Justice committee  Thank you, Chair, and honourable committee members. I appreciate the opportunity to speak here today in support of Bill S-201. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs is the advocacy agent of the Jewish Federations of Canada, a national, non-profit, non-partisan organization re

Justice committee  I would only add that it's not just about the discrimination, which in and of itself is a bad thing and needs to be addressed. The outcome of that discrimination can have life-and-death implications for people's health, so it does have multiple dimensions that other forms of disc

Justice committee  I can't tell you specific numbers in other communities. I can tell you that in our community it's a priority to inform people about the values of genetic testing. We try to get the word out about what's possible and the potential benefits. One of the major stumbling blocks to doi

Justice committee  I agree with that assessment. The average person on the street doesn't understand the distinction between the different areas of law that we're talking about in the bill. Somebody hears that the Canadian Human Rights Act has been amended to prevent genetic discrimination and they

Justice committee  I would echo what my colleagues have said here already, and just add that the criminal provision is even more important, given the wide variance in priority that different provinces put on this. We discovered in our consultations that there's a wide degree of variance in how quic

Justice committee  I believe that genetic predisposition is the number two determinant of health, after lifestyle. Just touching on the long QT example, recent studies have indicated that the incidence of long QT syndrome is 20 times higher in certain first nations communities in northern British C

Justice committee  I'd have to get permission from the person who shared their story with me before—

Justice committee  Thank you.

Public Safety committee  Thank you, Chair and honourable committee members, for having me. Hopefully you'll be able to squeeze out quickly everything I have to offer. I'm pleased to be here this afternoon on behalf of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the advocacy agent of the Jewish Federations

Public Safety committee  I think it's important that we're having these conversations now after the horrific attack in Quebec City. I remember how I felt, as a Jewish Canadian, after seeing the synagogue in Jerusalem attacked in a similar fashion. Of course, a Torontonian was in attendance in prayer ther

Public Safety committee  As I mentioned in my remarks, I think one of the most important areas to which we can channel resources and attention is countering hate. I believe that's a core ingredient in transitioning somebody from a normal citizen to somebody willing to commit such atrocious acts of violen

Public Safety committee  The German pilot program has been going on for one year, and it's a five-year program. I'm hopeful that, at the end of that, we'll see tremendous results. Teachers, who have a relationship with students who are with them day in and day out, can help to guide them and to nip this

Public Safety committee  The online-to-attack phenomenon is something that we all need to take stock of. I think there's a perception, and I don't know how prevalent it is anymore, but you have.... I mean, there are different models. You have highly organized terrorist groups, in which you will have cent

Public Safety committee  I'm not familiar with the specifics of what's in place in the United Kingdom. Certainly, the seizure of terrorist propaganda and the criminalization of advocacy or promotion of terrorism are important things for groups that don't fit the traditional terrorist organization designa

Public Safety committee  I haven't looked carefully at the motion, so I can't really speak to the specifics, but I can tell you that on both sides we of course need to make strong statements about the importance of freedom of religion here in Canada and the importance of people being able to have their c