The government's policy remains the same: We do not pay ransom and we do not change any policy positions.
We are also very aware that in certain circumstances, family members will want to do everything possible to bring their loved one home. That is the choice of the individual family. We do not provide advice on that, because our policy is to not pay ransom.
The concern about applying sanctions, particularly in this bill.... It's a blanket. It's applying to states, terrorist organizations and criminal groups. There are very distinct differences among those. We have sanctions regimes in place that we can apply to states. Our major concern is about organized criminal groups. Applying sanctions would actually make it illegal to pay ransom, should Canadians choose on their own to do so. The reality is that we've had a number of Canadian families choose that option. This bill would criminalize that.