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.
Abdullah Ahmed Said Khadr is a Canadian citizen whose alleged ties to terrorism resulted in a protracted international legal issue. Born in Canada, he grew up in Pakistan. As the oldest son of Ahmed Khadr, who had ties to the Afghani Mujahideen, Abdullah was sent to the Khalden military training camp as a boy. As a young adult, he allegedly became an arms dealer, selling illicit weapons to militants involved in the War in Afghanistan and related conflicts.
Syed Haris Ahmed is a naturalized American citizen born in Pakistan who was convicted on June 9, 2009, of conspiring to provide material support to terrorism in the United States and abroad. His trial was a bench trial. He was sentenced in 2009 to 13 years in prison, to be followed by 30 years of supervised release. At the time of his arrest, he was an undergraduate at the Georgia Institute of Technology, majoring in mechanical engineering.
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.
Zakaria Amara is one of 17 people detained on June 2 and 3, 2006, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in the 2006 Toronto terrorism arrests. He was convicted for planning to launch terrorist attacks against targets in Southern Ontario and was believed to be one of the ringleaders. A dual Canadian-Jordanian citizen at the time of his arrest, Amara was stripped of his Canadian citizenship on September 26, 2015. However, on June 19, 2017, his Canadian citizenship was automatically restored following the passage of Bill C-6.
Ahmad Mustafa Ghany is a 2004 graduate of McMaster University's health sciences program, and was one of 17 people initially arrested in the 2006 Toronto terrorism arrests.
Saad Khalid was one of 17 people detained and arrested on June 2 and June 3, 2006, in the Greater Toronto Area in the 2006 Toronto terrorism arrests.
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.
Steven Vikash Chand is one of 17 people arrested in the 2006 Toronto terrorism arrests. He and his conspirators are alleged to have plotted coordinated bombing attacks against targets in southern Ontario.
Mohammed Ali Dirie was one of 17 people connected to arrests on June 2 and June 3, 2006, in the 2006 Toronto terrorism arrests. He was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prison. He was released in October 2011, left Canada in 2012, and reportedly died in 2013 fighting in the Syrian Civil War, although his death has not been conclusively verified.
Jahmaal James is one of 17 people detained on June 2 and June 3, 2006, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the 2006 Toronto terrorism arrests. He and the others arrested are alleged to have plotted coordinated bombing attacks against targets in southern Ontario.
Among the 18 arrests during the 2006 Toronto terrorism case were four youths whose names could not be published because of the provisions of Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act. One of them had the charges against him dropped nine months after his arrest and two others have been released on bail.
Edward Sapiano was a Canadian defence lawyer, based in Toronto, Ontario, notable for his role in many high-profile criminal cases. He initiated Canada's largest criminal investigation of police, resulting in the arrest and prosecution of several Toronto police officers and was also involved in the so-called Toronto 18 terrorism trial. Edward Sapiano is also noted for demanding immediate DNA testing of his client shortly following the 1996 arrest of the suspected "North York serial rapist", leading to his client Jeremy Foster's full vindication, despite a false confession to the crime. In his quest to get illegal guns off the street, Sapiano also created the only lawyer-operated gun amnesty program available in North America, Piece Options. He is also known for starting a database of rulings and judgements to track alleged misconduct among Toronto-area officers which was then retrievable for cross-examinations in other cases by other lawyers. Edward Sapiano, after putting his practice on hold for two and a half years due to kidney failure, returned to court in 2017 for the Andrea White murder trial. Edward died on March 21, 2020, from complications of kidney disease and was cited to be the first lawyer in Canada to practise while undergoing 10 hours of daily dialysis. He was regularly featured by media outlets, including The Globe and Mail, CBC, and the New York Times commenting on criminal law issues.
Anser Farooq is a Canadian defence attorney based in Mississauga, Ontario, who gained notability defending suspects during the 2006 Ontario terrorism plot.
Liban M. Hussein is a Canadian entrepreneur and businessman. He was a stakeholder in the Al-Barakat money transfer firm. In November 2001, Hussein was arrested at the request of the United States government, which accused him of supporting terrorism through the company. His assets were also frozen. Hussein was eventually exonerated of the charges and released, after a court found that neither the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) nor the U.S.A authorities were able to provide any evidence of terrorist links. In February 2012, all charges against the Al-Barakat Group of Companies were also dropped.
Unfair Dealing is an independent 2008 documentary film produced by Canadian broadcaster David Weingarten. The film was originally marketed to an online audience.
On June 5, 2010, in a covert American anti-terrorism operation named "Operation Arabian Knight", two American citizens Mohamed Mahmood Alessa and Carlos "Omar" Eduardo Almonte, New Jersey residents, were arrested at Kennedy International Airport in New York City. The men were in the process of boarding booked, separate flights to Egypt. According to the affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, they planned to travel to Somalia to join Al-Shabab, an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group recruiting foreigners for its civil war. They intended to join them in killing American troops in Somalia, although few Americans are stationed there. The two men were charged with conspiring to kill, maim, and kidnap people outside the U.S.
The 2013 Via Rail Canada terrorism plot was a conspiracy to commit terrorist acts in and against Canada in the form of disruption, destruction or derailment of trains operated by Canada's national passenger railway service, Via Rail Canada. The alleged targeted train route was the Maple Leaf, the daily train service between Toronto and New York City operated jointly by Via Rail and Amtrak. A railway bridge over the Twenty Mile Creek in Jordan, Ontario, was later identified as the target, according to unsealed court documents.
Kevin Omar Mohammed is a Canadian citizen who was convicted for trying to join ISIS.
