Prime Minister Stephen Harper has proposed a ban on travel to parts of the world controlled by terrorist groups.
The proposal is already being challenged.
Constitutional experts warn that banning travel to certain areas may violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms' guarantee of mobility rights. Section 6 of the Charter says: "Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada."
I've been to Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey. There are terrorists active in all those countries. Would I be arrested under this new law?
The terrorists who murdered Charlie Hebdo cartoonists lived in Paris almost their entire lives. I'm sad it will now be illegal to go there.
Syrian-Canadians are also worried.
Faisal Alazem with the Syrian Canadian Council says hundreds of people travel back to Syria each year, either to visit family or for professional reasons.
"There is a lot of concern. It's not passing very well, I can tell you, in the community," Alazem told the Globe and Mail.
The Conservatives defend the proposal by saying Australia has a similar law in place.
The travel ban will come with several exceptions, though.
You can still travel to the declared areas to provide humanitarian assistance or if you are a "professional journalist." It will also be OK if you are travelling to Syria to fight against ISIS.
That would produce the rather difficult dilemma of figuring out which foreign fighters are leaving Canada to be terrorists and which are doing so to fight terrorists.
In the interest of making things easier for those intending to travel abroad as mercenaries, and the government bureaucrats who will be tasked with figuring this whole thing out, we've put together a handy questionnaire for anyone planning to take up arms for/against Western civilization. Please answer all questions honestly.
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