Terrorism in Canada

thumb|The aircraft involved in the bombing of [[Air India Flight 182, which killed 329 people. The incident was the deadliest terrorist attack in Canadian history.|307x307px]]

Terrorism and mass attacks in Canada includes acts of terrorism, as well as mass shootings, vehicle-ramming attacks, mass stabbings, and other such acts committed in Canada that people may associate with terroristic tactics but have not been classified as terrorism by the Canadian legal system. (For example, the 2018 Toronto shooting was a mass shooting that law enforcement officials did not connect to terrorism.)

The Criminal Code of Canada defines terrorist activity to include an "act or omission undertaken, in or outside Canada, for a political, religious or ideological purpose, that is intended to intimidate the public with regard to its security, including its economic security, or to compel a person, government or organization (whether in or outside Canada) to do or refrain from doing any act, and that intentionally causes one of a number of specific forms of serious harm." Two other ministers with particularly crucial roles with respect to counter-terrorism are the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and of National Defence.

The Canadian government uses the National Terrorism Threat Level (NTTL) to identify the probability of terrorism occurring in Canada. , Canada's current threat level is "Medium," which means that a "violent act of terrorism could occur;" it has been at this level since October 2014.

Overview of legal framework and response

Overall issues of national security fall under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, who heads Public Safety Canada (PSC). The Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC), under the Attorney General of Canada, prosecutes offenses on behalf of the Canadian government, including those involving national security such as terrorist activities.

The Criminal Code defines terrorist activity to include an "act or omission undertaken, in or outside Canada, for a political, religious or ideological purpose, that is intended to intimidate the public with regard to its security, including its economic security, or to compel a person, government or organization (whether in or outside Canada) to do or refrain from doing any act, and that intentionally causes one of a number of specific forms of serious harm." The Act specifically provides that "for the Governor in Council to establish by regulation a list on which, on the recommendation of the Minister of Public Safety, any entity may be placed." Similar to the JVTA, amendments made to the State Immunity Act, allow for countries listed by the federal government as state supporters of terrorism to be sued in Canadian courts for loss or damage resulting from its involvement in terrorism anywhere in the world.

From 1 December 2011 to 31 July 2012, families of the passengers and crew who died on Air India Flight 182 on 23 June 1985 have been offered a one-time ex gratia payment by Canadian government, as "a demonstration of solicitude and recognition for the administrative disdain families experienced in the years following" the tragedy. Payments have been made to eligible applicants for 275 victims. Moreover, every June 23, some Canadians observe National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism to honour the victims.

Emergency response

In terms of emergency response, leadership of the Minister of Public Safety is granted by the Emergency Management Act. The chief means through which the Public Safety Minister facilitates their emergency response is through the Government Operations Centre (GOC). The GOC, on behalf of the federal government, supports response coordination across the government and others. Project Thread was a police operation in 2003 that resulted in the arrest of 24 immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area amidst allegations that they formed a threat to national security, and maintained "suspected ties to al-Qaeda."

Counter-terrorism in Canada

Matters relevant to overall counter-terrorism in Canada, as well as national security within the federal government, fall under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, who heads Public Safety Canada (PSC). "Building Resilience Against Terrorism" (2013)

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (part of Public Safety Canada) — the primary agency responsible for national security law enforcement across Canada. The RCMP also conducts extraterritorial investigations of terrorist activity when committed against a Canadian citizen or by a Canadian citizen abroad. Among other things, the RCMP also operates:
Counter-terrorism Information Officer initiative — provides first responders with "terrorism awareness training on key indicators of terrorist activities, techniques and practices in order to help detect threats at the earliest stage possible."
Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams (INSETs)
National Operations Centre — a secure and integrated 24/7 command and control centre for centralized monitoring and coordination during "critical incidents and major events"
Government Operations Centre (part of Public Safety Canada) — the chief means through which the Minister of Public Safety facilitates their emergency response. On behalf of the federal government, the Centre supports response coordination across the government and others.

In terms of broader counterterrorism intelligence, other federal organizations also collect information in support of their primary responsibilities; this includes:

The security of transportation systems are primarily facilitated by Transport Canada, which is the lead department for responding to transportation security incidents and for transportation-related emergency preparedness. This includes the security of aviation, marine, rail, road, and intermodal transportation security systems. Transport Canada's responsibilities are granted through several key federal statutes, such as the Aeronautics Act, the Marine Transportation Security Act, the Railway Safety Act, the International Bridges and Tunnels Act and the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act.

The Canadian government also engages in the Global Coalition against Daesh, a partnership of 79 countries that works towards defeating Daesh through such activities as preventing the flow of foreign terrorist fighters across borders and countering the group's communications. These include Al Qaeda, the Armed Islamic Group, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the International Sikh Youth Federation, the Palestinian Liberation Front, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Kahane Chai, and the Taliban. In 2019, Combat 18 and Blood & Honour were the first neo-Nazi groups in Canada to be banned by the government.

In April 2006, the Canadian government designated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as a terrorist group. In December that year, the government expanded the federal ban of Hezbollah from the purely militant wing to all 16 sub-organizations.

In 2026, Canadian Security Intelligence Service declared Khalistani extremists a national security threat, highlighting that the group uses institutions to promote its "violent extremist agenda" in the country. The agency, in its 2025 Public Report, had stated that the involvement of Canada-based Khalistani extremist (CBKE) in violent activities "continues to pose a national security threat to Canada and to Canadian interests."

Research on extremism in Canada

The Kanishka Project was a  million, five-year initiative of Public Safety Canada that provided funding to research on terrorism-related matters affecting Canada.

Announced by the Government of Canada in June 2011, the Project was named after the Boeing 747-237B (Emperor Kanishka) plane that was bombed in the Air India Flight 182 attack of 1985.

The Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society (TSAS), located at the University of Waterloo, is an academic research network purposed to form "multidisciplinary research on terrorist radicalization" and "the coordinated interaction of academic researchers with government officials." It was created in 2012 with funding both the Kanishka Project and a grant from the SSHRC. TSAS' co-directors are Lorne Dawson and Veronica Kitchen. The Centre was mandated in 2015; the federal budget the following year allocated $35 million over five years to establish and support the Centre, in addition to $10 million per year on-going. As of 2019‑2020 onward, the Fund has been promised $7 million available each year for existing and new projects. Through CRF, the Canada Centre has supported the Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence, located in Montréal, in conducting research on "better understanding risk and protective factors within families of individuals who radicalize to violence and also the role families and communities can play in mitigating radicalization to violence." Also through the Fund, the Canada Centre has supported "multi-agency intervention programs to build capacity to manage cases of individuals who are radicalizing to violence."

Furthering Our Communities by Uniting Services (FOCUS) Toronto — a program led by the Toronto Police Service, City of Toronto, and United Way Toronto and York Region, which is "building capacity to add radicalization to violence to the range of issues" that it addresses.
Ottawa Multiagency Early Risk Intervention Tables (MERIT) — a collaborative intervention program supported by the Ottawa Police Service, local agencies, and service partners that is "building capacity to address cases of individuals radicalizing to violence," in addition to its existing capabilities.
Edmonton Resiliency Project — a "collaborative approach" delivered by the Edmonton Police Service, City of Edmonton, and Organization for the Prevention of Violence "to prevention and intervention that draws on trusted community and organizational relationships to prevent violent extremism."
Calgary Re-Direct — a partnership between the City of Calgary, Community and Neighbourhood Services, the Calgary Police Service, and others that "uses a multidisciplinary approach to intervention with youth and young adults who are vulnerable to radicalization to violence."
Social Polarizations — a team of mental-health professionals who specialize in interventions to counter radicalization to violence, based in a local Integrated Health and Social Services Centre in Quebec.
Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence (CPRLV; often called the Montreal Centre)
John Howard Society of Ottawa

List of international threats and attacks

{| class="wikitable"

!Date

!Location

!Details

!Alleged motive

!Type

|April 17, 1840

|Queenston, ON

|Benjamin Lett, an Anglo-Irish-Canadian filibusterer, bombs the Brock's Monument, which honoured British general Sir Isaac Brock. The explosion did serious and irreparable damage to the monument although it failed to bring it down.

|Opposition to British rule in Canada

|Bombing

|October 1864

|Montreal, QC

|Historians have discussed the potential for a conspiracy to have partially formed when agents of the Confederate Secret Service hosted a visit to Montreal by John Wilkes Booth, the future assassin of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. After police shot Booth in 1865, they found a money order for $184,000 drawn from the Montreal Branch of the Ontario Bank.

|Anti-Lincoln

|Assassination conspiracy

|April 7, 1868

|Ottawa, ON

|Thomas D'Arcy McGee, one of the Fathers of Confederation, is assassinated by an alleged Irish nationalist or Fenian rebel sympathizer named Patrick J. Whelan.

|Irish nationalism

|Assassination

|November 25, 1965

|Toronto, ON

|Croatian nationalists bomb the Yugoslav consulate at 377 Spadina Road in Toronto. The blast "destroyed the door, door jamb, cement threshold, and foyer ceiling, and heavily damaged a vestibule and anteroom;" it blew out the door and windows, and collapsed part of the first floor ceiling. No people were killed.

|Anti-Tito (Croatian nationalism)

|Bombing

|September 22, 1966

|Ottawa, ON

|A bazooka attack on the Cuban embassy in Ottawa is made.

|Anti-Castro (Cuban nationalism)

|Bazooka

|October 5, 1966

|Ottawa, ON

|Anti-Castro forces bomb the offices of the Cuban trade delegation in Ottawa.

|Anti-Castro

|Bombing

|January 29, 1967

|Ottawa and Toronto, ON

|The Yugoslav embassy in Ottawa and the consulate in Toronto are among 6 Yugoslav offices in North America attacked as part of a synchronized bombing, on the eve of the anniversary of the adoption of Yugoslavia’s constitution. (The other bombs went off in the embassy of Washington, D.C., and the consulates in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco.) The explosion destroyed windows in 15 houses, 35 apartments, and 6 nearby stores. No people were killed.

|Anti-popery

|Bombing

|March 12, 1985

|Ottawa, ON

|1985 Turkish embassy attack in Ottawa: a group belonging to the Armenian Revolutionary Army seize the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Ottawa, killing a Canadian security guard.

|Pro-Lebanon

|Vehicular hijacking

|November 18, 1998

|Surrey, BC

|Indo-Canadian Times editor Tara Singh Hayer is shot to death.

|Khalistani

|Assassination

|2004

|United Kingdom

|Police arrest Ottawa-native Momin Khawaja, who worked with British Islamists on a plot to detonate bombs in the United Kingdom. Khawaja was convicted in 2008 under Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act. Harjit Singh Laddi, allegedly linked to Babbar Khalsa, claimed responsibility, citing anger over Sharma's alleged remarks as the motive.

|Khalistani

|Shooting

List of domestic threats and attacks

{| class="wikitable"

!Date

!Location

!Details

!Alleged motive

!Type

|1920s

|Arson and bombing by Freedomites (svobodniki, Russian: "sovereign people") of Community Doukhobor buildings and schools to protest materialism, and government pressure to school svobodnik children

|Anti-materialism

|Bombings and arson

|October 29, 1924

|British Columbia

|Peter Verigin (65) is killed in a still-unsolved train explosion between Castlegar and Grand Forks. Eight others killed included member of the provincial legislature John McKie.

|Anti-materialism

|Bombing

|1960s

|British Columbia

|Arson and bombings by SOF (Sons of Freedom), mostly conducted in the nude, took place throughout the 1960s:

August 25, 1960 — A section of a Canadian Pacific Railway track near Thrums, BC, is bombed. Pieces of the timing device (including a watch) were found at the scene by police. Three members of SOF (Sons of Freedom) were convicted for the incident and received jail terms ranging from 6 to 12 years.
1961 — a railway bridge in Nelson, BC is bombed.

|Anti-materialism

|Bombing and arson

|1963-1970

|Montreal, QC, and Ottawa, ON

|Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), a separatist group, begins a bombing campaign at the average rate of one every ten days, detonating over 950 bombs in total and culminating in the 1970 October Crisis. Targets included English owned businesses, banks, McGill University, and the homes of prominent English speakers.

April 21, 1963 — FLQ bombing of the Canadian Army Recruiting Centre in Montreal, killing Sgt. Wilfred V. O'Neil.
late 1960s — FLQ places a bomb in a mailbox next to the Canadian Tire store on Wellington Street in Ottawa.
February 13, 1969– Montreal Stock Exchange bombing: FLQ sets off a powerful bomb that rips through the Montreal Stock Exchange causing massive destruction and seriously injuring 27 people.
February 22, 1969 — FLQ terrorist bomb explodes at Liberal Party social club in Montreal, injuring two people.
June 24, 1970 — FLQ places a bomb in a window well of the National Defence Headquarters on Lisgar Street in Ottawa. The explosion killed a cleaning lady.

|Quebec nationalism

|Bombing campaign

|January 29, 1965

|Edmonton, AB

|Edmonton aircraft bombing: Two U.S. jets (F-84s) being overhauled by Northwest Industries in Edmonton are destroyed and a third damaged when a left-wing group protesting the Vietnam War dynamites the planes; a security guard is killed during the incident.

|Anti-Vietnam War

|Bombing

|July 8, 1965

|Vancouver, BC (origin)

|Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 21 bombing: A bomb destroys a commercial Douglas DC-6B airliner flying from Vancouver to Whitehorse, killing all 52 people on board. The case remains unsolved.

|Unknown

|Bombing

|May 18, 1966

|Ottawa, ON

|Paul Joseph Chartier's attempt to bomb the House of Commons fails when the device goes off prematurely in a Centre Block washroom, killing Chartier.

|anti-Canadian government

|Bombing

|October 5, 1970

|Montreal, QC

|British diplomat James Cross and (on October 10) Quebec Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte are kidnapped by the FLQ in Montreal. (Laporte's dead body was discovered in the trunk of a car in Montreal on October 17, and the murderers were arrested on December 26; Cross was released on December 3.)

|Quebec nationalism

|Kidnapping & assassination

|October 14, 1982

|Ontario

|The anarchist group Squamish Five bombs a Litton Industries factory north of Toronto, that is manufacturing guidance devices for American cruise missiles, injuring ten.

|Anarchism

|Bombing

|1983

|Toronto, ON

|Activist Henry Morgentaler was attacked by a man wielding garden shears; the attack was blocked by feminist activist Judy Rebick, who was standing nearby.

|Anti-abortion

|Stabbing attempt

|May 8, 1984

|Quebec City, QC

|Soldier Denis Lortie, a federalist, entered the National Assembly of Quebec with the intent of killing René Lévesque and the deputies of the Parti Québécois. By chance, he came in too early, so fails to kill any deputies; though, he kills 3 other people and wounds 13. Unarmed employee René Jalbert negotiated with Lortie for several hours and convinced him to give up his gun and be arrested. Jalbert was decorated the next week.

|Anti-Quebec nationalism

|Mass shooting and assassination attempt

|June 23, 1985

|Montreal, QC (origin) and Tokyo, Japan

|Two attacks carried out by Sikh extremists living in British Columbia:

|Anti-abortion

|Bombing

|November 8, 1994

|Vancouver, BC

|Dr. Garson Romalis is shot in the leg.

|Anti-abortion

|Shooting

|April 20, 1995

|Charlottetown, PEI

|Roger Charles Bell (alias Loki 7), a high-school teacher, places a bomb outside Province House at the Prince Edward Island legislature, injuring one. The explosion occurred several minutes after a class of school children passed through the area, and one day after the Oklahoma City bombing attack in the United States.

The 1995 attack was part of a string of bombings by Bell, which began in 1988 with a pipe bomb denoting in a flower bed outside the Provincial Court in Charlottetown; followed by a garbage can explosion in Halifax's Point Pleasant Park in 1994; ending in 1996 with undetonated explosives that were planted at a Charlottetown propane station.

|"revenge at society"

|Bombing

|November 10, 1995

|Ancaster, ON

|Dr. Hugh Short is shot in the elbow.

|Anti-abortion

|Stabbing

|September 20, 2000

|Montreal, QC

|The Brigade d'autodéfense du français bombs the St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church in Montreal where an English fundraiser was to be held.

|Quebec nationalism

|Bombing

|2001

|Montreal, QC

|Second Cup firebombing: The FLQ/Brigade d'autodéfense du français firebombs three Second Cup locations in Montreal. They were targeted because of the company's use of its incorporated English name "Second Cup". Rhéal Mathieu, a previously convicted FLQ terrorist, was convicted for all three bombings. Seven McDonald's restaurants were also firebombed.

|Quebec nationalism

|Bombing

|2006

|Ottawa, ON

|2006 Ontario terrorism plot: Canadian counter-terrorism forces arrest 18 terrorists (dubbed the "Toronto 18") inspired by al-Qaeda. They are accused of planning to detonate truck bombs; to open fire in a crowded area; and to storm the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, the Canadian Parliament building, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) headquarters, and the parliamentary Peace Tower, to take hostages and to behead the Prime Minister and other leaders.

|Islamic extremism

|Bombing / shooting / assassination conspiracy

|October 2008 to July 2009

|Dawson Creek, BC

|2008–09 British Columbia pipeline bombings: six natural gas pipelines owned by EnCana Corp. in Dawson Creek, were bombed after letters were sent to a local newspaper opposing the gas industry.

|Environmentalism

|Bombing

|August 2010

|Ottawa, ON

|Misbahuddin Ahmed, a former hospital technician, is arrested (later convicted in July 2014) of conspiring to knowingly facilitate a terrorist activity, of participation in the activities of a terrorist group, and of possession of explosives with intent to do harm.

|Islamic extremism

|Conspiracy

|September 4, 2012

|Montreal, QC

|2012 Montreal shooting: The night of the Quebec provincial elections, Richard Bain, an anglophone Quebecer, attempted to assassinate Parti Québécois leader and Premier elect Pauline Marois at a victory gathering in Montreal. He also set fire to the Métropolis concert hall where the event was being held. A man was killed and another was injured in the terrorist act. It is said that Bain's ultimate goal was to kill Marois following the Parti Québécois victory. Bain was arrested shortly after the attack. On August 23, 2016, Bain was found guilty of second-degree murder, and on November 18, was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 20 years.

|Anti-Quebec nationalism

|Shooting

|2013

|Toronto, ON

|2013 Via Rail Canada terrorism plot: Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser of Montreal and Toronto, respectively, are charged as part of an alleged Al-Qaeda plot to derail a Toronto-bound train from New York on the Canadian side of the border. Canadian Muslims helped to foil the alleged plot. The suspects said they were arrested based on their appearance.

|Islamic extremism (allegiance to Al-Qaeda)

|Bombing conspiracy

|June 4, 2014

|Moncton, NB

|Moncton shootings: Justin Bourque, a 24-year-old, shot five officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), killing three and severely injuring two. Bourque admittedly planned to kill as many officers as he could, in an attempt to start a rebellion against what he considers an oppressive, corrupt government that he insists is suppressing the freedom of most Canadians and serving only the rich.

|Islamic extremism

|Vehicle-ramming

|October 22, 2014

|Ottawa, ON

|2014 shootings at Parliament Hill: Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, a convert to Islam, fatally shoots Corporal Nathan Cirillo, a Canadian soldier on ceremonial sentry duty at the National War Memorial, and then forced his way into Canada's parliament building, where he has a shootout with parliament security personnel. He is shot 31 times and dies at the scene. Zehaf-Bibeau made a video prior to the attack in which he expressed his motives as being related "to Canada's foreign policy and in respect of his religious beliefs."

|Islamic extremism and anti-Canadian foreign policy

|Shooting

|August 10, 2016

|Strathroy, ON

|Aaron Driver is killed in a confrontation with police after detonating an explosive in the back seat of a taxi. The confrontation followed a tip from the FBI that Driver had made a "martyrdom video" and was planning an attack on an urban area.

|Islamic extremism (allegiance to ISIS)

|Bombing (failed)

|January 29, 2017

|Quebec City, QC

|Quebec City mosque shooting: During evening prayer at the Islamic Cultural Centre mosque in Quebec City, one gunman enters and opens fire on Muslim worshipers, killing 6 people and injuring 19 (5 critically). The gunman called police from a second location about 20 minutes after the shooting and was arrested by Quebec police without incident. The gunman, Alexandre Bissonnette from Quebec City, was inspired by extreme right-wing views on Muslims, refugees, and feminists, which he shared online and at Laval University. He was also a supporter of Rassemblement National leader Marine Le Pen of France and U.S. President Donald Trump.

|Islamophobia

|Shooting

|September 30, 2017

|Edmonton, AB

|2017 Edmonton attack: 30-year-old Abdulahi Sharif drives into Edmonton police constable Mike Chernyk, then stabs him near Commonwealth Stadium, fleeing and later hitting four pedestrians with a rental truck during a police pursuit. Police have investigated the incident as an act of terrorism and confirmed the presence of an ISIS flag in the van that struck the police officer. Sharif was confirmed by RCMP assistant commissioner Marlin Degrand as a Somali national known to the RCMP and Edmonton Police as having past displayed signs of extremism.

|Islamic extremism (allegiance to ISIS)

|Vehicle-ramming and stabbing

|April 23, 2018

|Toronto, ON

|Toronto van attack: After 25-year-old Alek Minassian's van attack in Toronto, a Facebook post was uncovered which tied him to predominantly male online communities wherein terminology such as "Incel Rebellion", "Beta Uprising," and "Beta Male Uprising" is used, referring to a violent response to sexlessness. Minassian was reported to have self-identified as an incel, an abbreviation of involuntary celibacy, which describes the state of being unable to find a romantic or sexual relationship despite desiring one.

|Misogynist terrorism / incel extremism

|Vehicle-ramming

|July 22, 2018

|Toronto, ON

|2018 Toronto shooting: Faisal Hussain killed 2 and injured 13 on Toronto's Danforth Avenue. Authorities were unable to determine a motive despite a year long investigation. Hussain was alleged to have been inspired by Elliot Rodger (part of the incel movement). Daesh claimed responsibility but law enforcement rejected this claim.

|Islamic extremism (allegiance to ISIS)

|Hammer attack

|February 24, 2020

|Toronto, ON

|2020 Toronto machete attack: A 17-year-old boy stabs a female spa worker to death, attempts to kill her coworker, and injures another at a sensual massage parlour in Toronto. On May 19, the Toronto Police Service said the attack was attributed to the incel ideology and was being considered an act of terrorism.

|Misogynist terrorism / incel extremism

|Stabbing

|June 6, 2021

|London, ON

|London, Ontario truck attack: A man uses a pickup truck to run down a family of five, killing four and seriously injuring the fifth. The family was targeted because they were visibly Muslim.

|Islamophobia

|Vehicle-ramming

|April 1, 2023

|Surrey, BC

|A man was stabbed and wounded in the throat on a bus in Surrey by an Islamic State sympathizer.

|Islamic extremism

|Stabbing attack

|April 26, 2025

|Vancouver, BC

|2025 Vancouver car attack: A Vancouver resident named Kai-Ji Adam Lo drives his car straight into a crowd at the Lapu-Lapu Day street festival and kills 11 attendees.

|Under investigation

|Vehicle-ramming

|July 9, 2025

|Quebec City, QC

|Two Canadian Armed Forces members and two others with military ties were arrested and charged for allegedly attempting to forcibly take possession of land and start an anti-government community north of Quebec City. Three of them were charged with facilitating terrorist activity, including a man that allegedly expressed a desire for a Waco siege-style massacre.

|Anti-government

|Attempted massacre, stealing land

|November 4, 2025

|Greater Toronto Area, Toronto, ON

|A youth was charged with participating in the activities of a terrorist group by the editing and public posting of ISIS propaganda videos and inviting a person to provide property, i.e., firearms, intending that they be used, in whole or in part, for the purpose of facilitating or carrying out a terrorist activity. The accused cannot be identified under the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Very little about the investigation was shared publicly.

|Islamic extremism

|Attempted attack

Suspected terrorism

March 5, 2015 — While new anti-terrorism law was under consideration and months before federal election, four Conservative Party Members of Parliament (Denis Lebel, Steven Blaney, Christian Paradis and Maxime Bernier) in Quebec received letters with white powder (Anthrax hoaxes) and message "Conservateurs, vous serez anéantis," which translates to "Conservatives, you will be annihilated" at their constituency offices.
On March 10, 2026 - a shooting occurred at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto, with two suspect firing at the building before fleeing in white Honda CR-V. The incident caused damage but no injuries, since the consulate is heavily fortified. Authorities are investigating the shooting as a national security incident, with connection to ongoing geopolitical tension under consideration. Canadian and U.S. officials are collaborating on the investigation, with increased security around diplomatic mission in response.

Terrorism abroad

Canadian victims of non-Canada-related extremism abroad include:

September 11, 2001– 9/11 attacks (USA): United Airlines Flight 175 and American Airlines Flight 11 were purposefully crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, killing 2,977 people, including Garnet Bailey (53), a Canadian professional ice hockey player and scout who was a member of Stanley Cup and Memorial Cup winning teams.
August 19, 2003– Canal Hotel bombing (Iraq): A suicide truck bombing in Baghdad supposedly carried out by Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad killed 22 people, including two Canadians—Christopher Klein-Beekman (31), a UNICEF representative, and Gillian Clark (47), an aid worker for the Christian Children's Fund (CCF).
January 15, 2006– Killing of Glyn Berry (Afghanistan): A car bomb attack in Afghanistan killed Glyn Berry, the first Canadian diplomat to be killed while on duty in Afghanistan. Two other civilians were killed in the incident and 10 people were wounded, including three Canadian soldiers, MCpl. Paul Franklin, Pte. William Edward Salikin and Cpl. Jeffrey Bailey.
September 2013– Westgate shopping mall attack (Nairobi, Kenya): An attack carried out by Al-Shabaab killed 68 people, including two Canadians—a businessman and a Government of Canada official.

Extremists with Canadian connections abroad

The Combating Terrorism Act, which came into force in July 2013, was put in place with the intent to prevent and deter individuals from leaving Canada for particular terrorism-related purposes. In 2018, the Canadian government states that there has not been an increase, nor does it expect an increase, in the number of Canadian Extremist Travellers (CETs) who have returned to Canada. The total number of CETs identified by the government includes around 190 individuals who have a nexus to Canada, and near 60 who have returned.