Public Safety committee  I will share my time with Mr. Alexander. My name is Bal Gupta, and it has been my misfortune to have been coordinator and chair of Air India 182 Victims Families Association from 1985 onwards. I thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to testify. From the perspectiv

Public Safety committee  I think I can say the same thing. I personally appeared before the Senate committee in 2007, when the sunset clause was being debated. We, all the members, agreed that those two clauses, the investigative hearings and the recognizance with conditions, were very valid clauses for

Public Safety committee  If I may add, you have to keep in mind the way that terrorist organizations or terrorist individuals work. Intimidation is a very strong tool used in these groups or communities, and people are afraid to come out. Investigative hearings can be a useful tool. People, even those wh

Public Safety committee  Well, in Air India, obviously the prosecution dropped it. Once the legality was proved, they didn't use it. So that tells you that they will be judicious, or reasonable and rational, in their application. That's my feeling. Both these provisions were there, and at least one was

Public Safety committee  If I may add to that, the answer is yes. I think it was either in November or late October when the millennium bomber was convicted in the U.S.A. Finally he got sentencing—not convicted, but sentencing was pronounced. That's a good example; he was carrying ammunition from British

Public Safety committee  I agree with Rob Alexander. I think in retrospect, one of the RCMP officers in one of his interviews used the words “eureka point”. The question was why these guys were not stopped; they were following the individuals, but they were not stopped. His answer was that they were not

Public Safety committee  One aspect is the other type of support, emotional and so on. With Air India we were left to float or sink on our own. Nobody from the federal level or provincial level gave us any support. This is a sad commentary. We can spend whatever the figure is, $55,000 or $65,000 per pe

Public Safety committee  —but when it comes to dealing with victims of crime, the amount is a round one: zero. That's where I have even qualms with the so-called civil liberties associations. They will be up in arms about providing facilities to the prisoners, but I have yet to find a civil libertarian

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Good morning. I thank the committee for giving us an opportunity to testify from the perspective of victims impacted directly by the most heinous violent crime in Canadian history, namely, the terrorist bombing of Air India Flight 182 on June 23, 1985. The Air India 182 Victims

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Maybe I'm too opinionated. I think Canadian citizenship is being used as a matter of convenience by many people, and we have to be careful. Of course it should not be stripped unless it is really necessary. At the same time, you don't want to make Canada a penal colony. By that I

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I don't think those guys come under this category. This is for acts of war against the Canadian Forces, but personally I wouldn't mind if they were stripped of Canadian citizenship, if they are proven guilty.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's what I'm saying, if they are proven guilty. Again, here we are talking.... This is the typical argument I'm hearing. We are not hearing about the life lost by a soldier at the front. We are trying to protect the individual who caused it.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  He is fighting against the Canadian Forces. He has no value to Canadian democracy. Does he deserve Canadian citizenship if he's proven to have been fighting.... I'm not talking about Celil in China. That is treason against China, not treason against Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, I don't. As I said, I'm not a legal—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, I'm not saying they are, but most of the time we hear about protecting the individuals who may be fighting against the Canadian Forces.