Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said that a bill on foreign aid will not include a blanket exemption to terrorism laws for humanitarian workers in areas such as Afghanistan.
“Our government considered all possible remedies, including the possibility of a humanitarian exemption to the existing law. However, a statutory carve-out would not provide in our submission the same security checks and balances and would risk greater abuse of the permission,” Mendicino told the House justice committee on Monday.
“The approach outlined in Bill C-41 best mitigates those risks by potential terrorist groups.”
“Bill C-41: An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make consequential amendments to other Acts” would allow Canadian aid workers to carry out their duties in areas controlled by terrorists without being prosecuted for inadvertently funding the groups. Canada’s Criminal Code does not currently include any exemptions to facilitate the delivery of these duties in these areas….