Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 29th, 2007

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

No, I'll pass. Thanks, Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

I'll go to Mr. Komarnicki.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Yes, Mr. Chairman. I see our time is getting short. What time do we have?

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Our schedule is from 11 o'clock until 11:50.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

I'm going to ask a couple of particular questions, but I also want to raise a motion to extend the hearing time we have for these witnesses.

[Andrew Telegdi, Liberal, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

No, it's a waste of time.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Well, first of all, I want to read into the record the fact that we've had other ministers, previous Liberal ministers like Judy Sgro, who had said we have a very fair process, and there are at least four avenues of review or appeal on every application.

The Honourable Joe Volpe said every member should know that the appeals processes are there for everybody and that they work well; we're not interested in adding another layer of appeals. He also said, “the Refugee Appeal Division, which was proposed by the committee and accepted in Parliament, was an additional impediment to streamlining the process...”.

He also said:

Protection is really what counts and that's what the current system delivers.

... It still takes too long for decisions to be made and too long for decisions, once they are made, to have an impact. Simply by adding another layer of review or appeal to what we already have will do little to address this shortcoming; in fact, it may make it worse.

My decision is therefore not to implement the RAD.

Some ministers expressed some reservations with respect to putting in another layer. Was that your understanding of the positions of the various ministers previously, Mr. Brown?

[Malcolm Brown]

Yes, it was.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Some legitimate issues need to be--

[Andrew Telegdi, Liberal, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Fifty vacancies under this government--

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Order, please.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Some additional questions, which I think are legitimate, that we need to be concerned about are how the RAD itself might interplay with respect to appeals to the Federal Court. I think there's an issue there as well that would relate to that, so you might want to respond to that.

Then, Mr. Chair, after he responds, I would like to put a motion on the floor to extend the length of time these witnesses are questioned.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Mr. Brown, a quick response, please.

[Malcolm Brown]

Sure, I may ask Eric, as the legal--

[Andrew Telegdi, Liberal, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order. If you're going to have an extension of the meeting you're going to do it now, because we have got to the time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

We still have a minute.

Go ahead, Mr. Brown.

[Malcolm Brown]

Eric, do you want to answer the specific question about the interplay between the Federal Court and the RAD?

[Eric Stevens]

The way it works currently is that denial at the RPD decision goes to the Federal Court on judicial review. Should the RAD be enacted, then the legislation does provide that that would be the decision, that it goes to the Federal Court for judicial review.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Okay, thank you.

Mr. Komarnicki, do you have a motion?

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Yes. Essentially, I want to put a motion forward--

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Is it accurate to say your motion is that the committee continue meeting and receiving testimony from CIC officials until members no longer have questions?

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

I want to phrase that a little better. I want to raise this issue as follows.

We're dealing with something that is a significant issue to everyone concerned, including--

[Andrew Telegdi, Liberal, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair--

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Let me finish.

[Andrew Telegdi, Liberal, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, the time has run out.