Ottawa let down antiterror work, Major says

Ottawa: Federal officials tasked with keeping tabs on the shady transactions of terrorist fundraising in Canada are significantly understaffed, the Air India inquiry heard Monday.
Former Supreme Court judge John Major, the commissioner of the inquiry, criticized the federal government Monday for not funding its terrorist financing teams properly.
What caught Mr. Major's attention was testimony Monday from Superintendent Rick Reynolds, who is in charge of the RCMP's national security investigations. Supt. Reynolds testified that he personally made a request on behalf of the RCMP for a team of 126 employees to investigate terrorist financing offences after the attacks of Sept. 11.
Instead, the police were initially given 17 positions, which was later increased to 50.
"I [know you can't] be critical of your political masters, but I can be. It seems to be inadequate," Mr. Major told Supt. Reynolds. "It's like strangling a snake, in a matter of speaking. If you cut the head off, not much happens to the rest of the body. If your resources are limited in intelligence gathering or information gathering … what you can pass on to enforcement people has to be limited."
The unusually vocal retired judge also offered his opinion that Britain's terror laws appear to be doing a better job of obtaining criminal convictions than those in Canada.
The public inquiry is moving beyond the details of what happened immediately before and after the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182 from Montreal. Commission counsel is focusing this week on why there have been no convictions under the terror financing laws introduced in 2001 after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
02/10/07 Bill Curry/Globe and Mail, Canada

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Categories: Air India - International Oct 2007, Foreign Oct 2007, Safety Oct 2007