Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Mr. McSorley, when I was reading through this act, of course there's a lot of harmony between the various federal statutes that are being amended for a purpose. However, the one section that does stand out a little bit is the amendments to the Criminal Code, specifically on pages 35 and 36 of the bill. Clauses 60 and 61 amend the Criminal Code's definition of sabotage. In a previous round during this meeting, we heard testimony from the World Sikh Organization that there's a reference here to the safety or security of the naval, army, or air forces of any state other than Canada that are lawfully present in Canada. That could mean military attachés at an embassy.
They have said that in previous examples, the Indian government has tossed around spurious accusations about protests around their diplomatic missions, etc., and they're worried that this could be used to unfairly target certain groups. I did ask them if they were okay with it, because there is a “for greater certainty” clause here about how this would not apply for anyone who's participating in advocacy, protest or dissent and does not intend to cause any harms.
Do you have any thoughts you want to share with the committee on these specific amendments to the Criminal Code and anything that we might need to look at?