Canada's Proposed Anti-Terrorism Act Working with our International Partners

Canada's proposed Anti-Terrorism Act is consistent with the anti-terrorism laws of our international partners and is an important part of our commitment to disable and dismantle the global threat of terrorism. At the same time, Canadian values have been affirmed through a principled approach that includes rigorous checks and balances to ensure that the rights of Canadians are respected.

The laws of each country must reflect their specific needs and legal structure. While the objectives of anti-terrorist laws are very similar, each country's method of achieving these objectives will be different. For example, some elements of Canada's proposed anti-terrorism legislation, such as the comprehensive range of offences relating to participation, facilitation, instruction and financing of terrorists, may not exist in other countries.

However, there are similarities between Canada's proposed legislation and those of the USA and the United Kingdom, including the following.

• The three jurisdictions define either terrorism or terrorist acts to capture activities that can be committed by terrorists.
  
  
• The three jurisdictions describe a number of offences as terrorism or terrorist acts. For example, aiding, abetting or supporting terrorists is an offence in Canada, the US and the UK, as is the financing of terrorist organizations and money laundering.
  
  
• All three countries may designate groups and organisations as terrorist groups.
  
  
• Canada, the US and the UK will all have the ability to prosecute accused terrorists found in their jurisdictions for terrorist crimes perpetrated in other countries.
  
  
• Canada, the US and the UK will all have the ability to impose a form of preventive arrest of suspected terrorists to prevent terrorist activity and save lives.
  
  
• Canada and the US will have some form of investigative hearing before a judge in order to obtain evidence from material witnesses.
  
  
• All three countries will have the ability to provide for greater border security.
  
  
• The proposals will strengthen Canada's ability to provide for the security of information under the Security of Information Act, formerly the Official Secrets Act, bringing it into line with the US and the UK.
  
  

Canada will continue to work with the international community to ensure that its legislation is consistent with global approaches.

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