Canadian Security Intelligence Service Director Richard Fadden delivers a speech at the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies annual conference in Ottawa Oct. 29.

By Ian MacLeod

OTTAWA — In his first public speech, the new director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service chastised those critical of Canada’s efforts to fight terrorism.

“Many of our opinion leaders have come to see the fight against terrorism not as defending democracy and our values, but as attacking them,” Richard Fadden told an Ottawa conference of security and intelligence experts Thursday.

“Almost any attempt to fight terrorism by the government is portrayed as an overreaction or an assault on liberty. It is a peculiar position, given that terrorism is the ultimate attack on liberties. If terrorists believe in anything, it is nihilism and death, and they are equal opportunity oppressors.”

Why, he asked: “Are those accused of terrorist offences often portrayed in media as quasi-folk heroes, despite the harsh statements of numerous judges?”

“It sometimes seems that to be accused of having terrorist connections in Canada has become a status symbol, a badge of courage in the struggle against the real enemy, which apparently is government.

“To some members of civil society, there is a certain romance to this. This loose partnership of single-issue NGOs, advocacy journalists and lawyers who double as public relations consultants has succeeded, to a certain extent, in forging a positive public image for anyone accused of terrorist links or charges.”

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Tags: Canada, Civil Society, CSIS, journalists, Lawyers, NGO, Ottawa, Richard Fadden, Terrorists

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