In terms of the impact, many immigrants to the country from the Muslim community are dual citizens and they're citizens of another country by birth. They may not even want to keep the citizenship. They may not even have the option of revoking that citizenship. So this previous bill, this legislation, Bill C-24, when it was introduced, it made them feel like second-class citizens, and it stoked fear in the Muslim community about being treated as second-class citizens.
As I said earlier, Canadian Muslims are as committed to national security as our fellow citizens and they've paid a disproportionately high price for anti-terrorism measures enacted in the name of national security. We just need to look at the case of Maher Arar, which is emblematic of everything that can go wrong when the balance between legitimate security concerns and civil liberties is treated as a zero-sum game. It's important, from our view, that we move towards a comprehensive and balanced pursuit of safeguarding national security while promoting Canadian citizenship in a manner that upholds the rule of law and protects the human rights of all.