Public Safety committee  The passport is an internationally recognized instrument to verify identity and citizenship of an individual to allow for foreign travel, as you all know. In Canada, we don't guarantee necessarily the right to a passport. We have the right to mobility under section 6 of the chart

Public Safety committee  No, the use of a special advocate is not set out in the bill. I believe that special advocates are specific to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. This mechanism doesn't appear anywhere else in Canadian legislation. In the absence of this possibility, the court always has

Public Safety committee  No, judges will have access to the information provided by the individual and the individual's counsel. So, they will have access to all the information before them. However, the government reserves the right to withdraw information that it deems too sensitive and that needs to

Public Safety committee  That's right. The judge will have seen the information, but will not be able to consider it if the government has withdrawn it. This provision is found in other Canadian legislation, including the Canada Evidence Act. Normally, we would use the Canada Evidence Act. However, we a

Public Safety committee  That's correct.

Public Safety committee  I think the use of a special advocate is not at all provided with respect to passports. The use of a special advocate is a measure included in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for security certificates.

Public Safety committee  Judges will have access to the information on the case—

Public Safety committee  Actually, the legislation stipulates that the judge is required to hold a hearing in private. It is not left to the judge's discretion. It's at the government's request. However, once the judge is aware of the government's position and has determined why the government has asked

Public Safety committee  The only response I can provide is that the courts have provided us with plenty of decisions on procedural fairness, so the government will be following the guidance provided by the courts on that topic.

Public Safety committee  No, this definition was not explicitly included. We are using a much shorter format in this case. We're simply talking about national security, as in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, for example. The expression “national security” will therefore be interpreted based on

Public Safety committee  Just to complete my colleague's answer, because there is no legislation on passports we are creating here a stand-alone act. That was deemed the best solution to put these sections in. We didn't find a better place to fit them under, so they get their own act. This act accompanie

Public Safety committee  The process is spelled out in two different places. The Canadian passport order states that in the context of a passport cancellation the individual can apply for reconsideration. The procedure for that is not spelled out in detail. However, the Department of Public Safety will

Public Safety committee  That's exactly right. Proportionality would mostly come into play when a judge is considering the justifiability or whether taking a certain action is justifiable under the charter. In the context of the bill before us today, a judge would mostly look at whether the decision of

Public Safety committee  No. Crown prerogative is part of the common law.

Public Safety committee  Well, as an order in council, it's under the Governor in Council's prerogative to codify, but the authorities themselves exist in the common law at this time.