Let me first of all say thank you so much for those expressions of support.
We know there's a lot of election talk right now and that people are likely starting to have an eye to that potential. But we felt it was really important to have the opportunity to come. We know this committee has heard about this issue before and that you have looked at and provided some statements in support of Bill C-483. We hope we don't lose momentum for longer than that potential election period, and that if you are all back in your seats afterwards you will work with us still across parties to champion us.
That was really our hope today, to bring it to you knowing that you have provided some endorsement of the bill, to really ask you to think about working actively on this and championing it and making it a priority, as you've said. So I appreciate that very much.
In terms of retaliation against Canadians abroad, I think the most important point to remember is that we are talking here about removing immunity for torture, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. So if another country were to look at what Canada did and say “Well, you've carved out this exception to your state immunity act for those issues and we are going to do the same”, we're still talking about Canadians implicated in those most serious crimes of international concern. Of course Canada would have an obligation itself, then, to investigate those allegations and to bring people to justice if there were serious allegations. That obligation exists already under many other treaties.