According to the defence lawyer for one of the accused, the arrests were timed suspiciously, ie to coincide with a vote in Parliament to extend the "Anti-terrorist Act". The proposed changes sacrifice dearly-held Canadian rights and freedoms, creating more of an American-style 'police state' here. At stake are the right to privacy, to a fair trial, to fair and humane treatment by the police and the media, to be viewed and treated as innocent until proven guilty.

For example, Canadian citizens suspected of planning 'terrorism' could be electronically spied on without censor, detained without charge for up to 72 hours and subject, I suppose, to the same decidedly 'un-Canadian' treatment those 17 detainees in Ontario are currently undergoing ie

"..the suspects were being treated differently than other people charged under the Criminal Code"

"...when the suspects first appeared in court after their arrests, they were surrounded by police teams with machine-guns, dogs and helicopters"

"...kept in rooms that are lit 24 hours a day"

" ...denied access to the outside for the first five days"

"... have five minutes to eat their meals or they are taken away"

"...when they are taken somewhere by guards, they must walk with their legs upright and torso at a 90-degree angle with their arms stretched out"

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/06/12/galati-client.html