Motto | Security Matters |
---|---|
Founder(s) | Maurice Arthur John Tugwell |
Established | 1984 |
Focus | Terrorism, political research, military affairs, security issues, organized crime |
President | D. Brian Hay |
Chair | Lou Milrad |
Key people | Maurice Tugwell (founder), John C. Thompson (former president), [1] Norm Gardner (former chair), David McFadden (former chair) |
Budget | $93,303 (2018) |
Location | Toronto , Canada |
Website | http://mackenzieinstitute.com |
The Mackenzie Institute for the Study of Terrorism, Revolution and Propaganda is an independent and non-partisan think tank in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
It was founded in 1984 and focuses on geopolitical security matters. The institute has been a registered charity with the Canada Revenue Agency since 1992.
In 2019, it was ranked as the 36th best think tank in Canada and Mexico by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania.
It was founded in 1984 by Brigadier Dr. Maurice Tugwell, an academic and former career British Army officer. Tugwell served in the Army from 1943 to 1978, and was awarded the rank of Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1973. After retiring from the Army, he earned a doctorate in war studies from the University of London and emigrated to Canada where he became a professor at the University of New Brunswick (UNB). Before founding the Mackenzie Institute in 1984, he founded the Centre for Conflict Studies at UNB in 1978. [2] The Institute is named after explorer Sir Alexander Mackenzie. [3]
The Mackenzie Institute publishes online research papers on a wide variety of geopolitical security matters, with a focus on terrorism, political extremism, warfare, and organized crime. [4]
The Institute has been called upon by committees of the Parliament of Canada to provide expert testimony on security issues. This has included appearances before the Special Senate Committee on the Anti-terrorism Act [5] and the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness [6] in 2005, the Special Senate Committee on Anti-terrorism in 2010, [7] the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security in 2015, [8] and the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence in 2016. [9]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Institute partnered with the CEO Global Network to put on a series of webinars on security issues. [10] [11]
According to the 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report (Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, University of Pennsylvania), the Mackenzie Institute ranks as the 36th best think tank in Canada and Mexico. [12]
The Institute is a non-profit organization that depends upon individual donors and charitable foundations; it does not accept government funding. It has been a registered charity with the Canada Revenue Agency since 1992, and in 2018 it had revenues of $87,926.00 against expenses of $93,303.00. [13]
The Institute has an advisory board and a board of governors. As of July 2020, the advisory board is chaired by Lewis W. MacKenzie, a retired Canadian general. The board of governors is chaired by Lou Milrad, [14] a business & technology lawyer (retired), and its past chair is David McFadden. [15]
Several newspaper reports have described the Institute as a conservative or right-wing organization. [16] In 1994, journalist Michael Valpy criticized the Institute for producing what he described as an ideologically-driven report of supposed "leftist conspiracies". [17] John C. Thompson, then the president of the Mackenzie Institute, repeatedly rejected such descriptions, describing himself as a "classical liberal". [18] He has written, "If being a traditional liberal these days means being condemned as a right-wing nut, I plead guilty". [19]
In July 1995, members of the Animal Liberation Front allegedly sent a pipe bomb to Thompson's office in Toronto. His assistant could have been killed, except that the device's battery had become disconnected through mishandling by Canada Post. [20] [21]
In 2005, the Institute released a report entitled "Waiting for the Kaboom: Indicators to Watch for", described as a citizen's guide to finding terrorists. In this report, John C. Thompson encouraged Canadians to watch for theft of credentials and credit cards, attempts to buy weapons in bulk, increased visits to access tunnels under office towers, and large groups of men living together "for no apparent purpose". He also warned Canadians about people wearing bulky clothing in hot weather, arguing that suicide bombers sometimes wear several sets of underwear to protect their groins for the virgins they believe martyrs receive in the afterlife. These guidelines were welcomed by some law enforcement groups, but were also met with some criticism. [22] Canada's Public Safety ministry declined to comment on the release. [23] The Mackenzie Institute later issued a revised version of the report, under the new title "Precursors of Hostile Intent: Signs of a Potential Terrorist Attack". [24]
Narcoterrorism, in its original context, is understood to refer to the attempts of narcotics traffickers to influence the policies of a government or a society through violence and intimidation, and to hinder the enforcement of anti-drug laws by the systematic threat or use of such violence. As with most definitions of terrorism, it typically only refers to non-state actors.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is a foreign intelligence service and security agency of the federal government of Canada. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world and conducting covert action within Canada and abroad. CSIS reports to the Minister of Public Safety, and is subject to review by the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency.
Thomas William Wappel is a Canadian politician. He was a Liberal member of the House of Commons from 1988 to 2008, representing the Toronto riding of Scarborough West and its successor riding of Scarborough Southwest. He did not seek re-election in the 2008 general election.
Terrorism and mass attacks in Canada includes acts of terrorism, as well as mass shootings, vehicle-ramming attacks, mass stabbings, and other such acts committed in Canada that people may associate with terroristic tactics but have not been classified as terrorism by the Canadian legal system.
Ahmed Saïd Khadr was an Egyptian-Canadian philanthropist with alleged ties to al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His activity in Afghanistan began in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and he has been described as having had ties to a number of militants within the Afghan mujahideen, including Saudi militant Osama bin Laden. Khadr was accused by Canada and the United States of being a "senior associate" and financier of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
The Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) was an elite police tactical unit of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The SERT was formed in 1986 to provide a tactical capability to respond to major terrorist incidents throughout Canada. The unit was disbanded in 1993 when responsibility for counter terrorist response transferred from the RCMP to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).
Pallywood, a portmanteau of "Palestine" and "Hollywood", is a derogatory label used to describe supposed media manipulation, distortion or fraud to win the public relations war with Israel. The term came into currency following the killing of Muhammad al-Durrah in 2000 during the Second Intifada, involving a challenge to the veracity of photographic evidence. Israeli pundits have used the term to dismiss videos showing Israeli violence or denial of Palestinian suffering. During the Israel–Hamas war, it has been used to dismiss Palestinian suffering such as claiming dead Palestinian babies as fake dolls, and is regarded by some news sources as a conspiracy theory. the label and its disinformation has been used and circulated by official Israeli government profiles.
The Anti-terrorism Act is an Act passed by the Parliament of Canada in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. It received Royal Assent on December 18, 2001, as Bill C-36. The "omnibus bill" extended the powers of government and institutions within the Canadian security establishment to respond to the threat of terrorism.
The 2006 Ontario terrorism case is the plotting of a series of attacks against targets in Southern Ontario, Canada, and the June 2, 2006 counter-terrorism raids in and around the Greater Toronto Area that resulted in the arrest of 14 adults and 4 youths . These individuals have been characterized as having been inspired by al-Qaeda.
Fahim Ahmad is one of 11 people convicted in the 2006 Toronto terrorism case. He was a ringleader in the group. He was 21 years old at the time of arrest, and married with two children.
Abdul Qayyum Jamal is a Canadian janitor and school bus driver who was labelled the ringleader of an alleged terrorist plot in Toronto in June 2006 after a Canadian Member of Parliament reported his virulent criticism of Canadian troops in Afghanistan to police. He was held for nearly two years protesting his innocence before all charges against him were dropped.
Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen is a terrorist organisation operating in Bangladesh. It is listed as a terror group by Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, The United Kingdom and Australia. It was founded in April 1998 in Palampur in Dhaka Division by Abdur Rahman and gained public prominence in 2001 when bombs and documents detailing the activities of the organisation were discovered in Parbatipur in Dinajpur district. The organisation was officially declared a terrorist organisation and banned by the government of Bangladesh in February 2005 after attacks on NGOs. But it struck back in mid-August when it detonated 500 small bombs at 300 locations throughout Bangladesh. The group re-organised and has committed several public murders in 2016 in northern Bangladesh as part of a wave of attacks on secularists.
Prior to the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) posed the greatest threat to the Karimov administration. In 2002 the IMU was reclassified as terrorist by the United States. Since the invasion, the IMU has been greatly weakened due to US military actions which cut off its supply of resources and killed its leader, Juma Namangani.
Abousfian Abdelrazik or Abu Sufian Abd Al-Razziq is a Sudanese-born Canadian dual citizen.
Unfair Dealing is an independent 2008 documentary film produced by Canadian broadcaster David Weingarten. The film was originally marketed to an online audience.
Wahid Khalil Baroud, a Palestinian alleged member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Force 17, was arrested in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, after it was claimed that he served as a bodyguard to PLO leader Yasser Arafat and engaged in coordinating PLO terrorist acts, and was a threat to Canadian national security. He was subsequently deported.
Steven Staples is a Canadian policy analyst. He is president of Public Response, a digital agency that services non-profit organizations and trade unions in the fields of online engagement and government relations.
Barbara Louise Jackman is a Canadian lawyer specializing in immigration and refugee law, with particular emphasis on cases involving domestic violence and international human rights issues, torture and other cruel or unusual punishment, allegations of membership in and/or support of terrorist organizations, the rights and protections afforded by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and Canada's responsibilities under international treaties. She has been described as being one of Canada's most effective advocates for immigration and refugee rights.
Islamic extremism in the United States comprises all forms of Islamic extremism occurring within the United States. Islamic extremism is an adherence to fundamentalist interpretations of Islam, potentially including the promotion of violence to achieve political goals. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, Islamic extremism became a prioritized national security concern of the U.S. government and a focus of many subsidiary security and law enforcement entities. Initially, the focus of concern was on foreign Islamic terrorist organizations, particularly al-Qaeda, but in the course of the years since the September 11 terror attacks, the focus has shifted more towards Islamic extremist radicalized individuals and jihadist networks within the United States.
The Anti-terrorism Act, 2015, introduced as, and referred to as Bill C-51, is an act of the Parliament of Canada passed by the Harper government that broadened the authority of Canadian government agencies to share information about individuals easily. It also expanded the mandate of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and was described as the first comprehensive reform of this kind since 2001.