Citizenship and Immigration committee  Like Professor Rehaag, I want to thank you for the opportunity to appear in front of you today. I am going to address the impact of provisions in Bill C-31 that seek to expand the circumstances in which permanent resident status of refugees can be revoked. I have three questi

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Okay. On alternatives, delete clauses 18 and 19 from Bill C-31. The existing powers under IRPA already authorize the minister to seek revocation of a person's permanent resident status if it is obtained through fraud or misrepresentation. Alternatively, add a presumption in the

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I hope you can all agree that the examples I gave are not circumstances that would make you think that this person has engaged in a form of misconduct that legitimatizes an automatic revocation of permanent resident status. Bill C-31expands the possibility of revocation in a way

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The two other areas in which it happens in Bill C-31 are the designation of countries as safe and the designation by the minister of people as so-called irregular arrivals. It's important to know that these instruments are not actually covered by the Statutory Instruments Act, so

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm an academic. I don't make any money off any of this. I'm not employed by—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  There's a line from a movie, “Show me the money”. It's kind of like that: show me the legal opinion that says this is charter compliant.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It's not only inconsistent with the 1951 convention, but perhaps of greater salience to the people here, it's inconsistent with the purposes of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which is to see that families are reunited in Canada. It is well demonstrated through empir

Citizenship and Immigration committee  One of the grounds for cessation is what is called a change of circumstance. It says that a person's claim can be cessated if the reasons for which the person sought refugee protection have ceased to exist. This can be raised at any point. It can even be raised at the refugee hea

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Is that the bill in general or this provision?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think that the Balanced Refugee Reform Act seemed to address many of the legitimate policy objectives that the government seeks to attain under Bill C-31. What Bill C-31 adds to it are provisions that are unconstitutional, and from a policy perspective, I think, problematic and

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I have one alternative suggestion that I put on a slide. Would you like me to elaborate on that now?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The department doesn't bring it forward; the minister brings it forward.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The minister actually said in Parliament, I wrote this bill. But be that as it may, my point is simply to go—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Can I answer your question?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I have yet to hear any defence of the legality of the legislation, apart from saying we had it checked. I would be delighted to hear a substantive engagement about the content of the bill, and look forward to that.