OTTAWA, (Reuters) – Canada vowed on Friday to toughen laws against terrorism in ways that critics say may curtail civil liberties as a country that prides itself on its openness mourned the second soldier this week killed by homegrown radicals.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper joined a crowd at the National War Memorial in Ottawa to mark the death of Corporal Nathan Cirillo, who was shot by a troubled and drug-addicted convert to Islam on Wednesday while on ceremonial guard at the memorial in the center of the country’s capital.
Behind the somber scenes, Harper and his Conservative colleagues scrambled to beef up anti-terrorism legislation that was already in the works before the attacks. An opinion poll showed a majority of Canadians lacked confidence in their security services’ ability to deter homegrown threats.
Investigators said there was no apparent link between the two attackers – one killed a soldier in Quebec and the other killed Cirillo in Ottawa, before they themselves were shot dead – but Canadians worried about the parallels between them.
Police said both were Canadian citizens who had been radicalized, a term the government uses to refer to Canadians who become supporters of militant groups such Islamic State.
Justice Minister Peter MacKay said the government would act swiftly to toughen security laws and would go beyond the terms of a bill to strengthen the powers of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) spy agency that was already being drafted before this week’s incidents.
“We’re looking … to see if there is a way in fact to improve or build on those elements of the Criminal Code that allow for pre-emptive action, specifically in the area of terrorism,” MacKay told reporters in Brampton, Ontario.
A government source said legislation to be introduced next week on the spy agency would be largely unchanged from the bill that was being prepared before Wednesday’s Ottawa attack. The government will put forward more measures later, the source said, and they will include wider powers to address security threats in the wake of the attacks.
JOURNEY HOME
The body of Cirillo began the journey to his hometown yesterday, in a last ride along the nation’s “Highway of Heroes.” Thousands lined portions of the 500-kilometer (300-mile) route and flocked to overpasses, hanging flags as a sign of respect.
Police believe that the Ottawa gunman, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, acted alone and independently of Martin Rouleau, 25, who on Monday drove over two soldiers in Quebec, killing one of them, Patrice Vincent, a 53-year-old warrant officer.
The back-to-back attacks on uniformed soldiers on Canadian soil has sparked a national debate over the power to counter threats while holding on to some civil liberties.