Public Safety committee  I say it exists and it's a problem, but to the extent the problem is real, I think it's greatly exaggerated for a whole range of reasons. It does exist as a threat and it's real, but I think the damage we're doing to ourselves since 2001 is far greater than the cumulative damage

Public Safety committee  I'm talking about in North America. It is real. It is a real problem.

Public Safety committee  I think Mr. Barrette's example is extremely important, because it gives an illustration of how, without officially using the investigative hearing powers, you can use them as a threat over people who are not willing to be sufficiently forthcoming to a CSIS officer. The problem wi

Public Safety committee  Are you saying that if it just languished on the books, what harm would it do?

Public Safety committee  This particular legislation creates a chill because I think it undermines the civil liberties of all Canadians. If you looked like a Japanese Canadian during the Second World War, with the broad proclamations from government--whether they named Japanese or not--you were going to

Public Safety committee  These provisions are so intrusive that I'm concerned about the relationship they could create between the government, security agencies, and the community itself. It's so pernicious in its potential impact that I think you have to reserve it for the most extreme circumstances. W

Public Safety committee  If you ask any person who's on duty in security--for example, the head of CSIS--what he needs to make this country safe, invariably the response will be that he needs more power, more authority to do more things, a freer hand. We've heard grumbling to that effect from the previo

Public Safety committee  I did not say that it unfairly targeted the Muslim community. I said that based on a pattern of experience for the last 10 years and even before that, I feel it will disproportionately impact on the Muslim-Canadian community, but that although the derogatory impact, the negative

Public Safety committee  I'm sorry. Was it that this was...?

Public Safety committee  Israel maintained British emergency laws after they became the sovereign government. They routinely detain people for six months at a time and extend one six-month period after another for years, with no charge and certainly with no trial and no conviction. It's under the same pr

Public Safety committee  I think you have to understand that it's going to put a profound chill in any community that's going to feel that it's going to be targeted under the legislation. It's important to note that these provisions begin with our Muslim Canadian community, but they don't stop with the M

Public Safety committee  I will. Thank you.

Public Safety committee  Among the provisions of that legislation were the investigative hearing and recognizance with conditions powers that are now reintroduced in Bill C-17. This time the war-on-terror hysteria has largely dissipated. With regard to investigative hearings, this provision bears stron

Public Safety committee  I will slow down further.

Public Safety committee  I apologize to the translators.