Understanding Lone-Wolf Terrorism

Last month, two lone wolf attacks occurred in Canada. Martin Couture-Rouleau ran over a pair of soldiers with his car, killing one and injuring another, before police shot him. Days later, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau gunned down a soldier at the National War Memorial. Still armed, he entered Parliament’s Centre Block, where members of all three major political parties were meeting. He was killed before more innocent lives were taken.

There has been some confusion, in political and public discourse, about whether these were terrorist acts – both because the perpetrators acted alone, and because Zehaf-Bibeau reportedly suffered from mental illness. These issues require clarification.

A lone wolf (single actor) can be a terrorist. 

No formal connection between Zehaf-Bibeau or Couture-Rouleau and a terrorist group has been disclosed. Nonetheless, both were Muslim converts who subscribed to radical Islamic ideology, sought to travel overseas and possibly fight with the terrorist group Islamic State (IS). Couture-Rouleau’s online presence publicized his IS sympathies, and Zehaf-Bibeau is also believed to have visited Islamist websites and to have had ties to Canadian jihadists.

While it is unlikely the men received personal instructions from a terrorist group, it appears they were incited and inspired by terrorist propaganda. Indeed, the Islamic State has called for its adherents to kill Canadians, including by running them over with a car. Just prior to launching his assault, Zehaf-Bibeau apparently read the online posts of a Canadian jihadist urging his followers to “carry out attacks on Canada.” Moreover, the timing of these attacks – shortly after Canada approved air combat missions against IS – cannot be discounted as a possible motivator. 

The Criminal Code defines terrorist activity as a violent act carried out for a political, ideological or religious purpose, intended to intimidate the public or a segment of the public, or to compel the government to change its policy on a particular issue. Whether someone acts alone or in direct association with an official terrorist group is irrelevant. If Couture-Rouleau and Zehaf-Bibeau were perpetrating their crimes as an expression of their Islamist convictions, in support of IS and against Canada’s military action in Iraq, they could be said to have committed terrorist activity. 

A mentally ill person can be a terrorist. 

Strikingly, lone wolf terrorists are 13 times more likely to suffer mental health issues than members of a terrorist group. (One theory for such a phenomenon is that individuals displaying traits of mental illness will not be selected for recruitment in a group.)

However, a court designation of not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder is made only if it can be proven that mental illness rendered the accused unable to appreciate the nature or wrongness of his/her actions. This requires a fairly high level of proof. 

In other words, suffering from mental illness does not necessarily exempt a terrorist from criminal responsibility under the law. Research has found that terrorists with mental illness can display rational motivations and plan sophisticated attacks. 

Indeed, Zehaf-Bibeau took a public tour of Centre Block just weeks before his attack, suggesting planning and premeditation rather than irrational impulsivity. And according to the RCMP commissioner, there is “persuasive evidence” that his act was “driven by ideological and political motives,” including a video Zehaf-Bibeau made to explain himself. 

Federal public safety minister Steven Blaney attributed Zehaf-Bibeau’s rampage to an “explosive cocktail” of mental illness, drug addiction and extremist ideology – a reasonable theory that accepts that multiple factors can drive human behaviour.  

We do not yet know enough about Zehaf-Bibeau’s mental condition. But his criminal record and history of mental illness do not automatically indicate that he lacked the requisite mens rea to perpetrate a terrorist offence. Terrorism need not be the exclusive domain of psychologically healthy individuals with no criminal backgrounds. 

More information will come to light as the investigations proceed. But let us start by recognizing that terrorists come in many forms – including lone actors and those with mental illness. 

Sheryl Saperia is director of policy for Canada at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.