Publications
Publications
Research Briefs are short, engaging and accessibly written descriptions of the results of TSAS-funded research projects, focusing on top-level conclusions and policy relevance.Research Reports are longer, evidence-based, policy-relevant scholarly analyses on topics related to terrorism, security, and society, broadly defined, that touch on Canada, Canadian issues in comparative context, or global issues of interest to a Canadian audience.
Working Papers are scholarly analyses of various lengths that provide analysis based on TSAS-funded research projects. We are no longer accepting submissions for this series.
WORKING PAPER
“One-man war”: A History of Lone-actor Terrorism in Canada, 1868-2018
Using primary source material obtained through archives and other open sources, this working paper examines, through a series of qualitative case studies, nineteen lone-actor terrorist attacks that occurred in Canada across a 150-year period, specifically between 1868 and 2018. The next section addresses methodological issues, including in connection to definitions. That is followed by an…
RESEARCH BRIEF
AN EXAMINATION OF COMPETENCIES FOR AND THE EVALUATION OF CVE IN POLICING
Sara K. Thompson, Feras Ismail, (Detective-Sergeant, Peel Police)
with Matthew Murray, (University of Western Ontario), Lorna Ferguson, (University of Western Ontario).
Drawing on expert interviews (n=10), an environmental scan of current practices within one Canadian province (Ontario), and insights generated by a police-academic working group assembled for this project, this research documents: 1. the types of CVE activities police officers in Ontario are currently engaging in; 2. the state of police service performance assessment tools in…
RESEARCH BRIEF
TERRORISM AND THE TERRORIZED: How the ‘Terrorism’ Label is Informed and Applied to a Violent Attack in Canada
SUMMARY •The threat posed by al Qaeda, Daesh, and those inspired by their ideologies, has framed the way Canada has understood and labelled terrorism for almost twenty years, but the framework within which we compartmentalize and understand terrorists needs to adapt. •There is a fluidity to the “terrorism” label and an inherent inequality in its…
RESEARCH REPORT
No Country for a Returning Foreign Fighter? More Reasons for Repatriating Canadian IS Member in Custody
Jamil Ammar, Hussain Ali
What should the Canadian government do about returning extremist travellers who have been involved with the so-called Islamic State (IS)? Should the government develop a gender-informed response to deal with male and female members of IS? What are some of the major causes of radicalization leading some Canadians to join IS? What are the views…
RESEARCH REPORT
Preparing Professionals to Dialogue about Extremism and Radicalization: A look at the ERC programs at McGill University and University of Quebec in Montreal
Ratna Ghosh, Afrouz Tavakoli-Khou, Dilmurat Mahmut, Helal Hossain Dhali
Historically, extremist groups from religious and far-right organizations have been active across Canada. In the last few years, the situation in Quebec has been particularly alarming (Amarasingam and Tiflati 2015; Dwivedi 2017; Zine 2019). According to Ministere de la securite publique (2016), between 2013 and 2014, religious-based hate crimes against Jewish people, Muslims, and unspecified…
RESEARCH BRIEF
Domestic Jihadist Threat to Australia and Canada 2000-2020: An Overview
There is surprisingly little systematic and publicly available information on the nature, scale, and evolution of the Jihadist threat in Australia and Canada. Government responses to specific terrorist incidents and annual reports on the terrorist threat provide little insight into the perpetrators, their methods, and intended targets. More information is available in the media, but…
RESEARCH REPORT
‘IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER’: Recognizing the Breadth of Women’s Participation in Violent Political Organizations and Beyond.
The potential for political violence in women is still something that most contemporary societies are wary of openly acknowledging. It is, after all, easier to apprehend the relation between women and violence as a unidirectional one, that is to say, as something that is done to them. Even when a woman is at the origins…
WORKING PAPER
Tracking Transnational Terrorist Resourcing Nodes and Networks
Christian Leuprecht, Arthur Cockfield, Pam Simpson, Maseeh Haseeb
This study is the first comprehensive effort to collect, code, compare, and analyze all available open source data on transnational terrorist financing networks. It thus contributes to the ongoing optimization of anti-terrorist resourcing laws, policies, and risk-management practices. Initially the study operationalizes some key concepts, then goes on to review efforts to contain terrorist financing…
RESEARCH REPORT
Meanwhile in Canada: anti-Muslim ordinary racism and the banalization of far-right ideology
Aurélie Campana (Université Laval) et Samuel Tanner (Université de Montréal) This paper focuses on the public discourse of extra-parliamentary far right groups in Canada. It analyses how these groups shape discourses on Muslims and Islam in an attempt to influence public debates on core far right issues, such as immigration. It argues that more subtle…
RESEARCH BRIEF
TERRORISM HOAXES IN CANADA: Data and Trends
Empirical research on terrorism hoaxes is limited, because hoaxes are frequently excluded from large sample terrorism events database on the grounds that they do not directly yield casualties or property damage. Some data sources do include information on terrorism hoaxes, but they are limited by their scope of coverage (see Figure 1). International Terrorism: Attributes…