Tougher anti-terror rules on table
SAFETY MINISTER: Federal government wants to improve peace bond process
OTTAWA — Stronger anti-terror measures are needed after a court-ordered peace bond failed to stop jihadist Aaron Driver from making bombs and plotting an attack, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Wednesday.
“What the incident shows is that peace bonds are tools and instruments with limited capacity, it’s not a perfect solution to every situation,” Goodale said Wednesday.
One option would be to amend the Criminal Code to require professional de-radicalization counselling for individuals suspected as terrorist sympathizers “to change (their) behaviour,” he said.
Peace bonds generally demand a person “keep the peace and be of good behaviour” and are a useful tool for police when they do not have sufficient evidence to criminally prosecute an individual but believe protection beyond surveillance is required.
Driver’s June 2015 peace bond required him to “participate in religious counselling.” He launched a constitutional challenge in court and in January a judge ruled the condition violated his Section 2 Charter right to freedom of conscience and religion. A requirement he wear a GPS tracking bracelet was later lifted by another judge.
Weeks before ISIL sympathizer Martin Couture-Rouleau struck and killed Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent with a car in St-Jean-surRichelieu, Que., on Oct. 20, 2014, police considered seeking a peace bond after his father told police his son had become radicalized.
Authorities concluded they did not have sufficient grounds to secure a peace bond from a judge.
The then-Conservative government responded with Bill C-51, the controversial legislation giving security services and police sweeping powers to combat threats to national security. It included lowering the standard of proof threshold for obtaining peace bonds against those suspected of engaging in or helping with terrorist activities.
Breaching the conditions of a national security peace bond can result in up to four years in prison. Civil libertarians and others, however, say that can allow authorities to imprison a person without the state having to mount any criminal prosecution in court.
Goodale said possible changes to the peace bond regime will be considered as part of the government’s review of national security laws and practices, including long-promised reforms of the “problematic elements” of C-51, now known as the Anti-terrorism Act of 2015.