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E After the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the Canadian government, like others, ratcheted up its laws to try to avoid a repeat of those tragic events. After 10 years, it's fairly obvious that some legislation and other measures have worked but others need to be overhauled or put to rest. By Janice Tibbets Kent Roach thinks of it as the age of innocence, those emotional early months following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., when Canadians were vigorously debating new anti-terrorism laws. Parliament, the legal community, and other stakeholders were consumed with how to craft legislation that would properly balance national security, privacy, and human rights. That was long before most Canadians had ever heard of Maher Arar or Omar Khadr. No-fly lists, security certificates, and electronic surveillance were barely on the national radar. The federal public safety department, now one of the most high-profile federal ministries, didn't exist. Canada had not yet deployed the 37,000 soldiers who would serve in Afghanistan over the following decade, 157 of whom lost their lives. Roach, one of the country's most noted legal academics on national security issues, says Canadians had no idea at the time of the relatively little impact the Anti-terrorism Act would have on the legal, political, and human rights landscape in the coming decade, compared to what would happen behind the scenes. "I reflect on the Anti-terrorism Act debate 10 years ago as a form of innocence," says Roach, a University of Toronto law professor and author of the newly published The 9/11 Effect: Comparative Counter- Terrorism. "With the wisdom of a decade's experience, we now know there is a lot of counter-terrorism that goes on outside the confines of the ATA." "From my point of view," adds Toronto lawyer Lorne Waldman, "the things we have to be more worried about are the things we don't know about." As the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 approaches, there is a growing feeling in the legal community that it is time to reflect on Canada's response over the last decade. Several lawyers and academics who have paid attention say the debate should not be about examining whether Canada is safer — by most accounts it is — but to determine which w w w . CANADIAN Lawyermag.com SEPTEMBER 2011 25