Ottawa: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has termed ‘Islamic extremism’ dangerous for world.
While giving an interview to American TV CBC on Thursday night, Harper said Canadians are safer today than a decade ago.
“Prior to 9/11, I don’t think Canadians, Americans, most people were aware of the range of terrorism threats against us,” he said.
Harper will travel to New York City this weekend to commemorate the 9/11, anniversary.
Harper in a press release issued on Friday stated, “On this day, we will pay tribute to Canadians, Americans and all those who lost their lives nearly 10-year ago in these heinous attacks.”
“As we pay tribute to the victims and their loved ones, we also honour members of the military, law enforcement and intelligence personnel who continue to fight on the front lines against all forms of terrorism.”
Harper will fly to New York on Saturday to attend a private reception for Canadian families who lost their loved ones in the terrorist attack a decade ago.
Security in New York is expected to be tight throughout the weekend, particularly in the wake of reports by US government officials of “credible” but unconfirmed plans by terrorists to strike in that city and in Washington.
“It’s accurate that there is specific, credible but unconfirmed threat information,” Homeland Security spokesman Matthew Chandler said in a statement.
Canada experienced its most serious terrorist incident in 1985 in the Air India bombing, insufficient attention was being paid to terrorism in 2001, he added.
“It was an enormous threat, and a lot of things could have happened because the focus that should have been there was not. Today, we are much more focused on it. We are much more concerned about it. We’re much more able to detect and thwart terrorism than before.”
Still, the Harper said it’s clear that Canada has been a “target” of terrorists who “hate people like us.”
“I don’t think the threats have gone away,” said the prime minister. “The world’s still a very dangerous place . . . and a lot of those things, because of the age in which we live, become direct threats to us.
“The truth of the matter is there’s so many different possibilities, manifestations of terrorism. I think it is a case that we will have to be perpetually vigilant and we’ll have to have appropriate security apparatus . . . that is trying to identify plots or terror events before they happen. And I just think that’s going to be an ongoing reality.”
In Ottawa on Sunday, associate defence minister Julian Fantino will also attend an event on Parliament Hill and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird will attend an orchestral performance at the National Arts Centre. The hour-long memorial concert will take place at 8:46 a.m. — when the first plane hit the World Trade Centre.
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