Mr. Speaker, on December 8, I asked the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness to explain to the House why it was that individuals reportedly operating with ISIL in Syria and Iraq, known to the authorities in Canada, were not detained. The minister informed the public safety committee on October 8 that the government was aware of some 80 individuals who had returned to Canada who had violated Canadian law. Well, quite simply, why were they not arrested if they had violated Canadian law? The minister has yet to explain why those individuals were not detained.
In the wake of the October attacks in Quebec and Ottawa, prior to the passage of any new anti-terror legislation, authorities have in fact detained and arrested a number of individuals. Again, the new anti-terrorism legislation had not been brought into effect, demonstrating that existing laws could have been used, should have been used and were finally used.
What is required is a government that is both consistent as to what it can achieve through legislation in place and what challenges require new legislation. The responsibility of any government is the protection of its citizens.
The concern has been raised that, in an effort to compensate for the rather slow response to the growing terrorist threat, to the failure to develop with communities effective de-radicalization programs, instead we have a government that is prepared to implement measures that would clearly be found unconstitutional. Empowering CSIS, through a warrant, to be able to violate the rights of Canadians in an effort to respond to a terrorist threat is not something that should be reassuring to Canadians. A failure to use the law as it stands is not justification for bringing forward laws that could be found illegal.
What I called for in December, and the Liberal Party has been calling for since, before the incidents of last October, is a government that can demonstrate that the safety of Canadians is first and foremost and that measures to increase that security would be brought forward in a manner consistent with their fundamental values.
I would therefore ask the government that if the police were able to make arrests that in fact resulted in convictions, why has the government brought forward legislation that would likely be overturned by the courts? If that happens, then because of poorly designed legislation that would be in violation of the charter, those arrests would be thrown out by the courts. The government has not been cautious in terms of its development of the legislation and could in fact jeopardize the ability to detain those individuals because it has failed to ensure that this new legislation is charter compliant.
My original question still stands: Why has the government not used the existing laws to arrest and detain potential terrorists?