Keywords
book reviews, privacy and security regime, civil liberties, intelligence gathering activities, privacy
Abstract
It is now trite to say that the events of September 11, 2001 have had a profound impact on our national security, in terms of its institutional and normative dimensions, and also in terms of a more general public anxiety. The hastily enacted Anti-terrorism Act of 2001 brought about significant changes to a wide range of statutes including, among others, the Criminal Code, the Official Secrets Act, the Canada Evidence Act, and the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) Act. An early conference and resultant book on the Anti-terrorism Act raised serious concerns about the potential impact of the changes on civil liberties. However, for the most part civil libertarian concerns were diluted by more widespread fears for personal and national security, and perhaps also by the sense that law abiding citizens would not, in any event, be affected. Several high profile cases and the Maher Arar Inquiry and Report have since drawn attention to both the civil liberties concerns, and the potential impact on ordinary citizens of intelligence-gathering and intelligence-sharing activities. In this context, Stanley Cohen’s detailed and comprehensive book examining the privacy and security regime in Canada makes a very important contribution to the liter- ature in this area. It lays a thoughtful and balanced foun- dation for ongoing debate over issues at the intersection of privacy, crime, and terror.
Recommended Citation
Teresa Scassa, "Privacy, Crime and Terror: Legal Rights and Security in a Time of Peril by Stanley A. Cohen (Markham: LexisNexis Butterworths, 2005)" (2007) 6:1 CJLT.
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