Mr. Chair, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, the IRB, has heard argument on paragraph 171 of the United Nations guide, for example in the public cases of Mr. Hinzman and Mr. Hughey. It has held that the paragraph applied to underground military actions, in other words, things done during war, and not the legality or illegality of the conflict as a whole.
In the judicial review of the IRB's decision, the Federal Court judge examined the question of paragraph 171 and concluded that in fact the IRB had not erred in its judgment, and that in the case of a foot soldier the legality of the war was not in issue.