Hon. Andy Scott (Solicitor General of Canada, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I rise to present to parliament the solicitor general's annual statement on national security, having tabled today the 1997 public report of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
The public report provides parliamentarians and the public with a review of the global and domestic security environment.
[. . . . ] Whether it be pursuing the goal of more effective corrections, fighting organized crime or maintaining national security, CSIS, the RCMP, the correctional service and the National Parole Board are dedicated to public safety.
Today I want to focus on the efforts the government is making to protect Canada's interests and to safeguard our citizens from threats to their safety and security. As the CSIS public report underlines, the 1990s have been a decade of great change dominated by increased instability worldwide and the escalating use of violence for political and ideological purposes.
Comment
Since then, for example, think of the incidents at Concordia for how far Canada has gone down the slippery slope -- where the potential for violence has been allowed to prevent rational discussion. The violence that occurred when Benjamin Netanyahu was to speak at Concordia was not dealt with severely by police/security officers--was it one or two years ago? The result has been another occurrence just lately. The idea that fear of violent unrest prevented the appearance of Ehud Barak of Israel to give a talk at Concordia this year bodes ill for the Canadian tradition of "talking out" our differences and arriving at a new understanding or even an agreement to differ.
Terrorism, including state sponsored terrorism, is an all too frequent occurrence. CSIS has a mandate to forewarn and advise the government on such activities, providing threat assessments and helping to ensure effective consultation and information sharing with appropriate agencies.
Comment
Yet, the RCMP/CSIS report on possible corruption at our own Hong Kong embassy resulting in triad gang members/criminals entering Canada was spiked--to soften its effect? and another report, termed Echo, I believe, was the result--a much more watered down, politically correct report. More instances of criminal corruption have been uncovered in the Bogota-Columbia and Beijing-China embassies. (See references below.) Are there others?
Our government has not been listening to its own security services' reports and advice. Our best friend, the United States has been warning, as well, to little effect since this time, 1998.
CSIS, the RCMP and other federal departments work together to investigate and monitor the threat of international terrorist activity in a common mission to protect Canadians and Canada's interests here and abroad.
Canadians can expect to see a range of tough measures against those who abuse our democratic system and our institutions to further their deadly aims. I will outline some of the measures.
Canada is a signatory to the United Nations convention on the suppression of terrorist bombing offences and the convention on the safety of UN and associated personnel. The government plans to introduce legislation to ratify these conventions.
Note: At this point, I would draw your attention to Section 5: Reference material and Section 6: More security and related material with links for reference.
We want to make it much more difficult for terrorist groups to raise funds in Canada. . . . while not impinging upon legitimate humanitarian fundraising activities.
Comment
When did the elder Mr. Khadr's fundraising activities in Canada on behalf of Al Qaeda end? Does it bother Canadians that a terrorist whose sons followed him now has a crippled and paralyzed son being treated at taxpayers' expense? That one son, the partially paralyzed / crippled Karim, another brother who may or may not be part of the terrorist fold, and the mother, Elsamnah Khadr, after living outside Canada for years, are here and will partake of Canada's social services, if not immediately, then at some future date -- and after the anti-US, pro-shahada speeches she and her daughter made to the CBC's Terence McKenna, while in Pakistan?
Remember Tamil Tigers' fundraising activities which at least two of our parliamentarians attended. (possibly MP's Minna and Martin before he became PM, but I am unsure of this. Check.) Think about the Tamil heroin dealer/criminal gang member, who was granted permanent residency in Canada while he was taking part in his criminal activities -- and he managed to remain here, compliments of our court system for about 14 years. He was arrested, incarcerated for brief periods--even though he was a gang leader and heroin dealer, had more convictions and still, was here for 14 years.(A K Kannin gang -- see national stories within the last two weeks)
We also want to make it much more difficult for terrorists to enter Canada and to abuse our immigration process to avoid justified removal from the country. The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration is developing proposals on these issues as part of her broader reform.
That was in reference to the then Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Elinor Caplan. I believe Canada's Deputy Prime Minister and also the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Anne McLellan, is still talking in terms of "studying", "analyzing", "assessing", and the like.
Our Charter of Rights and Freedoms must be amended to take into account Canadians' security concerns. We need to prevent illegal aliens from entering without valid documents--or with false documents--and then stop them from claiming "refugee" status, being allowed to stay and being let loose into our society. Illegal aliens should NOT gain access to Canadian taxpayers' funds to stymie efforts to remove them nor should they be able to use our Charter and the courts to our detriment. (See Section 5 and Section 6 for the examples of Mohammed Issa and Mohammed Harkat, as well as the examples in the links below.)
My colleague, the Minister of Justice, has announced that she will bring major amendments to our laws on extradition to help us better meet our international commitments and to ensure that Canada is not a safe haven for criminals around the world who want to avoid justice. [Think about this one. ]
I reiterate the commitment I made in this House last November to introduce legislation that would help the RCMP and other law enforcement agencies to combat money laundering. . . . . benefits for counterterrorism efforts.
The RCMP and CSIS play key roles in national security. . . . marshalling all the resources in a co-operative and integrated fight against threats to our national security. CSIS has a key role to play in exchanging information with other countries and providing relevant criminal information and strategic analysis to Canadian law enforcement.
Several countries are active in trying to steal leading edge technology from Canada. CSIS has a mandate and a responsibility to investigate these matters.
Yet, when this speech was given, China had already "acquired" Canadian nuclear reactor plans and was building or had built a nuclear reactor based on these plans. Canada loaned money--to the country's disadvantage, I have read--to China to buy a reactor from Canada. I believe Canada included a transfer of technology in the deal (See references below.)
According to current news reports, China is marketing its own nuclear reactor. There is ample evidence of Chinese theft of copyrighted material, et cetera. Why then were a group of businessmen in China this fall, trying to sell "leading edge technology from Canada" to the Chinese? (Section 5: and Section 6:)
