This is a very serious matter, Mr. Chair. It is unacceptable for people to be intimidated when they are here to inform the public and defend their rights and interests, no matter who they are. We live in a democratic society. We were sorry about the unfortunate incidents on social media before the holidays, and I think this is similar to that.
Before we talk about drafting the report that we will be presenting to the House, I would like the committee to look at what happened. For example, did the police get any complaints? For my part, I was not aware of it. Today I am informed of a motion that I did not receive in advance. I know you wanted to put it forward today, but it would have been helpful to distribute it to us before the meeting.
As I said, I don't think anyone would disagree with the basic principle. Witnesses do indeed have to be protected. We could gather more information, however. We could make a determination later on, before sending it to the House. If the information we have is not conclusive, I think we will have to approach this seriously and conscientiously and try to gather additional information.
That said, I can see that the intent of the motion is relevant, and I think it is an important motion.
For my part, I think we should take a step back to gather the missing information. We could then make a determination later on.