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Many of the measures will affect the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service.

The plan to boost CSIS’s ability to counter terrorist threats flows from a federal review of fatal attacks on two Canadian soldiers last October.

As expected, the bill would also make it easier for the RCMP to obtain a peace bond to restrict the movements of a suspect, and it extends the period for preventative arrest and detention.

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Our rights focus may not persuade you. But even the most hardcore security-above-all-else proponent should question the wisdom of the proposed offence.

Here’s why: the data suggests that our most promising means of combating radicalization is with on-the-ground programs that anticipate threats and steer people away from violence. Thus the RCMP has launched its new counter-violent extremism (CVE) program, an all-of-civil-society initiative designed to navigate people away from trouble in the “pre-criminal space” — that is, before they violate the law.

This is an uncertain and challenging undertaking. However, it may be the most rational response to a social problem that no prosecutor or penitentiary will ever solve, and may actually make worse. And the government’s new speech crime could undermine it. Let us illustrate why, with a very plausible hypothetical situation.

The new CVE program reaches out to a mosque, wishing to involve it and its membership. It wants people to assess honestly the merits of, and confront squarely, the Al-Qaeda-inspired world view that says Islam is under attack by “Western crusaders,” and that it is the duty of good Muslims to act in defence, even with violence. This airing of views will require, at minimum, a venue in which people can speak freely, and the mosque is asked to provide it.