The federal government must do more to counter the threat of ideologically motivated violent extremism in Canada, including strengthening terrorist financing laws to counter it, the House of Commons public safety committee has recommended .
In a report before the House of Commons uprising for the summer, the committee also recommended that the federal government work with the provinces to prevent what it described as a growing threat to Canada and take action to making online businesses more responsible for extremist or hateful content. circulating on their platforms.
However, the committee also acknowledged that there are issues around any measures to limit freedom of expression.
“Each member of this committee is sensitive to the problems of the letter that are involved in responding to the threat of [ideologically motivated violent extremism]IMVE, “the committee wrote.” Any restriction on freedom of expression must be reasonable and justified in a free and democratic society. “
The committee’s report comes after Canada saw a series of ideologically motivated violent extremist attacks in recent years, a phenomenon that experts said the committee was on the rise and fueled by pandemic blockades that drove people to Spend More Time Online |
It also matches cases that have come to light in recent years members of the Armed Forces sympathizing with extremist groups.
In the report’s 32 comprehensive recommendations, the committee said Canada needs a national, multilevel strategy to address this type of violence.
He recommends that the government fund the investigation to investigate how extremist organizations tried to recruit members of the military and police forces. He also called on the government to strengthen the capacity of the Canadian Armed Forces and the enforcement of federal law “in order to hold accountable the staff of these agencies when they are found to support violent extremist movements.”
Extremist content and digital platforms
Many of the experts who appeared before the committee warned of the role of digital platforms in enabling the dissemination of extremist content; several of the committee’s recommendations address this issue.
The committee recommended the government “study the feasibility of a regulatory structure to make platforms accountable for enforcing their terms of service,” adding that it could include the creation of a federal digital security commissioner.
The committee also recommended that the government go after robots and improve the transparency of the algorithms used by social networking platforms.
“The Government of Canada [should] work with national and international partners to identify and eliminate online bots that amplify extremist content, and encourage online platforms to provide collaborator and content authentication mechanisms … that allow users to filter content on this basis. ” wrote the committee.
He said the government should also work with platforms “to encourage algorithmic transparency and phraseology for better content moderation decisions.”
The report also recommends that the government “recognize and protect against the threats posed by violent extremism, including violent extremism driven by grievances, in Canada’s critical infrastructure. It called on the government to ensure that police and prosecutors have resources to investigate and prosecute attacks on critical infrastructure and personnel, and to adequately fund and modernize the powers of Canada’s security intelligence community.
The report calls for more government money for different groups, including front-line organizations serving communities, and for research and training.
However, he also called for various measures to stifle the flow of funds to violent extremist groups, and recommended that the government “invest in its ability to process funding for [violent extremism]while ensuring that terrorist financing laws are properly adapted to capture this threat. “
The committee also called on the government to conduct investigations into the role played by crowdfunding platforms and cryptocurrencies in funding violent extremism, while ensuring that the terrorist surveillance and money laundering body of Canada, the Financial Transaction Analysis and Reporting Center of Canada (FINTRAC) has the power and resources. must monitor suspicious transactions on crowdfunding and cryptocurrency platforms.
Several of the witnesses explained the threats facing the Jewish and Muslim communities.
The report also recommended that the government appoint a special envoy on Islamophobia and extend the mandate of the existing envoy for the preservation of Holocaust memory and the fight against anti-Semitism “to include more educational awareness about the ‘Holocaust’.
The committee was also forceful when it came to Israel, recommending that the government “completely reject the demonization and delegitimization of the State of Israel, and condemn all attempts by Canadian organizations, groups, or individuals, including campus associations. university students, to promote these views, both at home and abroad. “
In the end, the committee noted that the fight against hatred and extremism was a shared jurisdiction and the federal government should work with the provinces and territories to develop best practices, train and hold a summit with them on how to improve mental health capacity. and social services to intervene in the early stages.