Minister of Public Safety David McGuinty speaks during a press conference in the foyer of the House of Commons in Ottawa, on Feb. 20.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
The federal government has added seven transnational criminal groups, including Mexican drug cartels, to Canada’s terrorist list in an effort to shut off their profits and curtail the production and distribution of illegal opioids, which has become a signature issue for U.S. President Donald Trump.
Mr. Trump has demanded that the flow of fentanyl and illegal immigrants into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico be stopped, despite evidence that the amount of the drug moving south over the Canadian border is minuscule. He held out the threat of imposing a 25-per-cent tariff on all Canadian and Mexican goods – with the exception of Canadian energy, which would face a levy of 10 per cent. The tariffs are on hold until at least early next month.
Five of the crime groups are based in Mexico, such as the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, and the other two are Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua and MS-13 in El Salvador.
Public Safety Minister David McGuinty said Thursday that listing them as terrorists under the Criminal Code will give the police additional legal powers to crack down on these drug cartels and violent street gangs.
“Transnational criminal organizations including cartels play a leading role in the production and distribution of fentanyl throughout Canada,” he told reporters.
Under terrorism laws, it is prohibited for anyone in Canada and every Canadian abroad to knowingly deal with the property of a terrorist group. It is also an offence to have any dealings, financial or otherwise, with a terrorist organization.
“We are going after the money,” Mr. McGuinty said. “To avoid criminal liability, banks and brokerages will freeze these entities’ assets.”
Washington has added eight Latin American crime groups to its list of foreign terrorist organizations, including the seven named by Canada.
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme told reporters that the listing will make it easier for law enforcement to tackle the cartels, including their Canadian operatives outside Canada.
“There is also strong evidence that Canadians have actually moved to Mexico and South America to facilitate the transportation of certain commodities into Canada,” he said.
The move will also help the police to go after smaller criminal organizations that feed into the larger cartels, he said. Commissioner Duheme said anyone co-operating with the cartels could be charged under the terrorism provisions of the Criminal Code.
Ottawa has moved rapidly to go after crime groups involved in the production and distribution of fentanyl, including spending $1.3-billion over six years to beef up the Canada-U.S. border.
Ottawa also named ex-RCMP deputy commissioner Kevin Brosseau, a former deputy national-security and intelligence adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as the country’s first fentanyl czar.
Those measures were largely in response to Mr. Trump’s border demands.
The additions to the Canadian terrorist list include: The Gulf Cartel (El Cártel del Golfo); The Michoacán Family (La Familia Michoacana); MS-13 (La Mara Salvatrucha); The United Cartels (Cárteles Unidos); TdA (Tren de Aragua); Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación) and Sinaloa Cartel (Cártel de Sinaloa).
“These listed entities are organized-crime groups that spread fear in local populations by using methods of extreme violence and are known for drug trafficking, human trafficking and trafficking in illegal guns,” Mr. McGuinty said.
Experts say it remains unclear whether drug cartels fit Canada’s legal definition of terrorism and what impact the designation would have in the policing of domestic drug trafficking.
“It is mainly symbolic,” said Kent Roach, a law professor at the University of Toronto, of the potential legal impact.
The federal cabinet does not require proof beyond a reasonable doubt, as the courts do, to list an organization as a terrorist group. He said the listings have generally not been relied on in previous prosecutions.
However, targeting cartel finances could be more successful. Prof. Roach said the new listings “may be somewhat more useful” under the provision of freezing property in the terrorism section of the Criminal Code.
The terrorism law, enacted in late 2001 after Sept. 11, defines terrorist activity in a range of ways, from the seizure of aircraft or taking hostages to, more generally, actions motivated by a “political, religious or ideological purpose, objective or cause.”
The seven crime groups will join a list of 79 currently listed entities. The most recent addition, in December, was Ansarallah, better known as the Houthis, described by Public Safety Canada as a militant group that claims to govern Yemen. Al-Qaeda is likely the best-known group, listed by Ottawa as the driver of global Islamic terrorism.
For an entity to be added to the terrorism list, the Criminal Code requires cabinet to have “reasonable grounds to believe” it has engaged in, whether successful or not, terrorist activity.
On Thursday, Mr. McGuinty said all seven groups “clearly meet” the threshold to be listed, based on evidence, intelligence and the law.
Leah West, a Carleton University professor who studies national-security law, said cabinet’s written justification will be key. She said cartels that threaten or kill human-rights advocates or politicians could fit the bill of terrorism.
“That violence I would argue is politically motivated,” said Prof. West.
Violence to advance illegal business interests would not be sufficient reason to list a group as terrorists, but Prof. West noted it is possible that transnational criminal organizations also engage in terrorist activities.
“If they do, that’s sufficient,” said Prof. West. “An organization doesn’t need terrorism as their raison d’être.”