Madam Speaker, I am not a lawyer, but from what I understand, the Crown always has a strategy. When charges are laid or a decision is made to not lay charges, authorities always try to use the strategy that is most likely to lead to a conviction.
However, there is one thing we are seeing. We are legislators, and what we are seeing is that this is a hate crime. It is hate speech based on a religious text. Sometimes a prayer is said at a protest just to hide behind the law. I personally am convinced that that was the intention.
I was protesting with local farmers about the Alto high-speed rail project two weeks ago, and no one said any prayers. We obeyed the law and did not hide behind it.
I firmly believe that Adil Charkaoui deliberately used that protection in the Criminal Code to push things a lot further than any other citizen could, and I think that, as legislators, we really need to focus on the intentions of those individuals.