Toronto van crash: What are the risks for travellers to Canada?

‘The main terrorist threat to Canada stems from violent extremists inspired by terrorist groups, such as Daesh and al-Qaida,’ the Public Report on the Terrorist Threat to Canada has previously warned

Canada has a well-earned and enviable reputation as a welcoming, tolerant and safe destination for travellers.

In recent years the number of British visitors to Toronto has sharply increased, with many more flights from the UK. British Airways launches its first flights from Gatwick to Canada’s largest city on 1 May.

Compared with Canada’s neighbour to the south, the incidence of violent crime is far lower. The annual homicide rate is one per 60,000 people, less than one-third the rate in the US (though 80 per cent higher than the UK).

But in recent years, a pattern of terrorist attacks has developed.

In October 2014, a man was shot dead by police in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu in Quebec after he killed a Canadian soldier with his car. Two days later, another soldier was killed by a gunman in central Ottawa. The suspect was subsequently shot dead.

Two years later, the authorities successfully disrupted a planned attack when a Daesh supporter was shot and killed in Ontario as he attempted to detonate an improvised explosive device.

In January 2017, a shooting at a Quebec City mosque left six people dead. In September 2017, a police officer in Edmonton was struck by a vehicle and stabbed by the driver. The assailant then fled on foot and later drove a rental truck into bystanders, injuring four people.

In December 2017 the Canadian government in Ottawa issued a Public Report on the Terrorist Threat to Canada, which concluded: “The main terrorist threat to Canada stems from violent extremists inspired by terrorist groups, such as Daesh and al-Qaida, as well as right-wing extremism.”

The Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Ralph Goodale, warned in the document: “Lone actors or terror cells inspired by these groups are increasingly using low-sophistication, high-impact methods to carry out attacks.”

The Foreign Office warns: “Terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks in Canada. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners. You should monitor media reports and remain vigilant.

Kevin McGurgan, the British Consul-General in Toronto, tweeted: “My sympathy & deepest condolences, and those of British Consulate in Toronto staff, to the victims & their families. Heartbreaking.”

The Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, tweeted: “Very sad to see the news of the incident in Toronto earlier today, as I was visiting the city. My thoughts with those affected, their families and friends, and the emergency services personnel responding.”