Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our witnesses for coming here this morning. I've had a pleasant visit already this morning with Ms. Nawaz. She told me she isn't the actress my notes say she is, but the creator of the TV series.
Mr. Harris and Mr. Boisvert, I want to thank you for your work in protecting Canada in the different security organizations you have actively participated in.
Mr. Harris, I also want to thank you for your clarifying comments regarding testimony by a previous witness from NCCM, and also the clarification you provided about CAIR. I'm a little surprised at the intolerance demonstrated by my NDP colleagues on the other side of the table in truth-seeking and fact-finding, while at the same time showing a great deal of tolerance toward a witness who made a personal attack on a parliamentarian. It strikes me as very odd. So I want to thank you for the clarification you provided here this morning.
We've listened to a lot of testimony from people from the Muslim community, and one of the comments we heard yesterday from Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, the president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, struck me. I wrote it down because I thought it was noteworthy, and I just want to repeat it. He said that “...not all Muslims are Islamists, all radical Islamists are Muslim”.
That's interesting. We've heard testimony at this committee from a lot of people from the Muslim community who say that this bill does not reach far enough, and they are very concerned about radicalization, especially of the youth within their community, and concerned that is not at all representative of the Muslim community as a whole.
When I look at our bill, the bill isn't a bill about race, or culture, or religion. The bill is about anti-terrorism, and the bill itself doesn't define any of those things.
Based on your experience in the security organizations you've been involved in with CSIS, could you provide a little more commentary on the disruption powers this bill provides for?
Mr. Harris, I'd like to begin with you.