Liberal Democratic Juridical Safeguards
We're such an upstanding society in Canada, we want to make entirely certain that when people are alleged to have committed crimes the justice system is cognizant of ensuring it upholds the integrity it is tasked with. We are adamant at the same time that our system of checks and balances be securely in place, that the search for justice does not trample on the rights of individuals under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.It is not enough to merely suspect, to theorize, to observe and to draw reasonable conclusions therefrom. Hard evidence must be sufficiently in hand, and compelling enough that a judge and jury will have no option but to find the accused guilty, if prosecution hopes to be successful. If prosecution proceeds because the Crown attorney feels sufficient evidence can be displayed, there is still no guarantee of conviction.
That's considered just and fair treatment of the accused. For anyone accused of "allegedly" committing to criminal activity in Canada can certainly be arrested, held in custody for a trial date, and then prosecuted with the fair expectation of conviction. But the alleged perpetrator of a crime does not have to prove his innocence. It is up to the Crown to prove guilt. A defending attorney defends the accused against the claims of the Crown.
And since the horrendous events of 9-11 and the subsequent alert of governments in the West against the potential for terrorist acts committed by fanatical Islamists, state security has been tightened, and security agents have been placed on high alert. Canada knows, from what has occurred in the United States, Great Britain, Spain, Indonesia, concurrent with threats issued by al-Qaeda, that she too remains a target.
And from terrorist attacks in those countries Canadian authorities are only too well aware that those who carry out such attacks are not necessarily aliens, foreign to the country, but they can be home-grown jihadists. Young people whose attachment and commitment and loyalty to the country can be undermined by the persuasion of seasoned jihadists seeking out likely converts to religiously-inspired violence.
When it happens that suspects are detected, planning to wreak terror in the country, security agents look carefully to throw as wide an inclusive net of terror-confreres as possible. The arrest and preliminary charges of planning to commit terrorist acts within Canada of 18 men from the Toronto area two years ago, still awaiting trial, a case in point.
For fear of impending violence in the commission of murder and mayhem against Canadians, their institutions and government officials, security agents have to balance the acquisition of sufficient evidence against the real possibility of events overtaking the ongoing surveillance. We see now what results when insufficient evidence to proceed has been acquired, with the staying of charges against 7 of the original key suspects.
It's entirely conceivable these men may have been innocent of the initial charges laid against them. And it's equally possible, perhaps more so, that these men lucked into the Canadian justice system's valuation of evidence sufficient to induce firm charges resulting in conviction, not acquittal. Their arrests may now be thought to have been premature.
An over-zealous, and perhaps too-nervous police force charged with ensuring the safety of Canadians in an over-charged atmosphere of suspicion and fear.
Certainly there is pressure upon policing agencies in the country to forestall any possible terror threats emanating from fanatically disaffected individuals furious over their perception of Western threats to Islam and by extension public apprehensions about some members of some Muslim communities who often voice a level of solidarity with the violent militance of Islamists.
The truth is somewhere out there, amidst the confusion and the breast beating and the denials. And it would seem that there are enough Muslims in any society whose anger against what they perceive as Islamophobia causes them to speak intolerance against others, and actively engage in stealth behaviours leading inevitably to collusion with would-be terrorists.
It's undeniable that impressionable young men have travelled from North America to visit terror training camps in the near East. Some of these young men - and they are a decided minority, one that indelibly poisons the position of the majority of moderate Muslims - have been found criminally culpable in violent acts.
So when Canadian Muslim youth devise their own militant training camps within the country because they admire the work of al-Qaeda and find common purpose with it, in defence of their religion against what they perceive as dark forces assaulting their religious brethren abroad, they're emulating, dangerously, the conduct of committed jihadists. They may lack experience and knowledge, but not brotherly commitment.
Security agents and policing authorities often don't have much choice in the matter. They are tasked to protect the public and public institutions. They haven't the luxury of waiting until they're absolutely certain, for if a critical stage has been passed and the group planning to attack launches their violence with success, they will have failed in their task to protect.
The Toronto 18 are not innocent of some specific things, the most obvious being a shared distrust bordering on hatred of all things western-oriented, although they live in that atmosphere and thrive in it themselves. They acted in concert for a certain purpose that attracted the attention of security personnel, and they were infiltrated by at least one informer.
They were apprehended precipitously, out of fear that they would act on the plans, having been witnessed purchasing explosives materials. They were, without doubt, clumsy, juvenile, undisciplined. Inspired by al-Qaeda, but utterly lacking in training, sophistication in plot-planning, and injudiciously given to inflated hyperbole.
Canada enjoyed a brief flirtation with international fame on the initial arrest of the 18 alleged conspirators. The neighbouring country which so often blames Canada for harbouring terror cells planning to make their havoc-strewn way into the United States, beamed its approval at the event. The pressure to demonstrate that its security forces have the matter of potential attacks well in hand is tremendous.
Errors will be made. But erring on the side of caution in the need to protect can be understood. The story is not yet over and done with. The remaining eleven would-be terrorists have yet to be dealt with. Those who had charges stayed may yet surface in other instances threatening danger to the Canadian community.
In a liberal democracy like Canada's there's a need to get it right, to serve justice as it should be served. Sometimes it must seem like groping around in the dark searching for the device to defuse a bomb....
Labels: Canada, Justice, Terrorism
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, April 20, 2008
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