Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, Chairman Reid. Just in terms of a time check, Chairman Reid, how long would you like my testimony to go, just to give members an opportunity?

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much, sir. Thank you for your kind invitation and providing me with the opportunity to share with the committee my analysis of human rights developments in Iran. Almost two years into the presidency of Dr. Rouhani, and almost two years after the beginning of the latest round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the west, the human rights situation is unfortunately deteriorating in Iran.

Finance committee  Good morning. Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, thank you for giving me this opportunity to appear before you to discuss terrorist financing. In short, terrorist attacks do not require much capital. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula once touted how its failed plot to bomb a plane over North America in 2010 cost only $4,200.

Finance committee  We also have, from the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, Mr. Kevin Stephenson, and from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Mr. Yaya Fanusie. Welcome to all. We also have, by video conference from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from the RAND Corporation, Mr. Patrick Johnston. Mr. Johnston, can you hear me okay?

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. It's an honour to be here. What I want to talk about is what ISIL's strengths are and what their weaknesses are. Right now, we as western polities and those involved in counterterrorism efforts combatting militancy are very much focused on ISIL, as we should be. It's unprecedented in terms of its brutality, unprecedented in terms of the amount of contiguous territory that it holds.

Foreign Affairs committee  With her is Geneive Abdo, who is a fellow with the Stimson Center as well. We have Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Welcome to all. We'll start with Ms. Laipson. We'll work our way around the room for our opening statements. Once we've had your opening statements, we'll go back and forth around our room to ask you questions over the next hour and a half or so.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It would be of profound, symbolic, and practical importance for the Canadian government to designate the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij Force for their human rights abuses. On behalf of Foundation for Defense of Democracies, thank you for inviting me to testify today, and I look forward to your questions.

Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act  I don't look at this so much as an issue of punishing people by revoking their citizenship as a result of particular undertakings or acts they've committed, but rather that they are so fundamentally at odds with core Canadian values that there's no rationale or way to reconcile Canadian citizenship with that kind of activity. Sheryl Saperia, from the Foundation of Defense of Democracy, said: Bill C-24 suggests that Canadian citizenship, whether bestowed by birthright or naturalization, is predicated on a most basic commitment to the state: that citizens abstain from committing those offences considered most contrary to the national security interests of Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I was wondering whether I could read that quotation. It was by Ms. Sheryl Saperia from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Here is the quote again: I understand from last week’s hearing that Minister Alexander envisions a two-step process in his ministerial discretion. The first step would be to examine the substance of the foreign offence and whether it is equivalent to a Canadian Criminal Code terrorist act.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's why I'm belabouring this point; it's not clear. I want to look at witness testimony from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. It was by Ms. Saperia. She said: I understand from last week’s hearing that Minister Alexander envisions a two-step process in his ministerial discretion. The first step would be to examine the substance of the foreign offence and whether it is equivalent to a Canadian Criminal Code terrorist act.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for providing me with this opportunity to share my analysis with you. Allow me in particular to express my gratitude to you because you do something that most politicians and statesmen in the west do not: you make a linkage between violation of human rights and terrorism and the nuclear issue.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  That is, in part, due to the large number of high-quality witnesses we are able to bring before our subcommittee. Today we have as witnesses two individuals from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. One is Mark Dubowitz, who has been here before. It's good to see you back again. The other is Ali Alfoneh. Gentlemen, I assume that our ever-efficient clerk has explained the general process to you, but just to refresh your memories, we normally look for about a 10-minute presentation.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  In the meantime, we'll have the two witnesses here with us start things off with their presentations. We have, from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Sheryl Saperia, director of policy for Canada. Welcome. We also have, from the Alliance of Canadian Terror Victims Foundation, Madame Maureen Basnicki, founder and executive director, and co-founder of the Canadian Coalition Against Terror.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you very much. Good afternoon, and thank you for inviting me here today. I want to give credit; many of the ideas I'll be discussing today were formulated with my friend Danny Eisen, who's with the Canadian Coalition Against Terror. I just wanted to mention him by name.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Shaheed; and that on May 13, the clerk invite Mr. Ali Alfoneh, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and an expert on Iran, to testify alongside Mr. Mark Dubowitz, who is already confirmed.