How and why Bill S-215 was passed:

With Bill S-215 Canada is an example to the world as the first
country to explicitly include “Suicide Bombing” in our criminal
law to help prosecute organizers, teachers and sponsors!

Because suicide bombing is the major weapon of terrorists and is a term now in common parlance, CANASB had asked Parliament to pass Bill S-215. The Bill, explicitly defining “suicide bombing” as an act of terrorism in our Criminal Code, was approved by Parliament in December 2010.

When CANASB was established in 2004, no country had explicitly criminalized suicide bombing. Moreover many world leaders had never condemned suicide bombing and several said it was an acceptable means for a particular cause. We, therefore, asked Parliament to cover suicide bombing explicitly to ensure that anyone who organizes teaches or sponsors suicide bombing is criminally liable in Canada. In our view no matter the rights or wrongs of any conflict, suicide bombing against civilians can never be justified.

A private member’s Bill to achieve this objective was sponsored by Senator Jerry Grafstein who worked relentlessly to explain the need for the legislation. When he retired in January 2010 Senator Linda Frum in the Senate, and MP Kelly Block in the House of Commons, carried on with the Bill.

Distinguished Canadian criminal lawyers told the Senate Parliamentary Committee that explicitly covering suicide bombing is of symbolic and practical benefit and can help prosecute and punish the organizers, teachers and sponsors.

CANASB received encouragement from several members of the Conservative Cabinet and senior members of the Liberal Party. Contacts with the NDP and Bloq on our behalf aided in explaining our objective.

After a number of Parliamentary delays the Bill was passed unanimously in the House and Senate.

CANASB is a federal not-for-profit Corporation and our offices and directors are involved in inter-faith activities, public service and academic affairs. We helped generate Bill S-215 when former Prime Minister and Justice Minister Kim Campbell, then Secretary General of the Club de Madrid, advised us:
“It is this whole process that has to be denied legitimacy by holding all the participants culpable in law and opinion…We need to create a seamless web of legal liability around terrorist acts. What is perhaps not clearly established and could be done by your campaign is to extend EXPLICIT legal liability for terrorism committed by suicide bombers to ALL who have played a role in encouraging, assisting or rewarding the act”.

Canadians from across the country signed our on-line petition and our List of Prominent Canadians supporting the Bill includes five former Prime Ministers. This distinguished backing for a private member’s bill was unprecedented.

Our www.canasb.ca web site has information about our activities and shows the countries, beginning in Sri Lanka in the 1980’s, suffering from suicide bombing. Iraqi web sites in Muslim design around the world support the Bill and CANASB.

With Bill S-215, a made-in-Canada Initiative, the Parliament of Canada is now an example to the world.

Honourable Jerry Grafstein is a principal in the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in the Europe Parliamentary Assembly, the largest parliamentary association in the world, and will now ask his connections internationally and in the US Congress to consider similar legislation.