Liberals to create ‘super’ national security review body as part of anti-terror law overhaul

The Liberal government is creating a new “super” civilian watchdog to review security and intelligence agencies across government as part of a legislative overhaul of Canada’s anti-terrorism regime.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale tabled the bill in the House of Commons today, and said it aims to strike a better balance between strengthening security and safeguarding charter and privacy rights.

“Governments have no greater responsibilities than keeping their citizens safe and safeguarding their rights and freedoms,” he said. “These are the fundamental obligations that underpin the new national security legislation.”

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Goodale said “unprecedented” public consultations helped shape the new legislation. While there were some stark differences of opinion, there was a broad consensus among Canadians that the security regime must be accountable, transparent and effective, while safeguarding personal rights, he said.

New bill repeals ‘problematic elements’

Goodale said the new expert review body, called the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency, will have jurisdiction right across the government, including the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), as well as every other department and agency that has a security or intelligence function.

A senior government official, speaking on background, said the body will also oversee security functions of the RCMP, and be able to “follow the thread” when issues cross over into various agencies.

Goodale announces new anti-terror bill2:16

The new legislation would also create a new intelligence commissioner, who would review and approve ministerial decisions on the classes of datasets CSIS could collect. The commissioner would also review and approve authorizations for retaining foreign datasets.

The commissioner would also assess ministerial authorizations permitting foreign intelligence and cybersecurity activities to ensure they are “reasonable, necessary, proportionate.” 

An official said CSE will have new authorities to “go to the source” of cyber attacks from foreign actors and shut them down. Currently, the mandate only allows the agency to defend, block or shield Canadian assets from such attacks.

CSIS retains power to disrupt threat

One of the most controversial elements of C-51 was to give CSIS new powers to disrupt a terrorist threat. Goodale defended the decision to retain that power, but said the Liberal bill requires court approval to ensure any steps that are taken don’t breach charter rights.

“What is critically important is that it be exercised consistently with the law and the charter, and we’ve put the framework in place to make sure that is the case,” he said.

The new bill also fulfils a number of election campaign promises to repeal what it called “problematic elements” of the Conservative Bill C-51, including:

• Tightening the definition of “terrorist propaganda.”
• Protecting the right to legitimate protest and advocacy.
• Upgrading no-fly procedures, though officials conceded that that technological and other complexities limit the extent of reforms.

The new expert review body will complement a new parliamentary committee to oversee Canadian security agencies. The bill to create that committee was tabled last year has passed in the House.

Modernizing security apparatus

The Liberal platform also promised a statutory review of the entire Anti-terrorism Act every three years.

Goodale said the government will also modernize the security apparatus to adapt to new tools and technology.

Last month, the government released a summary of public consultations carried out through town halls, surveys and emails. It found that while most participants were prepared to accept new measures and powers for law enforcement and national security agencies to protect Canadians, they wanted more checks and balances in place.

“A clear majority of stakeholders considered current oversight to be inadequate, and many believe existing review bodies need more capacity and should be allowed to collaborate on reviews,” the report read. “There was strong support among roundtable participants and online responses for a single, expert, independent, non-partisan body to oversee all of the government’s national security activities.”

Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/security-terrorism-legislation-1.4168780?cmp=rss