Many feared Canada would begin fighting terrorism at the expense of human rights when anti-terrorism legislation was introduced.
That was the subject of Vanessa Iafolla’s presentation to the Canadian Sociological Association. Mrs. Iafolla is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto’s Centre of Criminology and Sociolegal Studies.
“The political agenda to augment national security was bolstered by media reports regarding potential threats posed from terrorist cells within Canada, as well as reports indicating the willingness of the Canadian public to preserve national security even at the cost of its civil liberties,” Iafolla said.
She highlighted the reaction to the legislation of different ethnic and religious groups within Canada. She spoke of their fears that the Anti-Terrorism Act would target and limit their civil liberties.
She shows that groups of Muslim-Canadians felt the law went too far to infringe on rights, while a group of Jewish-Canadians felt it didn’t go far enough to protect citizens from attack.
Vanessa is a PhD student at the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies. Tom
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