Your Questions: Ask CBC

It was reported that the Taliban had trained suicide bombers for Canada and the US. Have we ever caught or prevented suicide bombers trying to enter Canada? and could we really stop them if tried?

Bill Gillespie: Hi Maurice. This threat was made by the Taliban Commander Mullah Mansoor Dadullah in a video aired on ABC News in June 2007. He was allegedly giving the keynote address to a class of young jihadis graduating from a guerilla training camp in the Afghanistan/Pakistan border area.

Dadullah was later killed and the threat has never materialized. US Intelligence dismissed the video as propaganda but we have no way of knowing whether it was simply bluster or for real. Have we ever caught a potential suicide bomber trying to enter Canada? Not to my knowledge. On the other hand, there have been no attacks on Canadian soil since 9/11.

Again we have no way of knowing.

Unlike countries such as the US and the UK where the national intelligence services share this kind of information with their citizens, Canada’s intelligence agencies, with the approval of the federal Government, keep this information secret.

Are there measures preventing people from smuggling explosives into Canada in place anywhere but the border and airports?

Bill Gillespie: Hi Caleb. Yes there are security measures at our land borders, seaports and airports to prevent people smuggling explosives into Canada.

Since 9/11 billions of dollars have been spent on electronic detection equipment. There are still large gaps in the
system though.

For example, large air cargo items and some mail is still being loaded onto planes unscreened. The latest trend in detection though, is an increased emphasis on training detection officers at airports and borders to better recognize suspicious behavior by would-be terrorists.

These human detection techniques were first developed by the Isrealis.

The 9/11 attacks occurred in and were confined to the United States of America not Canada or anywhere else in the world. My question is two fold:

1. Why does this mean that Canada or any other country of the world should step up its spending on security except to subsidize the US?

2. What terrorist threats have there been toward Canada both before and after 9/11 2001?

Bill Gillespie: Hi Suzanna.
Al Qaeda has threatened on three separate occaisions to attack Canada. Canada is fighting Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and that has made Canada a potential target for Islamist extremists.

There have been at least ten terrorist attacks in Canada since 1966. They include a bazooka attack on the Cuban Embassy in Ottawa in 1966, the bombing of the Montreal Stock Exchange by the FLQ in 1969, the murder of Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte by the FLQ in 1970, the killing of a Cuban diplomat at the Cuban consulate in 1972, the hijacking of a TWA flight to Gander by Croatian independence fighters in 1976, the bombing of Litton Industries by Direct Action in 1982, and the murder of 26 female engineering students (14 more were wounded) by Marc Lapine at Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal in 1989.

The deadliest terrorist attack in Canadian history though was the attack by Sikh extremists based in British Columbia on Air India flight 182 on June 23rd, 1985. Three hundred and 29 passengers were killed, 280 of them Canadians.

Following the increased 'airport security' after the 9/11 tragedy how many people in Canada have passed through the airport security systems across the land and of all of those how many have been charged and convicted with the intent to commit some aspect of air piracy.?

Bill Gillespie: Hi Dave. Transport Canada says for national security reasons you are not allowed to know.

In your opinion, how much of the $24 billion spent on security upgrades was spent to appease U.S. concerns vs tangible and or necessary Canadian security improvment neeeds?

Bill Gillespie: Hi Colin.
I don’t know but both factors are part of the equation.

Did taxpayers get fair value for the $24 billion? Some would argue that the entire $ 24 billion would be money well spent to protect our trade relationship with the US. They say the damage to our economy and the impact on the lives of many Canadian workers and their families of not satisfying US security concerns would have been huge. And our domestic security agencies are better equipped and better funded since post-9/11.

Canada's foreign policy has changed to a more aggressive opinionated position. Has this made it safer or more dangerous for Canadians.

Bill Gillespie: Hi Dan. In my opinion the answer is we are safer. I have been to Afghanistan seven times since 9/11. I have interviewed Taliban militants and Al Qaeda fighters. If Afghanistan was to descend into civil war again it would become Al Qaeda U in a minute.

How much of that $24 billion was spent under Chretien, and how much under Harper?

Bill Gillespie: Hi Leah. After adding the increased spending on domestic security and increased spending due to the Canadian military’s Afghanistan mission I estimate that $15 billion of that total was spent by the Chretien and Martin Liberal Governments and $9 billion since January, 2006 when the Harper Government was elected. In the next three years I expect the biggest increases will come on the military side of the equation.

How much of the billions has been spent on RFID technology and what are the government plans for that technologies use today and in the future ?

Bill Gillespie: Hi Harold. I don’t know the answer to that question but I’ll look into it.

In the wake of all the fear mongering about what could happen because of 9/11,do you believe we are turning into a nation that is scared to live in the here and now?

If that's the case,then the terrorists in fact did win as fear seems to be the basis of what drives the U.S. and to an extent Canada.

All too often we hear about what might/could occur rather than what IS happening.

Bill Gillespie: Hi Charlene. I believe there is a lot in what you say. The quality of all our lives has been degraded because terrorism has been added to the list of things we have to worry about.

For example, I am sure even today there are Londoners about to get on the Underground who wonder to themselves whether this is the train on which the next bomb is going to go off? Yes, to that extent the terrorists have won. Whether we hear too much about what is going to happen is trickier. But you only have to look at the UK where many terrorist plots have been uncovered during the past three years to know that the problem is real.