RCMP Watch

09 May 2006 | Author MORRIS, Nick.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are embarking on a new battle against organised crime and its links to international terrorism.

RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli made the statement in front of a Senate anti-terrorism committee Monday.

Zaccardelli with Canadian PM Stephen Harper
Zaccardelli with Canadian PM Stephen Harper (©CPimages)

“There clearly is more and more indication that some terrorist groups clearly are getting some of their finances by either directly supporting some criminal activity or indirectly being fed resources that are the product of illegal activity in certain areas,” said Zaccardelli.

Terrorist ties to organized crime weren’t a top priority for Mounties before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, said Zaccardelli, but it has become a trend that they’re now closely monitoring.

“Terrorism is a real and present danger. It has been said it is not a matter of whether, but only of when, Canada will encounter its own 9/11.”

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day backed Zaccardelli’s assertion.

“The commissioner wasn’t trying to inflate the concern at all. You know, this notion that we often get from Hollywood or television programs that organized crime are just kind of, you know, folksy Robin Hood sort of individuals — it’s not the case.”

One expert told The Canadian Press that organized crime links to terrorism are as old as the mafia itself.

John Thompson of the Toronto-based Mackenzie Institute described the Sicilian mob as a loosely assembled group of vigilantes who sought to overthrow a succession of foreign rulers from their homeland. And it was crime that provided the financing, he added.

“Almost every terrorist group in the world today is involved in organized crime. Almost all terrorist groups around the world use organized crime to pay for their operations.”

Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers have also used proceeds of crime to finance politically motivated violence.

“It’s one of the reasons we took steps and initiatives against the Tamil Tigers to protect, certainly, the good people in the Tamil community and all Canadians,” said Day.

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“It’s happening. We are aware of it. And our law enforcement and security people are, let’s just say, keeping track of it and minimizing the risk.”

Also known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Tigers were listed as a terrorist group by the United Nations but weren’t banned in Canada.

That was until the government announced on April 10 that cabinet had added the group to Canada’s official list of terrorist organizations. The move has made it illegal to provide support to the group, which wants independence for Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamil minority.

The full ban followed a report by Human Rights Watch that claimed the Tigers continue funding terrorist activities by extorting cash from expatriate Tamils in Canada, Britain and elsewhere.

Since the report and subsequent ban, Day said he believes incidences of extortion have “already eased off.”

“It has also given people within the Tamil community a little more courage to come forward if they need to and sent a signal to people who would be extorting, would be trying to raise those funds illegally, that steps will be taken to stop what they are doing.”

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Day also announced Monday that the federal government has formally signed an agreement with the Canadian Red Cross to better prepare for emergencies.

The minister signed a memorandum of understanding with the Red Cross that will see the agency work with the government to help people during natural disasters, pandemics and other tragedies.

Day said the agreement also allows Ottawa to tap into the Red Cross’s vast network of experienced volunteers in times of crisis.

“With this deal, we’re saying that emergency preparedness is a shared responsibility,” Day said on Mike Duffy Live.

“The government in its budget has dedicated something like $2.4 billion in the next five years just on issues related to security and emergency preparedness. But we are saying, government cannot do it alone.

“And when you look at an organization like the Red Cross, with 30,000 trained volunteers across the country, 7,000 full-time professionals, we want to do some things with them that maybe haven’t been done before in terms of linking with government to help us to be more prepared and to help them be even more effective.”