Scope

• Author: Craig Forcese/Leah West
• Pages: 3-22

3

CHA PTER 1

SCOPE

This is a book about the law governing the Canadian state’s response

to serious crise s; that is, events that jeopardi ze its “national securit y.”

“National security” is a term familiar to most people. A search of Can-

ada Newsstand — an electronic archive of stories drawn from Canadi an

newspapers — suggests that the words “national s ecurity” appeared

over 54,000 times in articles between 11 September 2001 and Janu-

ary 2020. During the (longer) period 1977 to 11 September 2001, the

phrase appeared roughly 22,00 0 times. This is not a scientif‌ic survey. It

does, however, point to the increased prominence of the concept.

And yet, despite its ubiquity, the expression “national secur ity”

does not lend itself to precise def‌in itions. As noted in a 2002 think-tank

report, “the term national s ecurity is used frequently to refer to matters

ranging from domestic or intern al security through to inter national

security, but is seldom def‌ined.”1 This par adox obliges a careful attempt

in this introduction to def‌ine the project of this book, before mapping

its content and providing a brief histor y of national security law in

Canada.

1 WD Macnam ara & Ann Fitz-Gera ld, “A National Se curity Framework for Can-

ada” (2002) 3(10) Policy Matters at 7.

NATIONAL SECUR ITY LAW4

A. TOWARDS A DEFINITION OF NATIONA L

SECUR IT Y

1) Popular Def‌initions

Over time, security experts have proposed assorted def‌initions of

national securit y. For insta nce, instructors at Canada’s National

Defence College def‌ined national security i n 1980 as: “the preserva-

tion of a way of life acceptable to the Canadian people and compatible

with the needs and legitimate aspirations of others.”2 National s ecur-

ity, these authorities asserted, “includes freedom from military attack

or coercion, freedom from internal subversion, and freedom from the

erosion of the political, economic, and social values wh ich are es sential

to the quality of life in Canada.”3 As should be evident, this meaning

wraps much of what governments exist to do within the blanket of

national securit y; a fact acknowledged even by those comfortable with

this def‌inition.4 Its breadth provides no assist ance in setting the ambit

of a book on Canadian nationa l security law.

The Canadian government oered more helpful guidance in its

only (publicly issued) national securit y policy, released in 2004. That

document described nat ional security as dealing “with threats that

have the potential to underm ine the security of the state or society.”5

The three specif‌ic thre ats the government sought to address were: f‌irst,

“protecting Canada and t he safety and security of Can adians at home

and abroad” (which included “protecting the physical security of Can-

adians, our values, and our key in stitutions”); second, “ensuri ng that

Canada is not a base for th reats to our allies”; and third, “contributing

to international security.”6

While this th reat-based description of national security i s narrower

than the Defence College version, it is still extremely general. Note

especially t he reference in the government’s def‌inition to the protec-

tion of “Canadian values” as a national security objective. Moreover,

2 Ibid at 8.

3 Ibid.

4 See, for example, Profes sor Douglas Bland, Chair, Defence M anagement Studies

Program, Sc hool of Policy Studies, Queen’s University i n evidence before the

Standing S enate Committee on Defence and Sec urity (29 October 2001) (indi-

cating th at “if a broad def‌inition of ‘nation al security’ is t aken, there is a danger

that there w ill be no obvious limits t o policy,” but then citin g with a measure of

approval the Nationa l Defence College def‌inition).

5 Canada, Securing an Ope n Society: Canada’s National Securit y Policy (2004) at 3.

6 Ibid at 5.