Thank you, Professor Cotler.
If I may, distinguished colleagues, I will answer these three questions in order.
First of all, if I may just digress briefly, the question of nuclear capability is not the issue; it's the nature of the regime.
Japan, Brazil, Korea, and Argentina are all countries with nuclear capability, which we do not worry about because they have responsible democratic governments. Sooner or later, Iran will acquire nuclear technology. The technology is becoming only more accessible, so in the long run it's the nature of the regime that will solve the nuclear issue.
In that respect, as you point out, the UN Security Council, in resolution 1747, has imposed targeted sanctions against individuals and companies involved in Iran's nuclear program, but it has adopted no such targeted sanctions with respect to those responsible for crimes against humanity.
The one issue that President Ahmadinejad has to unite the Iranian people behind him is the nuclear issue. That makes him the champion of Iranian sovereignty against what he portrays as western domination. We need to make the international community partners with the Iranian democratic opposition by saying that our first consideration is democracy and human rights, on the understanding that this will solve the question of whatever threat Iran poses in the region.
This brings me to the question of Sepah-e, the Revolutionary Guards, and the Basij militia that were responsible for the atrocities that we witnessed on the streets. Iran is now a security state. It is a security state in which billions of dollars of Iran's oil wealth and other centres of economic power are monopolized by these forces and used to basically keep the hardliners in power.
I would suggest, for instance, that the members of Sepah-e and Basij be declared inadmissible to Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. There is no reason that any of the members of these security forces should be allowed into Canada when they've been responsible for so many crimes. We have to also think about the security implications for Canada of having these networks operating freely.
In terms of energy companies, the question of sanctions is very delicate. We do not want to make the life of ordinary Iranians more difficult than it already is. In principle, targeted sanctions identify those individuals who are responsible for these violations and help empower the democratic opposition. The democratic movement in Iran needs to know that the world stands with them and that moral encouragement is one of the most important things it can do.
One could at least reward certain companies, which I will not name, but companies that have withdrawn from Iran because of their opposition to the current climate. At the very least, one could see how good behaviour can be rewarded to the extent that it is within the scope of power of the Canadian government.