On February 18, 2015, former Freedom Party of Ontario candidate Dr. Salim Mansur (professor of political science at Western University) appeared on CBC’s “Power and Politics”in his capacity of spokesperson for Muslims Facing Tomorrow (a pro-democracy, anti-theocratic group of Canadian Muslims) to discuss the federal government’s new anti-terrorism legislation. The other panelist was University of Ottawa law professor Amir Attaran.
Mansur’s position was that 14 years after 9/11, we still are unwilling to acknowledge the fact that the main terrorist threat in Canada is that posed by pro-Sharia, anti-democratic, Islamic theocrats. There will be problems balancing privacy and security in all legislation, but better action must be taken to identify those who have murdered Canadians, and who plan more of the same, argues Mansur.
Attaran condemns Mansur for singling out Islamic terrorism. He submits that Canada is safer than it has ever been and has done fairly well – in terms of the number of Islamic terrorist murders it has suffered, etc. – since 9/11. He argues that although the new legislation would not allow police to sexually assault or otherwise assault a suspect, it would allow them to threaten to do so. Attaran does not address how anyone would take such a threat seriously, if the law continues to prohibit following-through on such hollow threats. Continue reading »