Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Obviously we won't be able to ask specific questions, so I'm going to make some comments rather than ask questions. I want you to know that I appreciate your coming in and giving some very specific concerns that you have and some specific suggestions that we'll certainly take into account.
I know in this area there is a lot of misinformation, misconceptions, and so on. We need to try to stay away from that. I know my colleague Mr. Alghabra indicated that the impression was that the problem was not a big one, that it was a problem affecting only 450 persons. In fact--and I can say this for the minister--she didn't say that's the number out there. That is the number of people who actually called with specific issues that the department received, but that's certainly not an indication of those who might be affected. Certainly those numbers are far larger, and if you had everyone involved, it would be far larger than that.
So you can't mix the facts and throw facts and figures loosely out there, because it certainly isn't something that is correct. We realize and appreciate that there are more than 450 affected, and there are reasons why some may not have called in to the call centre. Certainly we need to address that. I appreciate that there are a lot of war brides and war children. Many of them have entered Canada and are citizens today, but it's those who are not considered citizens who we want to address. There are a number of categories--at least six specific ones, but perhaps more than that--which we need to address. I know there's a great temptation to politicize this by many and make a political issue of it and try to make political points and political gains.
This problem has been around since 1977, perhaps earlier--as you suggested, 1947. Simply pointing fingers and trying to make the next guy look bad is not the issue. The issue is whether we can address it in a logical way that will resolve the majority of problems. I think it's probably safe to say you'll never get it 100% resolved, but we should attempt to do that. Certainly it is our view that we need to address this problem. It's been there for a long time under many administrations, under many different ministers, and it would be good to get this matter to a place where we can see some resolve.
I take Charles Bosdet's concern that there is perhaps a need for some streamlining within the administration and a positive attitude in determining it. Perhaps we need to have a communicative system and an administrative system that brings all of these issues to a focal point at a single desk where there are knowledgeable people who can deal with that. I certainly take that into account.
Mr. Veeman comes from my home province--good to see you here--and obviously has a unique case at hand, which hopefully will resolve itself. You raised the issue of what happens in terms of criminal offences that are committed in the midst of this, before discretion is resolved. I'm wondering if you feel that the discretion should be exercised without regard to criminality or security or whether we should look at the point at which citizenship takes place--