Terrorism takes money. There are costs associated with recruiting new members, transporting and housing them, and buying the goods needed to carry out attacks.
Although there are many sources of funding – the Islamic State, for example, is believed to make more than $1 million per day selling oil on the black market -- some of the funding comes from wealthy donors, including in Canada.
A House of Commons Committee has interviewed dozens of experts and stakeholders about the problem and has made 15 recommendations on how Canada can stem the flow of financing for terrorism.
Some of the key recommendations from MPs include:
- Consider lowering the $10,000 threshold for reporting international electronic fund transfers to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC)
- arget the Islamic State’s administrators, financial collectors and distributors in Iraq
- Make the Canada Revenue Agency work closer with charities to ensure compliance
- Work with social media networks to help them stop illegal fundraising
- Support a private sector-led financial crime centre or centre of excellence
- Urge financial institutions to improve the training of compliance officers
The opposition New Democrats support the majority report, but also argue that the government hasn’t provided enough funding for the cause.
With files from The Canadian Press
