Citizenship and Immigration Committee on April 17th, 2007

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

Thank you very much.

Mr. Summers, can you tell me what our shortage is on the Immigration and Refugee Board now?

[Nick Summers]

I don't have exact figures, but my understanding is that by the end of this month we will be almost 60 members short.

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

There are 60 members out of one 156. We see the stats. The backlogs are growing, and there's a crisis at the board. It really is unbelievable how the Conservatives have mismanaged this particular file.

Besides the refugee hearings, we also have the matter of the immigration appeal division, whereby people who are permanent residents and are expelled from the country then have a right to a hearing. My understanding is that because of the shortage on the board, people aren't even able to schedule times to have that hearing. Am I correct?

[Nick Summers]

You are correct, but it's not just people who are appealing removal from the country. There are family reunification issues for people whose request to bring their families to this country has been rejected. Their appeals are also being put on hold because there aren't members to hear them.

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

The point I want to make is that here we have the Conservative government talking about “let's get tough on crime”, “let's make Canada safer”, but because of their incompetence, we have people who are staying in the country who maybe should be going out of the country. They're staying in the country because of the incompetence of the Conservatives in terms of handling the appointments to the Immigration and Refugee Board.

I want to commend you, certainly, as well as Mr. Fleury and the rest of the board, for taking a principled stand. We fought and you fought to get an appointment process going that would not have political appointments and political payoffs. We have to be very mindful that when the board was initially created, totally unqualified people were put on the board by the previous Conservative government, which is very well documented by Stevie Cameron in the book On the Take: Crime, Corruption and Greed in the Mulroney Years.

We were getting away from that, and now we've come to a position in which security is being threatened because of Conservative incompetence. I find it incredible that they sing one way when they're in opposition but they act totally contrary to it when they're in government.

My next question is whether you could elaborate on some of the other cases that are being held up by the immigration appeal division because there isn't the manpower or person power to hear cases that have to, according to legislation, go before it.

[Nick Summers]

I think you've summed it up pretty well.

As I say, there are quite a number of different cases that go before the immigration appeal board and the refugee board, and all of them are being held up. There simply isn't the manpower to deal with the cases. And I agree with you that there are security issues. Being an advocate for refugees by training and work, my main concern is the suffering it's causing to refugee claimants and their families.

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

I agree with you, and the commentary in total, but it's important to also underline the point that the people who should be out of the country are not out of the country because of the essential incompetence in the way this department is being handled by the government. We look forward to some kind of improvement.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Okay.

The time is moving on, so I want to thank you again for coming here today. I know it's a terrible day to be here, but we had no way of knowing that we'd be interrupted so much in the proceedings.

Again, thank you, and I know you'll be watching with interest to see what our recommendations will be in this regard. Thank you.

The meeting is adjourned.