Sources familiar with the proposal told CBC that the CSIS will receive certain legal tools to prevent extremism, including canceling travel reservations made by Canadian citizens suspected in fighting for extremist groups overseas, blocking financial transactions connected with terrorist activity, and intercepting suspicious shipments.
Under existing laws, the CSIS must first get permission from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to perform any of the aforementioned procedures, a process that the intelligence service claims can lead to costly delays.
"The goal is for CSIS to move from an intelligence-gathering service to an agency that will have the power to disrupt or diminish potential terrorist threats under appropriate judicial oversight,'' a source told CBC News.
Work on the new bill to be proposed today began in October 2014, after terror attacks that shocked Canada.
On October 22, a 32-year old Canadian citizen shot a soldier guarding the National War Memorial in Ottawa and then proceeded to Parliament Hill’s Center Block where he was killed in a shootout with police.
Two days earlier, Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent was murdered in a hit-and-run attack in a city near Montreal, in Quebec, in which another soldier was injured.
