Foreign Affairs committee  Okay. That's fine.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for your interest and your attention.

Foreign Affairs committee  It is not enshrined. That's the problem. The crown prerogative is not enshrined in law. It is a convention of our constitution. What I found surprising.... I think it's worthwhile, if you want more detail here, to go back and read the 2010 Supreme Court decision. This involved O

Foreign Affairs committee  It's a necessity. It doesn't carry any special protection because it's a Canadian passport. It is an international document. If you leave Canada.... It used to be that you could use a Canadian Tire credit card to go into the States, but that isn't going to work anymore, so it's t

Foreign Affairs committee  You can't demand that they give up another citizenship unless they want to do so. By the way, the other country that is quite rigid in this area is India. If you're somebody who suggests that you might have lived in India and you apply, say, for an Indian passport, the High Commi

Foreign Affairs committee  With regard to the mechanics of registering, we've been doing it for years and it's probably about as easy as it can be, but most Canadians, when they head off for the southern sun and things like that, don't think a disaster is just around the corner, and more often than not the

Foreign Affairs committee  This started back in 2010, I think. This case has been around for a long time. The case before the courts is at least three, if not four years.... I'm on the list of being an expert witness for this particular case, if it ends up in the court.

Foreign Affairs committee  That's the only one I know is current right now, but, as you know, I'm not on the inside of any of these sorts of things. There could be other cases there. I follow the press pretty assiduously in these areas, but.... Well, there is one going on that involves a man by the name o

Foreign Affairs committee  That's under law. There is no ambiguity about this whatsoever, and that's what's ironic about some of these things. That's why they end up being in the courts. The courts basically agree to the large settlements that have been made in these cases because it is contrary to the cha

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, but it depends on the issue. Permanent residents would not have Canadian citizenship and the consular services are essentially predicated on citizenship, but there have been any number of situations around the world involving permanent residents in which we have reached in

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, I did, at the very end.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, there are any number of examples throughout the government. This kind of person acts as an intermediary between a Canadian who feels they have been badly treated by actions of the government and on the part of government. I think you need somebody in that sort of role. As f

Foreign Affairs committee  The most difficult ones to deal with, of course—and we've had a case in the last few days—are parental child abductions. Those are the most difficult ones. There is a bit of international law in this area, but the international law is based on the European-North American model of

Foreign Affairs committee  Three or four of the cases I mentioned there.... A still current case involves a man by the name of Abdelrazik, who went out to Sudan to visit family there. From what I've seen reported and detailed as far as the court case is concerned, in effect he was detained by the Sudanese