Academic

Suicide Bombings: An Act to Amend the Criminal Code

Senator Jerahmiel Grafstein (Lib.) has recently introduced into Parliament a proposed amendment to the anti-terrorism provisions of the Criminal Code, Bill S-210, which is now before the Senate's Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee. The Bill is a short and straightforward one, which provides:

Section 83.01 of the Criminal Code is amended by adding the following after subsection (1.1):

(1.2) For greater certainty, a suicide bombing comes within paragraphs (a) and (b) of the definition "terrorist activity" in subsection (1).

Although the point seems an obvious one, and, indeed, has been objected to by a number of MP's and senators on the grounds that it defines an act that is already covered by the Code's definition of "terrorist activity", the proposed amendment has merit. Criminal law has a public education and labelling function which will be advanced by this definitional statement. In addition, given that Canadian courts often look to international law and its institutional pronouncements on questions of interpretation, the amendment is necessary in order to avoid the interpretive pitfalls into which international human rights and United Nations bodies have fallen.

My brief to the Senate committee is attached.
Download SuicideBombingS210.pdf

Full post as published by University of Toronto Law School Faculty Blog on April 14, 2008 (boomark / email).