I would ask that you wrap up, please.
Evidence of meeting #36 for Public Safety and National Security in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was c-51.
Evidence of meeting #36 for Public Safety and National Security in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was c-51.
7:30 p.m.
NDP
The Vice-Chair NDP Matthew Dubé
I am sorry. There have been a lot of participants. We might say that is a good problem.
Fernand Deschamps, you have the floor.
We will then conclude with the presentation by Brenda Linn.
7:30 p.m.
Fernand Deschamps As an Individual
Good evening, members of the committee and members of the public.
I am an engineer by training and I am now working as a teacher. I am very concerned about what is currently going on in Quebec and will now be replicated everywhere in Canada. From now on, police, SQ and RCMP officers are going to be able to go into our places of learning, into the secondary schools and colleges, to spy on young people and look for informers, because, apparently, we have to seek out radicalized elements. Why is all this necessary? It is because the Couillard government decided, immediately after Bill C-51 was enacted, to enact Bill 59, which I urge you all to read.
Allow me to remind everyone of a brief essential point about Bill C-51. It says that any group or entity that there are reasonable grounds to believe is a threat to national security may be targeted. The same logic is now being applied in Bill 59.
My question to the committee is this. Who defines what is reasonable and what is not? Who defines what security is? Who defines who is a terrorist or who presents a threat to national security? Nowhere in that act does it say. For that reason alone, this act should be repealed.
In addition, allow me to make a proposal concerning what you should do at the end of your consultations. You should, after repealing the Anti-terrorism Act, form a commission of inquiry to shed light on everything done by the federal police forces in Canada, starting with the RCMP. A month ago, I was again surprised to learn that a judge in British Columbia had put together a case for two people to commit a terrorist act. There are huge numbers of similar cases.
I appeal to everyone: let us call for a commission of inquiry to examine the wrongdoing. There is too much impunity in our society.
Thank you.
7:35 p.m.
NDP
The Vice-Chair NDP Matthew Dubé
Thank you very much.
I would like to thank everyone for your excellent participation.
I would also like to thank my colleagues for their indulgence.
We will conclude with you, Brenda Linn.
7:35 p.m.
Brenda Linn As an Individual
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and everyone.
It's inspiring to be here. I would like to pretty much say ditto to everything I just heard from the last speaker, but I want to say this. It seems to me that we survived some years during which the federal government's game strategy has been to create fear and to play on it, and that is intrinsic to the bill we're discussing.
I think we may now be entering a “create apathy” play on it. It was very hard to find these hearings. It will appear that nobody actually cares that much, because the predicted lineups didn't happen. I gather that this has been true across the country, not just here.
I have gone to some other hearings, specifically the electoral reform hearings, and it was the same kind of situation. Then we hear that people don't really care. With respect to the young woman who spoke so passionately about the fear that we're not going to get rid of Harper's policies but are just going to have them repackaged, I think we have to understand that this is becoming quite a broadly spread perception in society. We have the old climate targets, we have this bill, it's looking as though we may be stuck with the old electoral system, and it's looking as if Canadians perhaps don't care that much.
7:35 p.m.
As an Individual
Okay, I'm going to wrap up with this. It wasn't easy to find the hearings. They need to be publicized. They're not on Marc Garneau's website. They're not on the Liberal website. I just googled, and even there, with a plain Google search, they're not easy to find.
This is not good. If we're going to have open consultations, we need to know they're happening.
7:35 p.m.
NDP
The Vice-Chair NDP Matthew Dubé
Thank you very much.
I would like to remind you that consultations are being held at three levels. Sometimes, the consultation is carried out through your member of Parliament. Sometimes, like this evening, it is through the committee, with representatives of all the parties that have standing in the House of Commons. Sometimes, also, it is through the government. Whatever the form of the consultation, your comments are always welcomed. We want to be as accessible as possible. I want to emphasize that, because I think it is important.
I would like to thank you for being with us this evening, and for sharing personal anecdotes and discussing the substance of a bill. It has been very interesting and very useful for the exercise in which we are engaged.
As was already mentioned, there is the possibility of sending written submissions to the website. We encourage folks who didn't get a chance to complete their thoughts or who perhaps were a bit microphone-shy to do that.
We also encourage you to consult the transcript of the testimony. It is always useful to read what was said by the witnesses.
Finally, I want to thank everyone who has appeared before us today, and I thank my colleagues who stayed a few minutes more than was scheduled, to have more time with you.
Thank you, everyone.
The meeting is now adjourned.