Before last year’s Juno Awards, federal government terrorism analysts distributed a threat assessment report warning that, with its crowds and high-profile attendees, the event could be a target.
“Events such as the Juno Awards, and other public events … present attractive targets for terrorist groups,” read the report by the Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre and obtained by Global News.
Nothing happened but Sunday’s 2018 Junos in Vancouver were no doubt the subject of a similar report at a time when weighing the risks to large gatherings has become routine in Canada.
Following persistent incitement by the so-called Islamic State, and several deadly attacks in Canada, officials now produce threat assessment reports prior to any event that might possibly targeted.
Everything from Canada Day and the Toronto Pride Parade to Montreal’s 375th and 4th of July at the United States embassy in Ottawa were assessed by the government for possible terrorist threats last year, documents show.
Counter-terrorism officials are “defaulting” towards conducting threat assessments of events, even there is no specific threat and the chances of an attack are slim, said former intelligence analyst Phil Gurski.
“Part of it might be a liability issue,” said Gurski, a retired Canadian Security Intelligence Service officer.
“Like a Stanley Cup game. What are the chances? The chances are really small but people just don’t want to take that chance anymore,” Gurski said.
The trend towards assessing every occasion as a possible target may also reflect the unpredictable nature of terrorism today, when plots develop quickly and with little or no warning, making them harder to stop beforehand.
A gunman reportedly killed at least two people and wounded a dozen others near the French city of Toulouse on Friday. He reportedly pledged allegiance to ISIS and demanded the release of a suspect implicated in the November 2015 attack at an Eagles of Death Metal concert in Paris and other venues.
The report on the 2017 Junos, released under the Access to Information Act, said extremists inspired by violent ideologies promoted by groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda were Canada’s main terrorist threat.
It listed the Quebec mosque shooting, Aaron Driver’s attempted suicide bombing in Ontario, the knife attack at a Toronto military recruiting centre and the killings of soldiers in Ottawa and Quebec as “example of attacks and attack plotting in Canada.”
“DAESH elements are continuing attempts to inspire lone-actors to conduct attacks against Canada through targeted messaging and online propaganda,” the report said, using another term for ISIS.
Targets “often include open-area and special events,” it said, adding there was a trend towards using vehicles as weapons, since they are easy to obtain and can quickly cause mass casualties.
A Somali man, Abdulahi Hasan Sharif, allegedly struck a police officer with a car outside Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium last September before driving a rented truck at pedestrians. An ISIS flag was found in his car.
A Toronto woman armed with a knife, Rehab Dughmosh, was arrested last June after trying to attack employees at a Canadian Tire store. At her court appearance, she pledged allegiance to ISIS.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said in a recent speech that ISIS supporter Aaron Driver had intended to attack Toronto’s Union Station in August 2016. The plot was thwarted when police shot Driver dead. The RCMP later clarified that investigators “cannot establish without a doubt the intended target, but Union Station was among other potential sites.”
Gurski said the threat environment had not changed significantly since the report was written a year ago. “We’ve had two successful attacks since last year, both really minor in scope,” he said. “The threat level has not been raised.”
Canada’s terrorist threat level is “medium,” meaning an attack “could occur.”
Stewart.Bell@GlobalNews.ca
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