hello I'm Russ Cooper and I'm here at
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the Canadian War Museum
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I'm a retired military and civil
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aviation pilot who is looking forward to
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his retirement years as I enjoyed more
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time with family and friends
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unfortunately I had to put these plans
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aside when Member of Parliament across
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Khalid came up with her motion m103 I
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did so because I saw embedded within the
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motion the seeds of the curtailment of
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Canadian free speech rights I came to
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this conclusion on the basis of my
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security background in both the Canadian
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military and in follow-on security work
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as an analyst I guess you could say that
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I gained a deep respect for the Charter
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rights of freedoms and Canadian values
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during my 28-year career as a as a
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military fighter pilot after all I had
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the benefit of enjoying those freedoms
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every day of my life but more than this
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I had the opportunity to fight for the
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projection of these values abroad
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against tyrannical regimes I was honored
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to have had the ability or the
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opportunity to do so as I believed that
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Canadian rights and freedoms are secured
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by a long line of citizen soldiers who
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have made efforts and sacrifices to
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preserve those rights freedoms and
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values I decided to join the debate back
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in January of this year when I kicked
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off a nationwide petition which turned
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out to be quite successful it garnered
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upwards of twenty seven thousand
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signatures from Canadians across the
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nation and these were everyday folk and
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they expressed extreme concern with the
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use of the term Islamophobia they didn't
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like the fact that the term was
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undefined and it might have the
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potential to raise Islam above all other
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religions in Canada and allow them the
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protections against being criticized or
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commented on in the public square
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Canadians were also of a mind that they
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were very surprised and somewhat shocked
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that their own government would accuse
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the nation and its citizens of systemic
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racism and religious discrimination how
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could this be the case when Canadians
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are so welcoming
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of an ever-increasing number of
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immigrants refugees foreign workers and
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students from all races all religions
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and all points of origin over the past
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several decades it just didn't make
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sense
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now Canadians can be forgiven for
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thinking that the term of Islamophobia
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is problematic after all they've seen
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the effects of fighting Islamic Osama
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phobia a tale out in the European
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experience as one that involves the
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curtailment of free speech rights there
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are many many examples that show this
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there's a case of United Kingdom police
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advising Facebook users that they better
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watch themselves or they might find
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themselves in jail the Mayor of the City
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of London commissioned a task force to
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track down Internet users who were
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annoying others in Ireland an Irish
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pastor was charged with hate speech for
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criticizing Islam in Germany a
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photojournalist was jailed for six
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months because he had the temerity to
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publish an historical photo that showed
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Adolf Hitler shaking hands with a Grand
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Mufti of Jerusalem
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now some Canadians might say this is not
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in the cards for Canada we live in
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different circumstances we have
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different laws but this assumption might
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very well be false for it as a fact that
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Canadian and European human rights
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legislation very much are founded on
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international declarations and covenants
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that have evolved in the international
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environment since the in the post-world
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War two ERA prime among among these is a
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United Nations Declaration of Human
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Rights of 1948 and the International
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Covenant Covenant of Civil and Political
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Rights of 1966 these two instruments
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underpin all of Canada's and Europe's
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Human Rights legislations
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even as they've moved the balance from
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free speech to hate speech from one that
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prescribed incitement to violence to one
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that censure is not only incitement to
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violence but incitement to hostility and
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discrimination as well this is of great
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concern
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the wording of the this wording was
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picked up in the International Covenant
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of Civil and Political Rights and was
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very concerning its vagueness was very
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concerning to the United States of
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America who ratified the sea CPR on
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condition that its wording wording could
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not be taken to authorize or require any
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restrictions in freedom of speech or
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Association here we see a fork in the
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path we see the Americans going down a
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free speech path and we see Canadians
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and Europeans going down a path that's
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more accommodating to those who are
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offended or take offence so we see here
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that things that are happening in Europe
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might very well happen in Canada because
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of the similarity of our human rights
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legislations and underpinnings now it's
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important to note that while this was
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human rights the legislation was
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evolving on both sides of the Atlantic
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it was also being paralleled by a
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separate system that was spearheaded by
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the Organization of Islamic Cooperation
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and they chose to put Sharia law at the
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center of their human rights efforts
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they determined that Sharia could be the
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only the only the sole source of
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reference for human rights in in Islam
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this was explicitly stated in the OIC 's
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Cairo declaration of 1990 it was a Cairo
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declaration on human rights in Islam and
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since that time the organization has
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been very busy aggressively lobbying the
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international community to embed Sharia
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blasphemy and slander laws within their
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Muslim and non-muslim legislative
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organizations this is of great concern
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the Organization of Islamic Cooperation
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scored a big success in 2011 would have
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helped engineer United Nations
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resolution 16/18
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this resolution swept up the the wording
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of the ICCPR but it went beyond that to
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say that all persons whether
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individually or in communities had the
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right to manifest their belief or
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religion in worship observance practice
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and teaching this raises a question if a
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religion teaches the
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it's criticism is forbidden is a host
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nation responsible for recognizing and
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accommodating that proposition this is
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not a moot point for Canada because
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resolution 16/18 is a consensus
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agreement Canada is a signatory to that
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consensus and they are obligated to
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consider resolution 16/18 when they make
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human rights legislation on a national
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level
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now Canadians don't like the term
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Islamophobia but they also don't like
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the assumptions in logic that underpin
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motion m103 namely that we are
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systemically racist and we are religious
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discriminators they read OC the evidence
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for this even though the proponents of
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m103 point to the Quebec City mosque
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attack of January of this year as being
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evidence of such discrimination and even
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white supremacy the fact is at seven
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months after the event no hate or terror
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charges have been laid in addition to
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this Canadians understand that there is
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a wide secretive cloak placed over the
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whole Proceedings of this mass murder
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and it's very unusual because this is a
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story of international scale and
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Canadians just don't understand why no
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one is talking about it the other fact
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that Canadians are worried about is that
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data is being used in a cherry-pick
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fashion to affirm the fact that
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Canadians are religious discriminators
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the most used fact is the one that comes
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out of the stats can report that says
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that eight incidents against Muslims has
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increased 61% over two year period now
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while it is true that that might be the
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case the context is missing in the fact
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that the absolute numbers are involved
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are 99 in 2014 and 159 in 2015 that's a
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61% increase but then again these are
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negligible numbers and given the
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population of Muslims in Canada to be
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approximately 1 million people it's
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insignificant you could say that one
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case one year followed by two cases of
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next year as a hundred Senate increase
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but the truth is is that the situation
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is neither remarkable or unstable
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in summary Canadians do not like the
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term Islamophobia they feel it needs to
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be discarded because it bears with it
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the potential to curtail free speech
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rights they also do not like
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the motion the underpinnings of the
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motion in that they don't believe that
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the country is systemically racist or
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that they're all religious
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discriminators they feel that these
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assumptions need to be studied seriously
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by an authority that is impartial
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independent and competent an authority
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that is capable of determining the
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balance between the free speech rights
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of individuals in Canada and the rights
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of minorities in Canada not to be
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offended thank you very much for your
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consideration of this testimony I think
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it's quite important because I really
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believe that the fate of Canadian free
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speech rights are at stake
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you
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