Canada’s terror risk lowest among major Western countries: study

By Ian MacLeod
OTTAWA — Canada has the lowest risk of terrorism among major western economies, says a new global security report.
The 2011 Terrorism Risk Index, by the respected British risk analysis company Maplecroft, ranks Canada 86th out of 197 countries.
The United Kingdom placed 38th, the highest among major western nations, which Maplecroft attributes to deteriorating security conditions in Northern Ireland, with 25 reported terrorist attacks last year, none fatal.
Greece had the worst showing of any western nation, placing 27th with a “high risk” classification.
No major western economies, however, fell within the “high” or “extreme risk” risk bracket — the U.S. (ranked 61), Germany (62), France (45) and U.K. all remain in the “medium risk” category. China, meanwhile, ranked 39th.
The standings are based on the frequency and intensity of terrorist incidents between April 1, 2010 and March 31 this year and the history of terrorism in the country.
In Canada, the May 18, 2010, firebombing of an Ottawa Royal Bank branch elevated the ranking, as did a June 2010 arson and vandalism attack that damaged several businesses and vehicles in the lead-up to Toronto’s G20 summit.
Still, Maplecroft says Canada’s risk of terrorism remains “low,” dropping from 64th place in a previous index.
But the company cautions its ratings, “cannot say much about potential high-impact attacks in the future.”
Norway, for example, is ranked a “low risk” 112th, but that analysis predated the July 22 Oslo and Utoya Island attacks by right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik.
Maplecroft rates the fledgling state of South Sudan in the top five countries most at risk from terrorist attacks after Somalia, Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The “extreme risk” category also includes: Yemen (6), Palestinian Occupied Territories (7), DR Congo (8) Central African Republic (9), Colombia (10), Algeria (11), Thailand (12), Philippines (13), Russia (14), Sudan (15), Iran (16), Burundi (17), India (18), Nigeria (19) and Israel (20).
Maplecroft data also reveal terrorist attacks on the increase globally, up 15 per cent with 11,954 incidents over the period. However, there was a decrease in deaths, to 13,492 from 14,478.
While at low risk, Canada does have a modern history of terrorism, beginning in the early 1960s with the Sons of Freedom, which emerged from the otherwise pacifist Doukhobor sect in British Columbia. Over about four years, the group blew up railway tracks, hydro towers and other industrial and government targets in the province.
They were followed by the FLQ and the 1970 October Crisis; Direct Action, the tiny B.C. gang of self-styled anarchists best known for the 1982 bombing of the Litton Industries plant in Toronto; the 1982 assassination of Turkish military attache Col. Atilla Altikat, shot to death in his car in Ottawa; the 1985 attack on the Turkish Embassy in Ottawa by an Armenian-Canadian terror cell; and the 1985 bombing of Air India flight 182 that claimed 329 lives.
Maplecroft defines terrorism as, “calculated and purposeful use of violence employed to influence the attitudes and behaviour of people and governments.”
Its country assessments are based on data from the U.S. National Counter-terrorism Center’s Worldwide Incidents Tracking System.
Postmedia News
Source: National Post