Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Minister, thank you for being here today. I'd like to thank Mr. Shory for his bill, because those people who do serve in the Canadian Forces and who step up as permanent residents to serve this country I think are deserving of that additional consideration, because of the risks they are prepared to take on behalf of all Canadians.
You're absolutely right, Minister. There's a distinction between wilful and somebody being coerced into a particular act. I think common sense in the law and in the courts would discern that fairly quickly. It's the wilful acts we're talking about here.
Last year in the GTA, approximately 20 or so individuals were radicalized and are known to have left Canada to join terrorist groups abroad. Their actions will be taken against not only our allies but against Canadian Forces personnel, diplomats, and others across the world, contrary to Canadian interests.
A lot of this is something already written into the citizenship guide, because what was there previously was inadequate. What you have written into the citizenship guide now defines what is expected of people in this country, that they should simply not break any of our laws, they should adjust to Canada, and they should follow the tenets of freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. I don't think it’s too much to ask somebody to simply be a law-abiding Canadian citizen.
Thank you for everything you have done on that so far, and I look forward to those amendments.
Sir, I'd like to talk about act of war. You mentioned in your comments earlier that the act of war is not clearly defined in international law.
Could you please elaborate on that point—between the act of war and armed aggression or armed conflict?