False Security: The Radicalization of Canadian Anti-terrorism

False Security examines Canada's evolving anti-terrorism laws and policies in the post-9/11 era. Kent Roach analyzes the changes to security legislation and their impacts on civil liberties and constitutional rights. The book tracks key developments including the Anti-terrorism Act of 2001, security certificate regimes, and expansions of surveillance powers. Roach documents the actions and responses of law enforcement, intelligence agencies, courts, and government bodies as they grappled with new security challenges. Drawing on constitutional law expertise and extensive research, Roach evaluates whether Canada's anti-terrorism measures have enhanced public safety. The analysis covers preventive arrests, investigative hearings, terrorist financing rules, and the treatment of security-related evidence in courts. The work raises fundamental questions about balancing national security with democratic freedoms and the rule of law. Through its examination of Canadian policies, the book speaks to broader debates about state power, human rights, and the transformation of legal systems in response to terrorism.

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🔹 The book critically examines how Canada's anti-terrorism laws changed after the 2014 attacks in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Ottawa, arguing that these changes potentially undermined both security and rights. 🔹 Author Kent Roach served as research director for the Air India bombing inquiry and has been a member of the Canadian Privacy Commissioner's Advisory Board. 🔹 The book discusses how Canada's anti-terrorism approach differs from its closest allies (US, UK, Australia), particularly in areas of intelligence sharing and security certificates. 🔹 False Security explores the controversial Bill C-51 (Anti-terrorism Act, 2015), which gave CSIS new powers to "disrupt" terrorist threats and created new speech-related terrorism offenses. 🔹 The Air India bombing of 1985, which killed 329 people and remains Canada's deadliest terrorist attack, is extensively analyzed in the book as a case study of intelligence failures and the challenges of terrorism prosecutions.