Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House we take the recruitment of young Canadians by jihadi terrorists very seriously. We are well aware that jihadi terrorists have declared war against Canada.
It is important to remember whom we are talking about. These are groups like the Toronto 18 and ISIL, people who are intent on murdering Canadians to drive their ideology forward.
Allow me to quote what Ontario Superior Court Justice Deena Baltman had to say about a terrorist who was sentenced to 10 years in jail for planning to join the Islamic jihadist group in Somalia. She stated, “Terrorists are the worst kinds of cowards because they deliberately target innocent members of the public who are not prepared for combat”.
The government is taking action to ensure Canadian families are safe and that our police forces have the tools they need to get the job done and stop people like this. Our approach to countering jihadi terrorism is clearly articulated in this year's Public Report on the Terrorist Threat to Canada.
The first step in dealing with radicalization to violence is ensuring that families and communities understand the problem and recognize it when it is happening. Through the Cross-Cultural Roundtable on Security, the government is working with leaders and communities across the country to detect problems early on, before they can lead to radicalization. This effort is helping communities develop strategies to take action against jihadi terrorism on their own terms. An underlying goal of these engagement efforts is to build mutual trust and respect between law enforcement and the community it serves.
It is important to reach a wide range of community members, including other law enforcement agencies, families, educators, health care professionals, and social services. Bill C-51, the anti-terrorism act, 2015, would provide a number of new tools that can be used in the countering of jihadi terrorism. These include a proposed new Criminal Code offence that would criminalize the promotion of terrorism. This new offence would provide an additional tool to counter radicalization through arresting and prosecuting terrorist recruiters and propaganda agents and would assist community leaders and family members in their efforts to counter radicalization.
Jihadi sympathizers, who are only too happy to relay this message of hate and have used platforms like Facebook to prey upon the young and recruit them to their hateful cause, are no less guilty than the goons of ISIL. This legislation would make sure that the law acknowledges this and that ISIL promoters are held accountable. As well, the new legislation would make it easier for the police to detain suspected terrorists before they can harm Canadians and give CSIS a new mandate to take action to disrupt threats to the security of Canada.
It is important to recognize the roles and responsibilities that we all have for preventing people from being radicalized to violence and criminality. This is not only a law enforcement issue. Each and every relative has a vital role in addressing the threat from radicalization to violence. Those responses must be based upon a real understanding of the issue on the part of all Canadians.
For such reasons, the Government of Canada is investing in research and the development of new and innovative tools to counter violent extremism through the Kanishka project, a $10 million initiative that is directly contributing to our implementation of the counterterrorism strategy. At the same time, we must also ensure that our security and intelligence agencies have the tools they need to investigate and, where appropriate, take reasonable measures to address threats.
I am confident our government has struck the right balance, working with communities to build their resilience to radicalization while enhancing the tools available to our security and intelligence agencies.