Public Safety Committee on May 12th, 2021

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Often Canadians are fearful of extremism that is coming from abroad. I don't know that there is an awareness of this ideologically motivated violent extremism and the number of Canadians who have died because of what Minister Goodale in the last Parliament would have called “lone wolves”, those motivated by this type of ideology.

How important is it for Canadians to recognize that this is a threat to us, and that the threat is actually on our own soil by people who are being radicalized, not by foreign fighters but by those being radicalized right here in Canada because they are online and are part of these groups?

This is for Mr. Duheme or Mr. Hahlweg.

[Timothy Hahlweg]

Go ahead, Mike.

[D/Commr Michael Duheme]

I will start off, and then Tim...and I see that Mark had his hand on the microphone.

Very quickly, the challenging part in this is the spectrum of activity that gets the person to actually commit the act. It's a little bit like the radicalization aspect. It's not illegal to be radicalized. It's when you get to the point that you're committing that criminal offence that it becomes an offence.

It is difficult to really identify when the individual will commit that act. That is a challenge. There's a spectrum of activity, and identifying that single point, what triggers that person to do it, is sometimes difficult.

I will pass it over to Mark, who would like to add something.

[C/Supt Mark Flynn]

With respect to public awareness, it's absolutely critical. If people understand that the threat exists and apply a better awareness to it, they have the ability to counter some of the dangerous narrative that's out there and to report it to police and other security and intelligence partners.

From a policing perspective, one of the strongest tools we have in resolving the issue or addressing what we can of the issue is public awareness and public involvement.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Mr. Hahlweg, you get the last word.

[Timothy Hahlweg]

I would echo those comments. Education is key.

The CSIS annual report, NSICOP report and SIRC reviews are meant to educate on this threat, but frontline education in dealing with people is the number one most effective way in the irony of this space. On IMVEs, most of the abhorrent material is actually domestically produced, so I would say education is key.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you.

On behalf of the committee, and individually, I want to thank you for your service to our country. Many of you go along underappreciated because it's a necessary hazard of the job, but I think you should be acknowledged publicly for the tremendous service you provide to our country.

I also want to thank you for appearing here today on short notice and for putting up with the vagaries of parliamentary calendars. You have been very generous with your time, and we appreciate it. You have certainly gotten our study off to a flying start.

With that, colleagues, I think we will retire. Mr. Harris can now feed his nutritional needs, and Mr. Fisher is going to do the same, no doubt sharing a meal with Mr. Harris.

Thank you very much. We will talk later. The meeting is adjourned.