Canadian Heritage committee  I'd like to start by saying that democracy in this country means more than putting a check mark on a ballot once every four years. I take my democratic responsibility and my rights quite seriously, and that's why I do the work I do, through the United Church of Canada, as well as

Canadian Heritage committee  But I sit on the board as a member who might be involved with some of these organizations that have received funding. You need to understand that as a board member I do not make the decisions on who receives funding; I don't even know who has made an application.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'd like to try to address this. We're being asked, as a court challenges program, if members of our board actually are affiliated members to organizations that receive funding. Are we asking the same question of the Canadian association of banks? Bankers sit on these boards. The

Canadian Heritage committee  Okay, but—

Canadian Heritage committee  To kind of build on that, before the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, we had the British North America Act. With all the international agreements Canada had started entering into, it was no longer a domestic remedy because it didn't protect the obligations Canada made to

Canadian Heritage committee  I definitely would like to comment on that. I'm a member of a number of organizations. The organization that actually gave the presentation was the National Anti-Poverty Organization. I have been, in the past, the chairperson of NAPO. I am still a member of NAPO, a paying member

Canadian Heritage committee  I'd like to start off by saying, in case nobody is aware of it, that this is the 25th anniversary of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. For that Charter of Rights and Freedoms to become a real, living document, we actually have to have access to it to use it as a domestic remedy