I think that the new war crimes legislation was passed in 2000, of course, because Canada had ratified the new International Criminal Court treaty and had the obligation to implement the treaty into Canadian law. So it looked at the criminal cases and looked at our history in Canada of criminal lawsuits, and in that legislation, of course, followed the global trend in criminal cases, which is very clear that immunity is not permitted for anyone. I think the fact that civil litigation didn't come at the same time was not necessarily a reflection that at the time there wasn't interest; it was simply on the basis that an international treaty had been ratified and needed to be implemented.
When we have raised these issues with the Department of Foreign Affairs, certainly there has been an openness to the discussion. We had one meeting at which there were some questions, the kinds of questions we've discussed with this committee. I think the key concern is the potential impact on foreign affairs, diplomatic relations, and trade. I think we have very clear answers to that, as we've set out. So we just really need to follow up on that. Certainly if you will be looking to them for advice, we will be providing the same kind of material.
I think the point has been very well made that in this period of time, things have progressed a lot in terms of the status of international law on immunity in civil cases. Certainly we might see some movement and more willingness to support this as a result.