Terrorism in Canada

Terrorism in Canada consists of numerous acts of domestic terrorism, concentrated during the 1960s and 1970s. Since the 1960s, there have been periodic incidents of international terrorism. In order to support this latter terrorism evidence has been uncovered regarding fundraising for these attacks outside of the country.^[1]

Terrorism in Canada does not include incidents involving Canadian citizens abroad.

The Canadian government has banned nearly 40 terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda, the Armed Islamic Group, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Palestine Liberation Front, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah,^[1] Kahane Chai, the Taliban and Mujahedin e-Khalq.^[2]

In 2006, Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day expanded the federal ban of Hezbollah from the purely militant wing to all 16 sub-organizations,^[3] and declared the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam a terrorist group.^[4]

• September 22, 1966 - A bazooka attack on the Cuban embassy in Ottawa, Ontario is made.
• October 5, 1966 - Anti-Castro forces bomb the offices of the Cuban trade delegation in Ottawa.
• May 31, 1967: A small bomb explodes at the Cuba Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal. The attack is attributed to Cuban Nationalist Action.
• October 15, 1967: A bomb explodes at the offices of the Cuban trade delegation in Montreal, Quebec.
• May 29, 1969: A bomb is placed in the doorway of the Cuban consulate in Montreal, it fails to go off.
• July 12, 1971: A small bomb goes off at the offices of the Cuban trade delegation in Montreal, Quebec.
• April 4, 1972: Cuban official Sergio Pérez Castillo is killed by an explosion at the Cuban consulate in Montreal, Quebec.
• January 21, 1974: A bomb explodes at the Cuban embassy in Ottawa. It is attributed to Orlando Bosch.
• September 22, 1976: An explosive device is thrown from a car at the Cuban consulate in Montreal.
• January 14, 1980: A large explosion significantly damages the Cuban consulate in Montreal.

• June 23, 1985 - Air India flight 182 leaving Montreal, Quebec's Mirabel International Airport is blown up mid-flight to London, England.
• At 07:13 on Sunday, June 23, 1985 an explosion at Tokyo Narita International Airport killed two baggage handlers, and injured four. The bomb was intended for Air India Flight 301, with 177 passengers and crew on board, bound for Bangkok International Airport.
• May 26, 1986 - An attempt is made in Vancouver, British Columbia to assassinate Malkiat Singh Sidhu, a cabinet minister in the Indian province of Punjab .
• August 28, 1988 - Indo-Canadian Times editor Tara Singh Hayer is shot and partially paralyzed, probably due to his statements connected to the Flight 182 investigation.
  • November 18, 1998 - Hayer is assassinated.

• April 8, 1982 - Turkish Commercial Counselor to Canada Kani Güngör is paralyzed after an attack by Armenian nationalists at his Ottawa, Ontario apartment.
• August 23, 1982 - Turkish military attaché to Canada, Col. Atilla Altıkat, is assassinated by Armenian militants in Ottawa while sitting in his vehicle at a traffic light.
• March 12, 1985 - A group of Armenians seize the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Ottawa, killing a Canadian security guard.

• April 7, 1868 - Thomas D'Arcy McGee is assassinated in Ottawa, Ontario by an alleged Irish nationalist or Fenian rebel sympathizer named Patrick Whelan.
• November 25, 1965 - Croatian nationalists bomb the Yugoslavian consulate in Toronto, Ontario.
• January 29, 1967 - The Yugoslavian embassy in Ottawa and the consulate in Toronto, Ontario are among six Yugoslavian offices bombed in North America.
• September 3, 1984 - Montreal, Quebec's Central Station is bombed, killing 3 people and wounding more than 30. Thomas Bernard Brigham, an elderly retired American armed forces officer, claims to have been protesting Pope John Paul II's visit to Canada.
• April 9, 1989 - Charles Yacoub hijacks a bus and drives it to Parliament Hill to protest the Syrian invasion of Lebanon.

• 1963-1969 - Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) starts a bombing campaign at the average rate of one every ten days. Targets included English owned businesses, banks, McGill University and the homes of prominent English speakers.
• 1963 FLQ bombing of Canadian Army Recruiting Centre in Montreal, killing Sgt. Wilfred V. O'Neil.
• late 1960s - FLQ places a bomb in a window well of the National Defence Headquarters on Lisgar St in Ottawa, Ontario. The explosion killed a cleaning lady.
• late 1960s - FLQ places a bomb in a mailbox next to the Canadian Tire store on Wellington St in Ottawa, Ontario.
• February 13, 1969 - FLQ sets off a powerful bomb that rips through the Montreal Stock Exchange causing massive destruction and seriously injuring twenty-seven people.
• October 5, 1970 - British diplomat James Cross and October 10 Quebec Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte are kidnapped by the FLQ in Montreal. (The dead body of Pierre Laporte was discovered in the trunk of a car in Montreal, Quebec on October 17, 1970; Cross was released on December 3, 1970.)
• 2000 - The Brigade d'autodéfense du français bombs a church where an English fundraiser was to be held.
• 2001 - Quebec - The FLQ/The Brigade d'autodéfense du français firebombs three "Second Cup" locations in Montreal. They were targeted because of the company's use of its incorporated English name "Second Cup". Rhéal Mathieu, a previously convicted FLQ terrorist was convicted for all three bombings. Seven McDonald's restaurants were also firebombed.
• 2012 - The night of the Quebec provincial elections, Richard Bain, an anglophone Quebecer attempted to assassinate Parti Québécois leader and Premier elect Pauline Marois at a victory gathering in Montreal. He also set fire to the Metropolis concert hall where the event was being held. A man was killed and another was injured in the terrorist act. It is said that Bain's ultimate goal was to kill Marois following the Parti Québécois victory. Bain, who was arrested shortly after the attack, is currently incarcerated and awaits a bail hearing on the 29th of July.

• 2006 - In the 2006 Ontario terrorism plot, Canadian counter-terrorism forces arrested 18 people (dubbed the "Toronto 18") tied to al-Qaeda. They were accused of planning to detonate truck bombs, to open fire in a crowded area, and to storm the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, the Canadian Parliament building, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) headquarters, and the parliamentary Peace Tower, to take hostages and to behead the Prime Minister and other leaders.
• 2013 - The head of Canada’s spy service Richard Fadden has told Parliament that the fragmenting of al-Qaeda has made him more “worried” about terrorist attacks in Canada. He warned that Canadians are involved in every al-Qaeda affiliate group and that these groups have mentioned Canada as a possible target.^[5][6]
• 2013 - Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser of Montreal and Toronto, respectively, charged as part of an alleged Al Qaeda in Iran plot to derail a New York to Toronto train on the Canadian side of the border. Alleged plot was not imminent. Canadian Muslims helped to foil the alleged plot. Iran has denied involvement and the suspects said they were arrested based on their appearance. ^[7][8][9]
• 2014 - Misbahuddin Ahmed of Ottawa, arrested August 2010, convicted July 2014 of knowingly facilitating a terrorist activity and participation in the activities of a terrorist group. ^[10][11]

• April 2004 - A Canadian of Lebanese descent firebombs the library of the United Talmud Torahs Montreal Jewish school.

• October 14, 1982 - The anarchist group the Squamish Five, who were Canadian version of Direct Action, bombs a Litton Industries factory north of Toronto, Ontario that is manufacturing guidance devices for American cruise missiles, ten are injured.

• October 2008 to July 2009 - Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Six natural gas pipelines owned by Encana Corp. were bombed after letters were sent to a local newspaper opposing the gas industry.^[12]

• January 29, 1965 - Two U.S. jets (F-84s) being overhauled by Northwest Industries in Edmonton, Alberta were destroyed and a third damaged when a left-wing group protesting the Vietnam War dynamited the planes; a security guard was killed during the incident.^[13] See also Edmonton aircraft bombing.
• May 18, 1966 - Paul Joseph Chartier's attempt to bomb the House of Commons fails when the device goes off prematurely in a Centre Block washroom.
• April 20, 1995 - Roger Charles Bell places a bomb outside Province House, the Prince Edward Island legislature, injuring one.

• List of conflicts in Canada
• Crime in Canada
• Law enforcement in Canada
• Terrorism in the United States

• Hamilton, D. et al. (2006). Inside Canadian Intelligence: Exposing the New Realities of Espionage and International Terrorism. Dundurn Press. ISBN 1-55002-608-9
• Roach, Kent (2003). September 11: consequences for Canada. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2584-X.
• Ross, J.I. (1995). “The Rise and Fall of Quebecois Separatist Terrorism: A Qualitative Application of Factors from two Models,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Vol. 18, No. 4, July, pp. 285-297.
• Ross, J.I. (1994). “Low-Intensity Conflict in the Peaceable Kingdom: The Attributes of International Terrorism in Canada, 1960-1990,” Conflict Quarterly, Vol. 14, No. 3, Summer, pp. 36-62.
• Ross, J.I. (1992). “Attacking Terrorist Attacks: Initial Tests of the Contagion Between Domestic and International Terrorism in Canada,” Low Intensity Violence and Law Enforcement, Vol. 1, No. 2, Autumn, pp. 163-183.
• Ross, J. I. (1988). “Attributes of Domestic Political Terrorism in Canada, 1960-1985,” Terrorism: An International Journal, Vol. 11, No. 3, Fall, pp. 213-233.
• Ross, J. I. (1988). “An Events Data Base on Political Terrorism in Canada: Some Conceptual and Methodological Problems,” Conflict Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 2, Spring, pp. 47-65.

• The Anti-terrorism Act - Department of Justice
• Terrorism - Canadian Encyclopedia

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