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Results: 1 - 14 of 14
View Heather McPherson Profile
NDP (AB)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank all of our witnesses today. This is incredibly compelling testimony and very important information for us to be gathering from you. The question that I really want to understand and maybe get quite a bit of clarity on if I could, is the current context we're in.
Of course, we know right now that we are in the middle of a COVID-19 pandemic. Different places around the world are responding differently and are at different points in recovery from that, but we also know that the United States is pulling out and that Canada's pulling out after spending a significant investment in Afghanistan, after spending significant time talking about the importance of ensuring that rights for women and girls are protected, for example.
I'm just wondering. Has this violence against both the Hazara and the Sikh populations...? What does it look like? Has it gone up significantly? Has the increase been significant? How much of that is related to COVID? The challenges around COVID, is that providing cover for what's being done by the Taliban? How much of that is because of the withdrawal? I would like to get an understanding of the context in terms of the withdrawal and COVID-19, the global pandemic.
Mr. Maley, if I could start with you that would be wonderful.
View Damien Kurek Profile
CPC (AB)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I appreciate the witnesses appearing before committee. It's certainly very interesting what you have presented, and I've had a chance to look at some of your work.
To Dr. Leuprecht, your research suggests that online bravado appears to be a bad predictor of whether or not somebody will be a violent extremist. I don't think you say no link, just that it's not a good metric to use to predict violence. I ask this question in the context of being an elected official and having an online presence. I certainly have been subject to and seen a lot of very extreme content, some of which was directed at me.
Could you expand on that and talk about whether that's an accurate summary of what your research has concluded?
View Tako Van Popta Profile
CPC (BC)
Thank you very much.
Three minutes is not a lot of time to talk about such important issues, but I have a question to Dr. Leuprecht.
Thank you for your testimony. You had talked about the pyramid. Maybe you could expand on that a little bit. What I've scribbled down is that at the bottom are activists, who are maybe engaged in objectionable behaviour, then radicals, who are engaged in illegal behaviour, and then terrorists.
In an earlier response to Mr. Kurek's question, you said that bravado is not a good predicator, so what is a good predicator of somebody moving from one level to the other in this pyramid?
View Jack Harris Profile
NDP (NL)
With regard to the idea of these individual groups being a danger to society, when I look at your research, the end result is about 20% over 10 years of involvement in some kind of violence, which would be either verbal, physical or online.
How serious is the danger that they pose? There are “threats and hate speech” listed in your categories of violence, also “vandalism”, “mischief”, “physical conflict”, “harassment and bullying”, “attacks and assault” at 6%, and “terrorism” is 1%.
Are they a serious threat and danger to life and limb, or are they at a lower level than that, for the most part?
View Damien Kurek Profile
CPC (AB)
It's tough to ask a question after that, but if you could define “violent extremism”, what would that definition be?
View Shannon Stubbs Profile
CPC (AB)
View Shannon Stubbs Profile
2021-05-12 17:06
Yes, it does. Thank you.
It's illuminating, and it makes sense, then, that the definition also has been adapted to move away from what could be perceived to be partisan or political definitions. Also, I think it's instructive that there probably is a thread of these actors through ideologically motivated violent extremism, as well as religious and politically motivated violent extremism, if I've got you right.
I wonder if you're able to give us a sense of what the attacks were that caused the deaths of the 21 individuals, as cited in the 2020 report. I'm not sure what can be discussed in terms of investigations or which agencies might be involved to some degree—probably all—but can you give Canadians a sense of exactly what caused those deaths and which attacks they were?
View Shannon Stubbs Profile
CPC (AB)
View Shannon Stubbs Profile
2021-05-12 17:08
Thank you.
Can you give us a sense of how many plots were foiled last year that would have been planned ideologically motivated extremist acts?
View Shannon Stubbs Profile
CPC (AB)
View Shannon Stubbs Profile
2021-05-12 17:09
Can you give us a general sense in terms of scale or scope? Dozens or hundreds or thousands...?
View Tako Van Popta Profile
CPC (BC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all of the witnesses for being with us here today and enlightening us on this very important topic.
I'm just going to follow the previous line of questioning with Mr. Hahlweg, if you don't mind.
There's been quite a bit of talk today about the three different categories of motivation for violent extremism. I wonder how important it is to define those different categories. For example, one of the witnesses mentioned the 21 deaths that occurred at the hands of ideologically motivated extreme actors, one of them being the Quebec mosque shooting. I would have thought that maybe that falls within the religiously motivated.
How important is it, Mr. Hahlweg, to get those categorizations right? How is that a tool for CSIS to keep Canadians safe and for prosecutions?
View Kristina Michaud Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
We understand that religiously motivated violent extremism that relies on social networks is an extremely modern threat, and it becomes difficult to legislate against it. As you were saying, Mr. Duheme, people will likely find a way around these new laws, quickly rendering them obsolete.
You are probably all aware of the Christchurch massacre, which the Prime Minister of New Zealand called an act intended to be broadcast on the Internet. As a result of this event, Australia passed the Criminal Code Amendment (Sharing of Abhorrent Violent Material) Act 2019, which amends the Australian Criminal Code by adding as an offence the act of hosting or disseminating violent content on social networks or on any sites.
In your opinion, should Canada adopt similar legislation?
View Scott Reid Profile
CPC (ON)
I have only 30 seconds, and I have one last question for Mr. Pappier.
There's a higher level of violence against indigenous human rights defenders than other defenders. I'm wondering what the reason is for that. Is it because they're less visible? Is it because they're in rural areas, where it's harder to keep track of abuses? Is it because the public tolerates it more? What's the reason for that group of people being particularly subject—
View Rhéal Fortin Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'm going to continue along the same lines.
Ms. Morency, here's what I understand from your remarks. First, a report will be prepared between now and late 2022, including statistics on physical violence against and financial abuse of seniors. Certain current statutory provisions may be reviewed in light of those figures.
In the meantime, am I to understand from your testimony that you think elder abuse cases have increased over the past 5 or 10 years?
View Joël Lightbound Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank our witnesses for joining us today.
Mr. McGuinty, thank you for joining us. One thing that stands out in your report is the changing nature of the terrorist threat in Canada. You spoke of the growing threat of ideologically motivated violent extremism in Canada. You specifically referred to the rather disturbing 320% increase in incidents related to this type of extremism from 2013 to 2018. That's not counting the tragedies in Christchurch, El Paso and Germany, which are linked to ideologically motivated violent extremism.
At the same time, you said in your report that this type of extremism differs from the extremism inspired by ideologies such as that of Daesh or al-Qaida. The extremism is less tied to one group and less centralized. It often involves constellations of dispersed actors.
This is a new threat. The threat is organized differently from the somewhat more traditional threats that we've seen in recent decades. What challenges does this present to our intelligence agencies in Canada and to our allies?
How are our agencies adapting to this threat, which you describe as growing?
View Tako Van Popta Profile
CPC (BC)
I think that's a very big surprise to all Canadians. It certainly is to me. I had not expected that, so thank you for bringing that to our attention.
The report makes reference to a couple of incidents in other countries like New Zealand, with the Christchurch shooting, and the copycat shooting in El Paso. I think there might have been one or two in Europe as well.
Are there any indications of that type of event happening in Canada? I know there's reference also to the three incel-motivated attacks in Canada. Are there any others that we should know about?
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