Welcome, everyone.
This is meeting number 53 of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, Thursday, February 10, 2011. Today we will be continuing our study of Bill C-17, an act to amend the Criminal Code (Investigative Hearing and Recognizance with Conditions).
Members will recall that the Minister of Justice, the Honourable Rob Nicholson, and his officials testified before our committee on December 15, 2010, outlining the goals and the features of this bill.
Appearing before us today, we have, from the Canada Muslim Lawyers Association, Ziyaad Mia, chair of the advocacy and research committee. Welcome. From the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association we have Carmen Cheung, counsel. As well, from the Canadian Jewish Congress we have Eric Vernon, director of government relations and international affairs. We thank you for coming in response to an invitation sent only yesterday. From the Canadian Civil Liberties Association we have Nathalie Des Rosiers, general counsel. Again, thank you for coming on short notice.
Our committee thanks the panel for agreeing and making the effort to appear before us today.
I understand that each of you has opening comments; then we'll proceed into a number of rounds. We have two hours today, or just short of that. We'll proceed into two rounds of questions. Perhaps we can work our way along, starting from one end of the witness table.
Mr. Mia.