Toronto 18 ringleader granted full parole – board sees no extremism

The ringleader of the Toronto 18 terror plot has been granted full parole, with the Parole Board of Canada finding that Zakaria Amara – once the face of homegrown extremism in Canada – no longer shows “any signs of holding onto extremist beliefs or radical ideologies,” per the board’s written decision.

Amara led the 2006 conspiracy known as the Toronto 18, one of the largest homegrown terrorism cases in Canadian history, which included plans to bomb a CSIS office in Toronto. He pleaded guilty in 2009 and received a life sentence with no parole eligibility for a decade.

From life sentence to full parole

Nearly two decades after the arrests, the board’s decision marks the end of a long de-radicalization record: day parole and, now, full release with conditions. The case will reignite debate over rehabilitation in Canada’s justice system – how much weight a plotted mass casualty attack should carry once an offender is judged no longer dangerous.

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Correction – October 25, 2026: An earlier version said full parole came seventeen years after the arrests; the Toronto 18 arrests were in June 2006, nearly two decades before the decision. A passage citing unrelated cases was also removed for lack of sourcing.