Terrorism and Canada

Historical Background

Terrorism has deep roots. Scholars have noted examples of terrorism in the Middle East in the ancient and medieval periods. Terrorist attacks have been common since the late 19th century. From 1880 to 1910, anarchists killed several world leaders. They included US President William McKinley and Italy's King Umberto I. In 1893, anarchists set off a bomb in Barcelona's Teatro Liceo, killing 22 and wounding 50. In 1914, a nationalist group in Bosnia assassinated both the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne and his wife. This set off a sequence of events that led to the First World War. Since then, terrorism has been used by religious, nationalist and ideological groups, both on the left and right.

Canada has had a relatively peaceful history. But it has not been immune from terrorism. Canadians have been victims of hundreds of terrorist acts. While in Canada, foreign terrorist groups have raised funds, planned operations and carried out attacks. Canadian citizens have also committed terrorism abroad. Despite the hundreds of attacks by or against Canadians, terrorism has seldom advanced the causes of those who have used it.

Domestic Terrorism in Canada

Doukhobor Freedomites

In 1923, the Sons of Freedom started what is likely Canada's first domestic terrorist campaign. Living in British Columbia, the Freedomites were a radical splinter group of Doukhobors, a religious sect that rejected state authority. Orthodox Doukhobors were pacifists. But the Freedomites used violence to protest against government interference in their lives. They opposed compulsory schooling and the mandatory registration of births, deaths, marriages and land ownership. Freedomite terrorists bombed or burned schools, homes, businesses, railway lines and electrical wires. Doukhobors whom the zealots judged to be overly materialistic were also targeted. Over a 40-year period, they carried out several hundred attacks against the government, railway and power companies. The most dramatic incident was the 1962 bombing of a power transmission tower in southeastern BC. In 1962, 36 Freedomites were convicted of arson or conspiracy to commit arson and were sentenced to 12 years in prison. In the 1970s and early 1980s, the Freedomites carried out only a few isolated attacks.

Front de libération du Québec (FLQ)

Roughly 300 acts of terrorism occurred on Canadian soil in the 1960s. Almost all were committed by the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ). To achieve its goal of an independent Quebec, the FLQ executed a series of bombings against a range of targets. They included the federal government, the post office, the Armed Forces, the RCMP, the CBC, the Canadian National Railways and the Montreal Stock Exchange. The intent was usually to destroy property. But at least six people died as a result of FLQ actions. Many others were severely injured.

In October 1970, the FLQ kidnapped the British trade commissioner in Montreal, James Cross, and Quebec's labour minister, Pierre Laporte. The Quebec government asked for help from the Canadian military to deal with what became known as the October Crisis. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act and suspended civil liberties. This allowed the police to arrest hundreds of people without charge. Laporte was strangled to death, and his captors were later convicted of murder and kidnapping. The individuals holding Cross were flown to Cuba in exchange for his release. Within two years of these events, FLQ activities had come to an end. However, others used the group's name when carrying out attacks in the 1970s and 1980s.

Direct Action

In the early 1980s, a small anarchist group, Direct Action, began a violent campaign against pollution, pornography, and the arms industry. The group's activities were funded through fraud and armed robbery. Targets included a BC Hydro sub-station on Vancouver Island and the Toronto-area plant of Litton Systems, which built cruise missile components. Operating under the name Wimmin's Fire Brigade, some group members firebombed three adult video stores in Greater Vancouver. In all, Direct Action members caused more than $10 million in damage and injured 10 people. The group's operations ceased when the five key members (known as the Squamish Five) were arrested in January 1983. They pleaded guilty and served prison terms ranging from four to eight years.

Eco-Terrorism

In the 1980s and 1990s, extremists from the animal rights and environmental movements committed several acts of terrorism in Canada. The Canadian branch of the Animal Liberation Front freed animals from several research labs. They then vandalized or set fire to the facilities. A group calling itself “the Justice Department” mailed death threats to hunting guides and fur retailers. They also sent razor blades that were covered in rat poison or in blood that the group claimed was infected with HIV. In 1995, Eco-terrorists destroyed a $2 million logging bridge in BC. They also caused $5 million in damage to a logging facility in Alberta in 1997.

International Terrorism in Canada

The vast majority of terrorist acts in Canada have been carried out by Canadians to achieve domestic goals. But there have also been a number of incidents of an international nature committed on Canadian soil.

Fenian Raids

International terrorism in Canada can be traced back to the Fenian Brotherhood in the days before Confederation. The Fenians were an Irish nationalist group created in the 1850s. Their aim was to use force to advance the cause of Irish independence from Britain. After the US Civil War ended in 1865, the Fenians’ US branch swelled with an influx of veterans. Members were divided on tactics. Some supported assassination and other terrorist activities. Others felt the group should act like a military force and engage in conventional battles against the Canadian or British military.

In 1866, the Fenians carried out a series of ineffective raids in New Brunswick, Canada East and Canada West. (See also Fenian Raids.) They destroyed bridges, cut telegraph wires, damaged or stole private property, and engaged in combat against local militias. These incidents only increased public support for Confederation, which offered the colonies greater security. In 1868, Thomas D’Arcy McGee, a member of Parliament and father of Confederation, was assassinated. The killer was most likely a Fenian who was acting without approval from the brotherhood. Subsequent Fenian attacks were unsuccessful. An invasion in Quebec in 1870 was repulsed. In 1871, the Fenians botched their final raid in Manitoba.

Contemporary Terrorism

The number of incidents of international terrorism in Canada began to grow in the 1960s. International terrorist groups have recruited members, distributed propaganda, and forged documents while on Canadian soil. They have also used Canada as a base for fundraising, soliciting donations and carrying out theft and fraud to finance their activities.

From the 1960s to the 1980s, there were roughly 60 acts of international terrorism on Canadian soil. In 1965, a group protesting the American war in Vietnam dynamited three US Air Force jets at the Edmonton Industrial Airport. Two aircraft were destroyed and a security guard was killed. In 1968, anti-war activists in Toronto and Sarnia bombed homes owned by executives of firms that supplied the US military with weapons and other materiel. In the 1960s, Croatian extremists bombed the Yugoslavia embassy in Ottawa and consulates in Toronto and Montreal. Between 1966 and 1980, anti-Castro Cubans bombed their country's diplomatic posts in Canada several times, killing one person in 1972. Letter bombs were delivered in 1972 to the Israeli embassy in Ottawa and the consulate in Montreal. In the 1980s, Armenian terrorists shot two Turkish diplomats, killing one and paralyzing the other. They also took the Turkish ambassador hostage, killing a Canadian security guard in the process. In 1986, Sikh extremists shot and wounded a cabinet minister from the Indian state of Punjab who was visiting Vancouver Island.

Canada and Sikh Separatism in India

By far the most lethal terrorist attack in this period was the 1985 Air India bombing. Sikh extremists in BC, seeking to carve out a separate Sikh homeland in the Indian province of Punjab, placed suitcase bombs on two commercial airplanes. One bomb detonated as the baggage was being transferred at the Narita Airport near Tokyo, killing two and wounding four. Another bomb exploded as Air India flight 182 was in mid-air off the cost of Ireland. It killed 329 people, making it the world's deadliest terrorist attack before 11 September 2001. Three conspirators were charged. Only one was convicted.

In 2006, the federal government appointed a commission of inquiry to investigate the bombing and recommend improvements to Canada's counterterrorism efforts. In June 2010, the commission released a 4,000-page, five-volume report making 64 recommendations. It called for the federal government's National Security Advisor to ensure co-operation between law enforcement agencies. It also called for a national director of terrorism prosecutions, a new coordinator of witness protection for terrorism cases, and sweeping changes to close the gaps in airport security.

In September 2023, a major international incident occurred when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused “agents of the Indian government” of murdering Sikh activist and Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, BC, in June 2023. During a speech in the House of Commons, Trudeau said, “Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty…. As you would expect, we have been working closely and coordinating with our allies on this very serious matter.” Two days after Trudeau’s speech, Sukhdool Singh Gill was shot dead inside a home in Winnipeg. India alleged that both Nijjar and Gill had ties to the separatist Khalistan Tiger Force. In May 2024, the RCMP arrested three Indian citizens and charged them with the murder of Nijjar. Canada then expelled six Indian diplomats from Canada in October 2024. Indian officials called Canada’s allegations “preposterous” and responded by expelling six Canadian diplomats from India.

Al Qaeda and September 11, 2001

In the 1990s, Canada was home to at least two groups connected to the Islamist terrorist group Al Qaeda. A cell of the Armed Islamic Group, an Algerian group affiliated with Al Qaeda, operated in Montreal. It raised funds through theft and fraud. Several members had trained at an Al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan. They included Ahmed Ressam. He was caught in Port Angeles, Washington, in December 1999 with explosives and detonators in his trunk. Ressam, whom the media dubbed the Millennium Bomber, aimed to blow up the Los Angeles International Airport on or around 1 January 2000. In Toronto, another group was led by Ahmed Said Khadr, a friend of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Khadr raised funds in Canada for Islamist attacks abroad. These included the 1995 bombing of the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad, which killed 18 people and injured 75.

The Al Qaeda attacks on New York City and Washington, DC, on 11 September 2001 killed just under 3,000 people, including two dozen Canadians. (See also 9/11 and Canada.) Canada responded by sending troops to Afghanistan and the Arabian Gulf as part of the US-led campaign against terrorism. (See also Canada and the War in Afghanistan.) In the fall of 2001, Parliament passed the Anti-Terrorism Act. It increased the sentences for terrorist acts and made it easier to freeze or seize financial assets of suspected terrorists. It also restricted the public release of sensitive information and gave police new powers of surveillance, arrest and detention. In November 2002, bin Laden suggested that Canada was one of the countries Al Qaeda would target in future attacks.

The US-led coalition in Afghanistan shut down Al Qaeda's training facilities. It also disrupted the group's organization, making it difficult to launch further attacks. But Al Qaeda had already trained numerous terrorists who remained connected to Al Qaeda through an international network. They took up the cause and carried out bombings in several cities, including Bali (2002), Madrid (2004) and London (2005).

Al Qaeda also inspired a homegrown terrorist threat in Canada and several other countries. In 2004, police arrested Momin Khawaja. An Ottawa native, he had worked with British Islamists on a plot to set off bombs in the UK. In 2008, Khawaja was convicted under Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act. In 2006, police arrested 18 people in Toronto (the so-called “Toronto 18”) and charged them with planning terrorist attacks. The group had planned to set off truck bombs at the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Toronto regional headquarters of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). The 18 also intended to storm the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, where they would take hostages and behead the prime minister. Seven of the suspects were released after charges against them were stayed. Eleven were eventually found guilty.

Counterterrorism in Canada

Many branches of the federal government are involved in Canada's anti-terrorism efforts. CSIS (pronounced see-sis) is responsible for investigating terrorist threats. Enforcement of the country's anti-terrorism laws is in the hands of the RCMP. The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) investigates potential terrorist financing in Canada. The Canadian Border Services Agency, the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration use security certificates to deport persons who do not have a right to be in the country and who pose a serious threat. The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade works with other countries to combat terrorism. It shares information and helps to develop international agreements on terrorist acts.

At the Department of National Defence, the chief of Defence Intelligence leads an organization that analyzes terrorist threats that may affect the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). The Communications Security Establishment (CSE) collects intelligence. It monitors foreign telecommunications and other signals exchanged between terrorists. Canada also receives intelligence through sharing arrangements with its allies. The Five Eyes Intelligence Oversight and Review Council (FIORC) shares intelligence between the US, the UK, Canda, Australia and New Zealand. Joint Task Force 2 (JTF 2), a special operations unit of the CAF, is trained to carry out counterterrorism operations at home and abroad.