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The creation of the Director of Terrorism Prosecutions is in line with recommendations from the Air India Commission, and would help build specialized expertise on terrorism cases

“I agree it is best to integrate both those who prosecute and those who make secrecy claims because in difficult cases there may be trade-offs between keeping Canadian (and our international partners) secrets and having a prosecution go forward with enough disclosure to the accused to make the trial fair,” he wrote in an email. “The secrecy issues have been a challenging aspect of both terrorism and espionage cases so it would make sense for the office to do both.”

Nesbitt, however, suggests the new director of terrorism prosecutions should be housed within the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, so as to avoid having two streams of prosecutors — one involved in terrorism and one involved in other federal crimes — reporting separately to the attorney general.

He also advises against centralizing the new unit in Ottawa or Toronto to allow for involvement of prosecutors elsewhere in the country who know how to respond to regional differences in terms of threats and approaches to litigation.

It is unclear where the creation of a new director of terrorism prosecutions sits in Justice Minister David Lametti’s list of priorities. His mandate letter from the prime minister asks him to lead an “immediate” process, for instance, to develop a new framework for sick people to receive medical assistance in dying.

In a statement, Lametti’s office said: “Under our government, Canada has already convicted four individuals for terrorism-related offences after their return to Canada, and another returnee has been charged. … The creation of the Director of Terrorism Prosecutions is in line with recommendations from the Air India Commission, and would help build specialized expertise on terrorism cases — which can be quite complex.”

The office declined, however, to offer a timeline, saying only it would work “expeditiously” with the public safety minister to create the new office.

• Email: dquan@postmedia.com | Twitter: dougquan