The federal government will propose a number of amendments to its controversial anti-terror legislation next week, including clarification that CSIS officers will not be able to make arrests and lawful protests will not be considered terror-related activities.
"As we have said for many weeks, we are open to amendments that make sense and that improve the Anti-terrorism Act, 2015," said a government source.
The government will introduce the amendments when the bill goes to clause-by-clause review on Tuesday.
Under one of the changes, the source told CTV News, the word "lawful" will be removed from a portion of C-51 that deals with protests that could be targeted under the new legislation. The goal of the amendment is to limit the scope of what could be considered a terror-related activity and to make it clear that lawful protests or acts of advocacy, dissention or artistic expression are exempt from that label.
The amendments will also make it clear that CSIS officers do not have the power to make arrests under the new legislation. Though the bill did not grant Canada's spy agency that power, the amendment further spells out their role and makes it clear they cannot make arrests.
Provisions in the legislation around information sharing will also change. Information sharing will be limited and a clause that would have given the public safety minister the ability to direct airlines to do "anything" the minister felt was "reasonably necessary" to prevent a terror act, will be removed.
"In the face of an evolving terror threat, it is the first duty of any government to keep its citizens safe and that is why we introduced the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2015. All parliamentarians should put politics aside and support the additional tools our security agencies need to combat the jihadi terrorists who have declared war on upon us," said the government source.
