Interception and Interdiction

• Author: Craig Forcese
• Profession: Faculty of Law, Common Law. University of Ottawa
• Pages: 504-518

CHA PTER 13

INTERCEPTION AND

IN TER DIC TIO N

Surveillance and information sharing are merely means to a n end.

Maintenance of national security may depend on acting on this infor-

mation. As di scussed in Chapter 14, one response is to detain persons

constituting suff‌iciently grave s ecurity risks. A more modest reaction

involves intercepting and interd icting per sons w ith hostile or adverse

objectives, barring them from entering the country or havi ng access to

sensitive information or facil ities.

Interception and interdiction is systematized by screening indi-

viduals for security risks, thereby identifying, mi nimizing and ideal-

ly forest alling the securit y threat presented by these people. Broadly

speaking, security screening c an be divided into several categories: se-

curity asse ssments of government personnel in support of the Govern-

ment Securit y Policy; security screening of non-Canad ians to prevent

security ri sks from entering or remaining in Canada; and the list ing of

persons v iewed as constituting a secur ity ri sk for the purpose of con-

trolling their access to sensitive modes of tra nsportation. Ot her issues

include asse ssments of Can adians on national security grounds pr ior

to the issuance of passports. This chapter ex amines laws governing

these screening proce sses.

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