Anti-terror finance law broad enough to include charities - and ransom

Add this to the list of problems with the government paying ransom to secure the release of Robert Fowler and Louis Guay, as the Wikileaks cables suggest it did.

It would be illegal.

Section 83.03 (b) of the Criminal Code of Canada says:

Every one who, directly or indirectly, collects property, provides or invites a person to provide, or makes available property or financial or other related services

(a) intending that they be used, or knowing that they will be used, in whole or in part, for the purpose of facilitating or carrying out any terrorist activity, or for the purpose of benefiting any person who is facilitating or carrying out such an activity, or

(b) knowing that, in whole or part, they will be used by or will benefit a terrorist group,

is guilty of an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 10 years

The terrorist group that was holding the two Canadian diplomats was Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb or AQIM. You can read all about them on the government's own list of banned terrorist organizations.

You might say that the law should be flexible enough to allow something as undeniably positive as securing the release of Robert Fowler and Louis Guay.

And if you made this argument you would likely have a lot of Canadian charities on your side who worry that the law puts them at risk of prosecution for doing things like providing famine relief in areas where terrorist organizations are also likely to benefit from the flow of funds. Somalia comes to mind.

It's not like Parliament was unaware of how broad the anti-terror finance legislation would be when it was debated.

U of T law professor Kent Roach told me "Parliament made a deliberate effort to define terror financing broadly."

Very broadly indeed. So broad, that even a government that is tough on crime can potentially find itself on the wrong side of the criminal code.

Of course, under s.83.24 the consent of the attorney general is required to lay a terrorist charge. So don't expect anything in the near future.