Thank you, Chair.
Mr. McGuinty, it is an absolute pleasure to have you here.
As you know, I was on the public safety committee when we studied Bill C-22, which created the committee. It was my amendment that brought you here. It was Matthew Dubé who reminded me of that in the last Parliament, that I was the one who brought in that amendment. I'm just sitting here so proud of the work that you and the other members of the committee have done and how important it is for you to share the report with all of us and with Canadians. Thank you for that.
When I was looking at the report, Mr. Van Popta was asking what the groups are, and you mentioned this earlier. They are a form of extremism that “encompasses xenophobic violence, anti-authority violence, gender-driven violence and 'other grievance-driven'”. Then it talks about CSIS saying that it's a common belief that “the success or survival of society/civilization cannot be separated from the need for ongoing violence against a perceived threatening group”. These are, for example, “the elite, visible minorities, religious groups, corporations, immigrants, capitalists, the government”.
I have noticed, over the last two years, certainly an increase in the tone of comments that I see online on posts that I make. I was really disturbed by the report when you mentioned how many Canadians.... The report that you mentioned from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue said that “Canadians are highly active across 6,600 identified right-wing extremist channels, pages, groups and accounts.” Since they tend to organize online, it means that these messages are spread more quickly.
I'm just wondering what your thoughts are on how this online presence is contributing. Maybe you can't comment on this, and that's okay if you can't. How does an online presence allow these messages from these IMVE groups to spread quickly?