I was first elected in 2004 in the riding of Burnaby--Douglas, but I worked in Burnaby--Douglas for 18 years before that, first, briefly here on the Hill, and then for 16 years in the constituency office. I did a lot of immigration casework in those days. That's where my interest in the work of this committee is based.
My riding has a large immigrant population; almost 50% of the population in my riding is immigrant or visible minority. The largest group is people of Chinese background, from either Taiwan or PRC or Hong Kong. There's also a large Korean community in the riding as well, but almost everybody else is represented in the riding.
I'm looking forward to the work of the committee. I think we did some excellent work on citizenship issues in the last committee, and I hope the government will consider that work, but I think there is lots to be done on refugee and immigration interests. I hope we will spend some of our time in those areas this time around.