Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm a first generation Canadian. My parents were Holocaust survivors who came after the war. It wouldn't take me 30 seconds to demonstrate what attachment to Canada means if you were to look at my parents and the pride and the gratitude that they express in having come to Canada and having been given the opportunity to build a life over here.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, I'll share a couple and somebody else will determine how long I can go on.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  In 2006 the Lebanese-Israeli conflict became a hot war and some 15,000 Canadian nationals who had naturalized Canadian citizenship—they weren't born in Canada but they had acquired Canadian citizenship—were airlifted out of Lebanon at a cost of almost $100 million. They were Canadian citizens.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Your observation, again, is reasonable and does reflect the process that has been in place here in Canada for many years. I can tell you from experience with respect to efforts undertaken by a number of different governments here in Canada to establish the status of alleged Nazi war criminals that the governments had to produce substantial information—and sometimes were unable to and were therefore frustrated in undertaking proceedings—to establish that they weren't stateless, that they were nationals of another country as well.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Again, I agree with the premise of your observation; namely, that it's a very slippery slope to start attaching motivation and intent to people's actions. All of us here, I think, can contemplate a whole range of scenarios where someone legitimately has to go and set up a home abroad, whether it's to care for an aged, ill family member, for work consideration or study, or any number of other things.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think you raise a critically important point. The short answer would be that, yes, I share the concern that you're expressing. I can think of a number of circumstances, especially where someone who is alleged to have committed or participated in a terrorist act abroad faces conviction somewhere else, but that conviction doesn't meet our standards in one of two ways: either in terms of the evidence that's brought forward or the alleged act doesn't have an equivalent charge within our Criminal Code.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  A deterrent effect on those who might be contemplating undertaking those kinds of acts...? I think if an individual appreciates the gift that is Canadian citizenship and the potential for forfeiting that gift as a result of particular actions, it very well might have that kind of deterrent effect.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  First, thank you for your kind words. I agree with the premise of your observation, but I would come at it from a slightly different perspective. At CIJA we are thinking very hard about how Canadians can reflect appreciation and gratitude for the wonderful gift this country is, come two years from now when we mark our 150th anniversary, and one of the things that has been percolating is the notion of not just the rights we enjoy but the responsibilities that attach to being a Canadian.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. I am pleased to appear before the committee today to discuss Bill C-24. I'd like to begin by echoing the consensus surrounding the need to update the Citizenship Act and thank the government for taking on this important initiative. We look forward to immigrants enjoying the rights and responsibilities of Canadian citizenship quickly, efficiently and with greater integrity under a reformed legal framework.

Foreign Affairs committee  Although I know you are mindful of the time, perhaps I could just offer a 30-second closing thought. It draws from what Bob Rae observed a couple of moments ago. I think we have to ask ourselves the question of how Canada can contribute in this particular regard. I would be really hesitant about our presuming to shape or to define how we get satisfactory redress.

Foreign Affairs committee  Descriptively, I think, you're reasonably accurate. The only comment I would make about the premise of the observation is that I do recall that at the beginning of the Oslo process, when Canada was invited to serve as the gavel holder of the refugee working group, there were some focused discussions about what the scope of the working group's activity should be, and whether they should include consideration of Jews who had become refugees from Arab lands.

Foreign Affairs committee  There's no doubt that the refugee issue is central to any resolution of the conflict. To suggest otherwise would be to deny the reality, most particularly, of Palestinians who continue to suffer in refugee camps, not only in the West Bank or in Gaza, but in all the surrounding countries around Israel.

Foreign Affairs committee  I would simply add that I think it's dangerous for us to be prescriptive in terms of where this process would lead. If we recognize that the constructive resolution will come from direct negotiations, there are direct stakeholders who can deal with that. I think for us the important issue would be to provide some validation.

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't think they've taken out a position, and that's not especially surprising. The experience of Jewish refugees from Arab countries, post their refugee status, is remarkably different from that of Palestinian refugees. I hesitated at taking the committee into something that's a little off topic and very political, but the experience of Palestinian refugees is readily evident to everybody who cares to look.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thanks very much, Mr. Chair. I'd like to begin by thanking the government for taking the unprecedented and essential step of raising this important issue of Jewish refugees from Arab countries here in the foreign affairs committee. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs applauds this committee's efforts.