Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Because it seems to me that perhaps some members of committee have in the last number of months forgotten why it is I'm here, I just seek to remind you that this wasn't my idea. This process is not a process I sought. I'm summoned here based on a recommendation and in fact a motion that was passed by this committee, and an identical motion that has occurred in 20 other committees.
I've just run here from the committee that was looking at Bill C-22, where I had to provide clause-by-clause amendments in order to ensure that I not be precluded from the rights that I have on paper in O'Brien and Bosc. But for those motions passed, which I imagine came to us from the PMO, since they were identical in content in 20 different committees.... But for those, I could present my amendments as substantive amendments at report stage. That's why I'm here, and that's why I get to speak to every one of my amendments. I appreciate the opportunity.
I'm very taken with what the Canadian Bar Association has said about the current drafting. That's why my amendment is identical to that of the NDP. It's the language recommended to us. Madam Boivin and I share a number of things. Our birthdays are right next door to each other, and on top of that, we are both lawyers. The advice of the Canadian Bar Association is not something to be dismissed out of hand.
The concept of criminal responsibility involves mens rea. It involves an intent. The way the bill has been drafted it's so broad that in the example used as a hypothetical by the Canadian Bar Association, someone could be found criminally responsible for having lent somebody else their laptop, someone who, in a series of events, opens files and ends up incidentally sharing images with no intent on the part of the person who owns that laptop. The Internet age opens up numerous possibilities for inadvertence—not with negligence and not with intent—so when the term cyberbullying is a very clear term with an intent to hurt others, that has to carry through with intention to the various aspects of criminality. That's why my first amendment, Green Party-1, is an amendment that seeks to ensure we don't inadvertently ensnare completely innocent people in criminal liability.