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- Title
THE FOREIGN FIGHTER CRISIS: A RENEWED CANADIAN APPROACH.
- Authors
CARLSON, BRETT; BOGETTI, SAMUEL; BURSHTEIN, NOAH
- Abstract
The Syrian Civil War and the rise of the Islamic State have attracted thousands of foreign fighters from Western countries. One hundred and ninety of these individuals have a nexus to Canada, and approximately 60 have returned home. To date, despite concerns that these returning foreign fighters pose a national security threat in Canada, only three have been convicted of the Criminal Code's terrorism offences--a meager figure that exposes a legal and policy vacuum in Canada's approach to the foreign fighter phenomenon. Canada's terrorism offenses were designed to prosecute domestic offenders and are ill-equipped to effectively impose criminal sanctions on returning foreign fighters. Prosecutions are hamstrung by the inherent difficulty of extracting courtroom-worthy evidence from foreign war zones. As a result, Canada is left with an incomplete toolbox that is overly reliant on community de-radicalization programs, reintegration, and surveillance. While these are indispensable tools, exclusive reliance on this approach neglects the important deterrent and denunciatory effects of criminal sanctions, particularly for high-risk individuals who remain hostile and ideologically engaged. To address this legislative gap, this paper proposes two Criminal Code offences that prohibit (1) travelling to a declared conflict zone for non-legitimate purposes, and (2) engaging in "hostile activities" while in a foreign country. Both offences are designed to address the challenge of collecting war-zone evidence and facilitate effective prosecution of foreign fighters.
- Subjects
CANADA; SYRIAN Civil War, 2011-; ISLAMIC State (Organization); NATIONAL security; CRIMINAL codes; TERRORISM
- Publication
University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review, 2019, Vol 77, Issue 2, p108
- ISSN
0381-1638
- Publication type
Article