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Ottawa, November 16, 2001
2001-106

Efforts Continue To Combat Terrorist Financing

Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions) Jim Peterson, on behalf of Finance Minister Paul Martin, stated today that Canadian financial institutions have frozen a total of $344,000 in terrorist assets in 28 accounts.

"Our financial institutions and law enforcement agencies are continuing to make progress in their efforts to locate potential sources of terrorist funding," Secretary of State Peterson said.

The Secretary of State noted that the value of frozen assets fluctuates as financial institutions review their records in light of new information.

On October 2, 2001, the Government of Canada passed the United Nations Suppression of Terrorism Regulations, which are aimed at eliminating the financing in Canada of terrorism and at freezing the assets of listed persons. Financial institutions are obliged to review their records for the names of these individuals and entities. In cases where a review turns up information, these accounts and contracts are frozen. This information is then passed on to law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

The efforts to combat terrorist financing are part of the Government’s anti-terrorist plan, which has four objectives:

• stop terrorists from getting into Canada and protect Canadians from terrorist acts;
• bring forward tools to identify, prosecute, convict and punish terrorists;
• prevent the Canada-U.S. border from being compromised by terrorists; and
• work with the international community to bring terrorists to justice and address the root causes of terrorism.

These measures are an important part of the Government of Canada’s $280-million Anti-Terrorism Plan – a plan that brings to $1.8 billion the amount the Government of Canada has invested in policing, security and intelligence since Budget 2000.

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