Montreal, Quebec
May 7, 2015
As delivered
Hello everyone. Thank you all for being here. Thank you to Montréal’s airport for giving us such a warm welcome today for this important announcement. I am proud to be here with my honourable colleague, Steven Blaney, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, to discuss a movement that continues to threaten our safety, both abroad and here in Canada.
Since last year, ISIS has engaged in a campaign of unspeakable atrocities against innocent children, women and men. I was recently in Lebanon, and I heard some of these stories directly from refugees fleeing for their lives and whose lives are threatened simply because of their ethnic, religious or cultural group to which they belong. ISIS has declared war on Canada and our allies.
There is a direct threat to Canada and Canadians through the menace of ISIS which, unfortunately, remains an international organization with bases in many places. When a group like this names Canada among other nations as a target, we must do what is required to keep our country safe. That is why our government committed the Canadian Armed Forces to the international coalition against ISIS.
What unites and motivates this type of terrorism is one thing alone: hatred. These individuals despise our many freedoms and the values that we share as Canadians. Our democracy. Our right to speak, think and worship freely. Our respect and tolerance for diversity.
ISIS wants to hurt us simply because we are Canadian … as they do with other groups, minorities and religious minorities in the Middle East. Other democratic countries also face the same threats, and it has pushed people in Canada and around the world to take part in its campaign of brutality and terror.
This is a fight of humanity, of our values, of the principles on which we base our society and our lives, the principles we live by and ideology, a fight of humanity and our values over darkness and ideology. Unfortunately, some people in Canada have fallen prey to this poisonous rhetoric. While it’s unthinkable that Canadians would willingly commit such atrocious crimes literally against humanity, ISIS has successfully recruited some Canadians to join them.
As a government, it’s our highest duty to protect the security of Canadians. It’s also our duty to the international community, as a proud and important member of the community of nations determined to uphold international peace and security, that we prevent terrorist acts from occurring elsewhere in the world when it’s within our control. We know that some Canadians have already left the country to join the fight with ISIS against Canada and our allies. And the Government has revoked their passports in these cases.
We have also refused passports for those we know had plans to leave Canada to join ISIS. In these cases, we were able to stop these Canadians before they could help ISIS commit some of the most heinous crimes in recent history. But we know there are still others who plan to leave the country to join ISIS. It is our duty to stop them and to ensure the number of people with this intention declines.
To date, the government has revoked or refused the passports of Canadians who are a threat to our security using the current provision under the Canadian passport Order. But the current authorities are limited when it comes to disrupting the travel of persons who are intent on becoming involved in terrorist activities. In order to fully protect Canadians and our allies around the world, we need to take further actions. That is why we will strengthen the Government’s authority to allow for the immediate cancellation of a passport where there is an imminent travel risk and an investigation underway.
This will mitigate the risk of an individual using their passport while an investigation is ongoing. And we will create a new section under the Canadian Passport Order that will authorize the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness to cancel, refuse or revoke passports in national security-related cases and terrorism-related offences. We will also increase the maximum period during which we can refuse passport services, from five years to ten years.
This sends a very strong message: we will not allow our Canadian passport to be used as a tool by terrorists to carry out unspeakable acts of violence.
Likewise, Canada must not allow our good reputation to be destroyed by deviants who seek to harm children. Unfortunately, there have been cases when we suspected people left the country to commit sexual offences against children. In order to help prevent such types of cases from happening, we will also create new, specific grounds to refuse, revoke or cancel a passport, when we have grounds to believe a person intends to leave the country to commit transnational child sex offences.
With these changes to the Canadian Passport Order, the government will be in a better position to disrupt individuals before they can travel abroad for terrorism-related purposes or to commit a sexual offence against an innocent child.
Canadians have the right to leave and enter Canada under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but terrorism is not a human right. It’s a crime; a despicable crime and an act of war. These changes also build on the government’s other recent actions to protect our country, and to ensure the safety and security of Canadians. We have also made important amendments to the Citizenship Act, which will enable us to revoke citizenship from dual citizens and to deny it to permanent residents who are convicted of terrorism offences.
There are few things in the world more precious to us than our Canadian citizenship. That’s why we must protect the value of this citizenship and take action against those who threaten our strong Canadian values and our national security.
Together with these changes, we will strengthen the immense value of Canadian citizenship and ensure our passport remains highly regarded around the world.
Thank you very much. I will now pass the mic to my colleague, the Honourable Steven Blaney, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.
