Keeping Up with the Neighbours: Canadian Responses to 9/11 in Historical and Comparative Context

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Volumn 41, Issue 2-3, 2003, Pages 241-265

  Whitaker, Reg ^a,b  

^a YORK UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

^b University of Victoria   (Australia)

Author keywords

2001 2009; Canada; Government policy; History; Political aspects; Terrorism; War on Terrorism

Indexed keywords

EID: 23844555616     PISSN: None     EISSN: 28175069     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.60082/2817-5069.1411     Document Type: Article

References (41)

1. The historical sections of this paper draw freely from my article “Before September 11 – Some History Lessons” in Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice, Terrorism, Law & Democracy: How is Canada Changing Following September 11? (Montréal: Les Editions Thémis, 2002) 39-54.
2. Reg Whitaker & Gary Marcuse, Cold War Canada: The Making of a National Insecurity State, 1945-1957 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994) [Cold War Canada].
3. Repealed, R.S.C., 1985, c. 22 (4th Supp.), s. 80.
4. Supra note 1.
5. The Report of the Royal Commission Appointed Under Order in Council P.C. 411 of February 5, 1946 (Ottawa: King’s Printer, 1946).
6. Security of Information Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. O-5, s. 1; 2001, c. 41, s. 25.
7. Reg Whitaker, Double Standard: The Secret History of Canadian Immigration (Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1987).
8. Canada, Commission of Inquiry Concerning Certain Activities of the RCMP, Second Report: Freedom and Security Under the Law, vol.1 (Ottawa: Minister of Supply & Services, 1981) at 518. According to the 1971 census, the total population of Canada was 21,568,000: 800,000 files represent information on more than one out of every twenty-seven Canadians.
9. Leading figures, even in retrospect, were evasive in their justifications. Immediately after the crisis, a prominent Quebec minister in the Trudeau government, Gérard Pelletier, published a memoir, La Crise d’Octobre (Montréal: Editions du Jour, 1971). In Mr. Trudeau’s own memoirs, his account of the affair raises many questions of both fact and interpretation: Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Memoirs (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1993) at 128-52.
10. Reg Whitaker, “Apprehended Insurrection? RCMP Intelligence and the October Crisis” (1993) 100:2 Queen’s Quarterly 383.
11. Emergencies Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. 22 (4th Supp.).
12. th in Hindsight, Recovery and Resolve” online: EKOS Research Associates at 22, 23 (date accessed: 18 May 2003). Gallup reported in September 2002 that sixty-one per cent of Canadians approved of the U.S. conduct of the war on terrorism. An invasion of Iraq was received much less enthusiastically. In January 2003, Ipsos-Reid found that only fifteen per cent of Canadians would support Canadian participation in an Iraq war without UN sanction, less than the eighteen per cent who were opposed to any war, with or without UN sanction. See “A Special Report: Attacking Iraq” online: Ipsos-Reid (date accessed: 18 May 2003).
13. A year after 9/11, CRIC (Centre for Research and Information on Canada) reported a dramatic turnaround: Thirty-five per cent of the population wanted Canadian ties to the United States to be “more distant”, an increase of twnety-two points over October 2001; twenty-eight per cent of the population wanted closer ties to the United States, a decrease of five points over October 2001. See “More Canadians Distance Themselves From U.S. Neighbours” online: Centre for Research and Information on Canada (date accessed: 18 May 2003).
14. Coalition for Secure & Trade-Efficient Borders, Rethinking our Borders: A Plan for Action (3 December 2001); Presentation of Thomas D’Aquino, President and Chief Executive (January 14, 2003) “Security and Prosperity: The Dynamics of a New Canada-United States Partnership in North America”, to the Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, Toronto, online: (date accessed: 18 May 2003).
15. Reg Whitaker, “More or Less Than Meets the Eye? The New National Security Agenda”, in Bruce Doern, ed., How Ottawa Spends 2003/04 [forthcoming 2003].
16. Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (“dfait”), The Canada-U.S. Smart Border Declaration, online: DFAIT (date accessed: 18 May 2003). DFAIT News Release, “Manley and Ridge Release Progress Report on the Smart Border Declaration and Action Plan” (28 June 2002), online: DFAIT (date accessed: 18 May 2003).
17. The pre-9/11 case most cited by critics is that of Ahmed Ressam, apprehended in late 1999 attempting to enter the United States at Port Angeles, Washington, on his way to play a part in a planned millennium terror attack on the L.A. Airport. Yet in 2001, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft brushed off critics of Canadian security by insisting that in this case the United States had acted on information provided by Canadian authorities, with whom cooperation was “outstanding”; interview of John Ashcroft (4 December 2001) on CTV News, CTV Television.
18. Sheldon Alberts, “Clinton refuses Ottawa's call for apology” The National Post, January 10, 2003.
19. Reg Whitaker, “Refugee Policy After September 11: Not Much New” (2001) 20:4 Refuge 29.
20. Paul Wells, “Thousands die – blame Canada” The National Post (18 December, 2001) A6.
21. House of Commons, Partners in North America: Advancing Canada’s Relations with the United States and Mexico, Report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade (December 2002), online: (date accessed: 18 May 2003).
22. Reid Morden, “Finding the right balance” (2002) 23:06 Policy Options 45-8.
23. S.C. 2001, c. 41. Even before its final passage, this legislative package received extraordinary academic attention in a book of essays, most of which were critical: Ronald J. Daniels, Patrick Macklem, & Kent Roach, eds., The Security of Freedom: Essays on Canada’s Anti-Terrorism Bill (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001). See also Erroll P. Mendes & Debra M. McAllister, eds., Between Crime and War: Terrorism, Democracy and the Constitution, (2002) 14:1 N.J.C.L.
24. ETS No. 185, Budapest, November 23, 2001.
25. Department of Justice Canada, Lawful Access – Consultation Document (25 August 2002): Online: Department of Justice Canada (date accessed: 18 May 2003).
26. Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (U.K.), 2001, c. 24, ss. 21-22.
27. Audrey Macklin, “Mr. Suresh and the Evil Twin” (2002) 20:4 Refuge 15.
28. Pub. L No. 107-56, 115 Stat. 272 (2001). Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA patriot Act).
29. These are the cases of Yasser Esam Hamdi, one of the enemy combatants captured in Afghanistan who turned out to have been American-born, and José Padilla, the so-called dirty bomb suspect. Both cases continue through the legal appeal process, but in the case of Hamdi a federal appeals court ruled in early 2003 that in wartime the state can indefinitely detain a United States citizen captured as an enemy combatant on the battlefield and deny that person access to a lawyer: Neil A. Lewis, “US Is Allowed to Hold Citizen as Combatant” New York Times (January 9, 2003).
30. Singh el al v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration), [1985] 1 S.C.R. 177.
31. Testimony of Richard Mosley, Assistant Deputy Minister, Criminal Law Policy, Department of Justice (June 10, 2002), to the House of Commons Sub-Committee on National Security, online: (date accessed: 18 May 2003).
32. M.L. Friedland, National Security: The Legal Dimensions, study prepared for the Royal Commission of Inquiry Concerning Certain Activities of the RCMP (Ottawa: 1979) 22-30; Cold War Canada, supra note 2 at 197-204.
33. R v. Stinchcombe, [1991] 3 S.C.R 326, ordered the production in court of criminal intelligence relevant to the defence. Stinchcombe was a criminal case and its relevance to national security cases was unclear. The evidence provisions in C-36 are in the spirit of better safe than sorry.
34. R.S.C. 1983, c. 23 (note: Pending amendment not in force, S.C. 2001, c.27, ss.223-226).
35. R.S.C. 1985, s. S-7.
36. S.C. 2002, c. 12.
37. S.C. 2002, c. 27.
38. A notable example of institutional difference is the debate that has opened in Washington since 9/11 about the desirability of splitting the fbi into a counter-terrorist intelligence agency and an institutionally separate criminal law enforcement body. In Canada, this was done in 1984 with the CSIS Act separating the security service from the RCMP.
39. American Civil Liberties Union, Press release: “Immigrant Registration Program Pretext for Mass Detentions” (December 19, 2002).
40. David Ljunggren, “Upset Canada Issues Rare Caution on Travel to U.S.” Reuters (October 30, 2002).
41. Michael Powell, “Pakistanis Flee to Canada and Uncertainty: Families Uprooted By INS Deadline” The Washington Post (January 18, 2003) A01.