Leah West Sherriff, Anti-Terrorism Fellow, University of Ottawa

Canada is in an armed conflict with an insurgency that has actively recruited Canadians and directed them to use or promote violence against Canada and its allies. Consequently, the Canadian government could conceivably ask its soldiers to target and kill fellow Canadians, or to assist allies in doing so. This situation raises a host of novel legal issues, including the question of “targeted killing” confronted by the United Kingdom in 2015 when it directed military force against several Britons believed to plotting a terrorist attack while overseas. This talk will address those legal issues, leaving the audience to wrestle with an even more complex question: even if it’s legal to target our own citizens, should we?

BIO: Leah West Sherriff is Counsel with the National Security Advisory and Litigation Group of the Department of Justice. Before joining DOJ, Leah was involved in advocacy work related to human trafficking, security certificates, lawful access and the reform of Bill C-51. Leah served as an Armoured Officer in the CA for 10 years, deployed to Afghanistan as junior ops officer in 2010; involved in the targeting process and worked closely with Special Forces from allied countries during planning operations. She is a graduate of RMC, and U of T Law, and currently is the Antiterrorism Law Fellow at UofO where she is completing her LLM with a concentration in International Humanitarian and Security Law.