There was one other point I wanted to make, if I may, which was to respond to your suggestion that security certificate procedures aren't used all that frequently in the broad scheme of things, so why are we all up in arms about it--after all, it doesn't affect that many people.
There would be two points that I would make, the first one being that the fact that a smaller number of people are affected directly by security certificates is no answer to the procedural flaws. If only one person in this country was affected by a deeply unjust system, we would all have grave concerns about it.
Secondly, I think it is important to understand that although the security certificate procedures themselves apply to individuals, the fact that they exist in Canadian law affects broad communities within which these individuals reside. The refugee and immigrant community in particular has been deeply affected by the existence of these procedures and deeply tarnished by the broad brush that the procedures have painted. The whole problem of racism, racial profiling, which existed well before 9/11 but has been exacerbated in its aftermath, is all part and parcel of the security certificate procedure. I think it is important to keep that context in mind, and hopefully some of the other witnesses who have appeared before you and potentially will appear before you tomorrow will elaborate further on that.