Mr. Chairman and members, thank you for inviting us to address the committee. I am Dr. Steven Bucci, the director of the Allison Center for Foreign and National Security Policy at the Heritage Foundation. This is David Inserra, my lead analyst for homeland security issues. The Heritage Foundation is a non-profit and non-partisan think tank in Washington, D.C., and what we're about to provide is our own opinions and should not be construed as official policy of the Heritage Foundation.
I'm humbled to be asked to comment on Canadian Bill C-51, Anti-terrorism Act, 2015. A Canadian friend kiddingly said, “Ah, you're coming up here to explain our law to us.” Clearly that's not our intent. The U.S. has gone through exactly this sort of debate, and we hope to give some additional illumination of these issues based on the American experience. Canada is our closest ally, friend, and partner. I recognize that and I earnestly seek to add to that bond.
I'm going to address a few general issues, then my colleague will touch on some more specifics. The threat of terrorism is real and unfortunately, despite our best efforts, that threat has grown. Today that threat is from radical Islamist extremists. Tomorrow it could be from others. But the key is that it's not hype; it's real. Canada sadly found that out last year during the attacks in Quebec and here in Ottawa.
The challenge we face is that this particular enemy is coming after our peoples solely because they resent our freedom and tolerance, but they are very good at leveraging those same issues to their advantage against us. This threat comes from a very small, misguided part of the Islamic community, but even the small minority puts us at risk and must be prepared for.
Security issues like the ones raised in Bill C-51 are particularly tough for pluralistic democracies such as ours. Our leaders in both countries, regardless of political orientation, are responsible for the physical protection of our people and interests but must also always protect our cherished civil liberties and constitutional rights. Any and every law we enact must achieve a balance between these two pillars. Too far in one direction and our citizens bleed and die. Too far in the other and the spirits of our nations die. Neither is acceptable. But even that is not enough. There must be strong oversight today and long-term auditing and monitoring to ensure that a well-intentioned law today is not misused sometime in the future.
My review of Bill C-51 leads me to conclude that this is just that sort of good faith attempt to achieve a balance between greater physical protection without loss of civil liberties. In the various sections, there's a judicious expansion of info-sharing and law enforcement authorities but in each there are also provisions for recourse and appeals. There is transparency and openness. It uses the minimum secrecy needed for effective security, and there is a wide use of warrants and judicial oversight. In short, this bill seems to balance security and liberty.
Before I turn the microphone over to David, I would also like to mention something. In the U.S. right after 9/11, we went through the same sort of epiphany that your country has so recently gone through. We tried to do a balancing act between these two pillars. Over time, we involved two different presidencies of widely different politics and attitudes, multiple congresses with leadership trading hands between the parties, and the entire federal judiciary, all involved in different sorts of oversight and decision making. A line of balance was drawn.
However, after the Edward Snowden releases, it became clear that at least a non-trivial number of American citizens didn't really like where that line had been drawn. In the United States now, we're sorting out how to re-wicker that and achieve that balance. I only raise this, not because Bill C-51 has similar programs to the ones that were problematic in the United States, but to encourage as much transparency in your process as possible. The transparency will give you the effectiveness without having the fight down the road. Canada and Canadians deserve that, and in the end it will benefit your great people who are our brothers and sisters.
I'd like to ask my colleague David to take the rest of our time.