By Xan Dagenais & Tim McSorley

We hope this overview of the last 20 years provided a glimpse of the ICLMG’s efforts, in collaboration with so many partners, to curb the impact of government measures that seriously infringe on our rights in the name of “national security” and “anti-terrorism.” We also hope this publication renewed – or sparked – your commitment to the struggle for the protection and promotion of civil liberties from the negative impact of national security and the “War on Terror.”

The concepts of “law and order” and “national security” have been used on the territory now called Canada since European settlers decided that this land was theirs. The RCMP was created – then as the North-West Mounted Police – in large part as a paramilitary force to surveil, control and displace Indigenous people; a role they are still playing to this day.

The words “terrorism” and “threats to national security” are powerful. Thanks to years of relentless fear mongering by governments and the media, they elicit automatic condemnation of whoever is stamped with those labels. As a result, these labels have become a very effective tool to discredit and repress any group, movement or person who opposes government policies and actions, and fights for justice and collective liberation.

As our contributors have shown, we cannot simply reform anti-terror laws and the national security apparatus to fix its abuses and the erosion of civil liberties. Given that the Criminal Code already covers all violent crimes, there is no need for or benefit to anti-terror and national security laws and tools.

Governments justify their actions in the name of “security” but neglect to deal with the root causes of the violence they purport to address. We need to shift away from national security – the preservation of the sovereignty and the power of the state – and focus on human safety.

The threat to civil liberties has grown over the last 20 years and recent events have led to renewed concern: the genocide in Gaza perpetrated in the name of countering terrorism, as well as the wrongful conflation of support for Palestinian lives and rights with support for hate or terrorism; the expansion of rights-violating anti-terror tools that perpetuate systemic racism, such as the Terrorist Entities List, to “fight racism” in Canada; the dangers posed by emerging new technologies like biometrics, spyware and artificial intelligence; the ever- expanding definition of “national security;” and the endlessly growing powers and resources of national security agencies.

We are witnessing a resurgence in fear-mongering and othering of Muslim, Arab and Chinese communities reminiscent of the early days after 9/11 and during the Cold War. We are also seeing the growing use of anti-terrorism discourse, laws and agencies by authoritarian regimes
to silence dissent; they point at the behaviour of liberal “democracies” in the ‘War on Terror’ and say: “They did it – so can we.”

ICLMG’s National Coordinator, Tim McSorley, holding the Muslim Association of Canada’s Friend of the Community Award received at their 2023 convention. Bamidele Kojo-McSorley

The struggle to protect civil liberties undertaken 20 years ago is more necessary than ever. We believe our coalition has been instrumental in the fight against the abuses of the national security apparatus but, to do this work, we need all the help we can get.

Want to join the struggle?

Follow the ICLMG on social media, subscribe to the News Digest and check out the Take Action section on our website at iclmg.ca.

If you would like to support our work as an individual, you can make one-time or monthly donations at iclmg.ca/donate.

Organizations are more than welcome to join the ICLMG coalition. Contact us for all details through iclmg.ca/contact‑us.

With your support, we hope we won’t need to be around anymore in 20 years.

Thank you!

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