I have been back to refugee camps. And as a member of Parliament, I have dealt with cases where bad decisions were made and people were sent out of the country. I don't know what happened to them, in some cases. I'm haunted by those things. It bothers me. So the appeal division is not going to be perfect, just as the Supreme Court doesn't always make perfect decisions, but by the time it gets to the Supreme Court and they make a decision, I will be able to sleep at night.
I'm going to read--and I suggest you listen, because you haven't been with the department very long--from a clause-by-clause manual that came out when we were dealing with the immigration and refugee act: “The establishment of this right of appeal and new Division would improve the refugee determination process in Canada by enabling the correction of clear errors in decisions of the Refugee Protection Division without recourse to the Federal Court and by enhancing”-- and I underline the word enhancing--“the quality and consistency in decisions through the provision that the decisions of three member panels of this Division are binding on the Protection Division on questions of law.”
One of the problems we have had, and it has certainly been a lot worse with the one-member panel, is that just as the Federal Court of Appeal sets the rules for the Federal Court justices, so does the putting in place of a refugee appeal division....
This discourse I have heard in the last 40 minutes or so is straight out of Yes, Minister. I really cannot believe, to the extent that the will of Parliament...and it was the will of Parliament to put in a refugee appeal division. I hope you understand that the refugee appeal division is going to pass, and we're going to hold the government accountable if it doesn't act upon it.
And I dare say I am somewhat disturbed that a person who holds your position has such little experience in the Department of Citizenship and Immigration.