New database on Canadian terrorism puts focus on Quebec

Quebec has been at the centre of 42 percent of Canada’s terrorist events over the last 50 years, according to a new Canadian research database on terrorism.

The database lists 1,185 terrorist or extremist acts involving Canadians that took place between 1960 and 2014, a list that includes 410 events that took place abroad.

Terrorism in Canada peaked at the end of the 1960s and then returned with lower peaks in the 1980s and between 2006 and 2008, according to the data presented by the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society.

Quebec’s FLQ terrorist attacks accounted for one of the higher peaks, as 46 attacks were carried out in 1968 alone.

Over the last decade about 30 percent of terrorist and extremist incidents involving Canadians took place in Quebec. Actions related to the student strike of 2012, such as smoke bombs in the metro and the fatal attack on a post-election PQ celebration, are listed amongst those incidents.

Overall, 30 percent of terrorist events occurred in British Columbia and 19 percent in Ontario. About 46 percent of the total attacks include an explosion.

In total, the database lists 1,170 terrorist attacks that caused 450 deaths in Canada. Most of the deaths stem from two air attacks. In 1965, a Canadian Pacifc plane exploded killing 52 people. The bombing of an Air India flight in 1985 caused 329 deaths.

The database aims to provide national security researchers information that could be used to identify recurring patterns and improve the understanding of the terrorist and extremist crime in Canada. It is run by members of the Universities of British Columbia, Simon Fraser, Carleton, Waterloo and the University of Montreal.