Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think at the moment the most obvious country that is problematic for people in our community is Mexico because the situation in Mexico has deteriorated in relation to drugs and the drug war, and the cartels. Our perspective is that if police are not able to take care of their c

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, certainly they don't.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would like to add that with regard to the reference to people going to a nearby country, we have many examples and many experiences—for example, we had two gay men from Pakistan who were outed by the local BBC. Their only way of escape was into Afghanistan in the middle of a wa

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The other thing—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The reality is that people who are genuine refugees who live in really challenging circumstances and face persecution on a regular basis will find whatever means they can to come to a place of safety. Certainly, Canada has been identified as one of those by many people around the

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Unfortunately, none of us are lawyers and so it's very hard for us to speak about that, but certainly in the groups and consultations that we have attended, there is serious consideration being given on the part of lawyers who work with refugees that this will be contested.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  First of all, yes, we know that quite a number of people come to Canada as a result of their fear of persecution. We see people from Southeast Asia, from many African countries, from many South American countries. We've also seen people, interestingly, from Mongolia and Moldova,

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Marta—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We have grave concerns about the injustice and harm caused to LGBT refugees designated as irregular arrivals under Bill C-31. Agents may be the only way LGBT asylum seekers can escape persecution, given that neighbouring countries are often unequally safe. In some regions of the

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The expedited timeframe proposed under Bill C-31 will not give LGBT claimants a fair chance to obtain competent legal counsel and prepare themselves and their evidence. We are pleased that the government has heard the concerns we expressed that a screening interview at 15 days wo

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We strongly oppose giving the minister sole discretion to create a designated country list that denies access to appeal. A safe country list cannot accommodate the current state of complexity and flux in safety and protection for LGBT people. For example, Brazil holds the largest