorny general of Canada. These are not situations where individual investigators or prosecutors can make these decisions; they have to be approved at the highest level," he said. "You have to bear in mind that we do have the Charter of Rights and there are considerable teeth in the charter .... I suppose time will tell how well this charter-proofing has been done."

The next major CFHU event will be their annual Chanukah party, being held this year at Science World Dec. 1. For more information, call the CFHU office at 604-257-5133.

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