Canadian Heritage committee  I'll just finish this sentence.

Canadian Heritage committee  The test of democracy is not the centre of what offends those who are kind and moderate. It's the periphery that is the most offensive that test true free speech and democracy.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you for this opportunity. I'll try to respond as well as I can. First of all, while I appreciate the fact that the resolution is trying to approach all faiths, the bottom line is that it was authored by MP Iqra Khalid under the premise of e-411. There is nothing offensive about a Muslim telling you that in other countries that are not as free a democracy as Canada and the United States are, this same language is used to suppress any dissent from citizens in their country.

Canadian Heritage committee  I would tell you absolutely not. Do not limit it. Every Middle Eastern regime is testament to the fact that when they limit free speech, they push them underground. They will still preach what they want and they won't have the antiseptic of sunlight. Just as I don't want my speech prohibited by this false banner of Islamophobia or anyone's criticism of Islam, similarly the light of day can only be shed on the radicals and we can monitor them, if they have the freedom.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, for holding this important hearing and thank you for inviting me. I can't tell you enough how important this issue is to me. For those of us south of your border, America has been wrestling with many of these same issues, since 9/11, as your country has.

Public Safety committee  Thank you very much for that question. I can't tell you how important that is. I'll just tell you right off that not being up front, open, and honest with Muslims actually creates more of this—I don't even like the term but—Islamophobia. Phobia is a fear of the unknown. If you don't articulate the problem and address it, you actually fuel a phobia because nobody is addressing it.

Public Safety committee  I can't underscore how important that is because it is suicidal for our governments in the west to say that just because they don't target an individual, the advocacy of acts of terror against Canadians or Canada is so generic that it's protected speech. That is fuel. The reason you're getting pushback from Islamist groups is because once your government and our government, our intelligence operation, starts to focus on that, all of a sudden you're going to start to look at where this come from.

Public Safety committee  I think, ultimately, I can understand. I am a conservative, but I also believe in the libertarian ideals of civil liberties, so contrary to the way the Islamist groups try to portray our work, we're not giving up any of our civil liberties. There certainly should be just cause if there are going to be violations of privacy, but if our security forces are doing good intelligence work, they need to follow the leads to wherever they take them.

Public Safety committee  Thank you for the question. At some point we have to realize that this whack-a-mole program we have right now, which is just to get them before they commit an act of violence, is not only failing but at some point we're not going to be able to keep up because it's increasing. The arrests in terrorism in the U.S. and in the west have increased exponentially in just the last two years, with the United States, Canada, Australia, and others being at the front line.

Public Safety committee  Thank you. Thank you, Chairman Kramp and honourable committee members. My name is Zuhdi Jasser. I am president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy based in Phoenix. Thank you for the opportunity to lend our perspective to your committee as you consider diverse points of view both from inside and outside Muslim communities, and also regarding especially the merits and concerns of Canadians to this very important counterterrorism legislation, Bill C-51.