A bill that would amend the Criminal Code to specifically designate suicide bombing a terrorist act passed committee stage in the Senate last week and will advance to third reading.

The bill, introduced by Senator Jerry Grafstein, LEFT, received the unanimous
support of senators in the standing committee on legal and
constitutional affairs, said Reuben Bromstein, president of Canadians
Against Suicide Bombing, an advocacy group that supports Grafstein’s
bill.

Bromstein, who testified as a witness before the committee, said adoption of the bill will “help build and strengthen consensus in Canadian society on this issue, serve as a clear deterrent for those among us who might not be committed to this consensus and it offers an opportunity for Canada to take the lead in furthering international commitment to outlaw suicide bombing.”

Canada would be the first country to include a specific reference to suicide bombing in its criminal law, he said.

The bill also received support from Ed Morgan, a University of Toronto specialist in international law and former president of Canadian Jewish Congress; Patrick Monahan, dean of Osgoode Hall Law School; Leo Adler, a member of the International Association of Defence Attorneys and director of national affairs for the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, and Mark Sandler, a criminal law expert.

Bromstein said presentations by RCMP assistant commissioner Mike McDonell and William Trudell, chair of the Canadian Council of Criminal defence Lawyers, were factors in swaying senators who had not supported the bill in the past.

The Justice Department and some Conservative senators have opposed the bill, arguing suicide bombings are implicitly covered by the Criminal Code’s anti-terrorism section.

Third reading is expected to begin in the week of April 29.