We are involved quite often in many different forms of protests and demonstrations in this country, all for good reasons. They may not meet some people's approval, but the reality is that they're justified in a democratic society. Of course we want to be absolutely clear that we don't think these activities should be in any way characterized now as illegal in our country.
For example, we could be having a protest that we did not get a permit for. Is that an illegal activity in our country? It could be caught up in the sweep in a broad definition of terrorism in our country. Should our security force be monitoring our behaviour, and more importantly, sharing information with the 17 agencies that this bill allows them to do?
We are concerned. A previous bill had taken into consideration strike actions and of course work actions that we might be involved with and ensured that those actions were never going to be characterized as actions that would be seen as terrorist under past legislation. I don't know why the government wants to change that because before a committee similar to this we raised those concerns and the government at the time did take the necessary steps to ensure those rights would be protected under legislation they would bring in.
More importantly, we have learned much from the Arar commission. I think it's critical in the context of that commission that the government ensure that the oversight that was recommended would be put in place. Sharing information with 17 agencies across this country will subject that information to the possibility of being used for the wrong purposes. I think Canadians have learned much and we want to ensure mistakes are not made going forward.