Mr. Chair, thank you very much, and all the members, for giving me this opportunity to deal with this matter.
We've witnessed over the last year or year and a half that a large number of skilled workers and tradespeople who have been in Canada, as has been documented over the years, were working toward getting their status in Canada, but deportation started happening and these people and their families were being separated.
I'm asking that our committee look at it and invite the trades and skilled workers, the unions, and the people who have a stake in this, and at the end come up with something to recommend to the minster as a way to proceed, in order to fill the void we have in a lot of our trades in some parts of the country. Some people may say they don't need people, but Fort McMurray and Whistler need tradespeople. Unfortunately, the demand cannot be met domestically, so we have to make sure that the people we have in Canada who can provide that work are nurtured and guided in the right direction in order for them to be landed and be productive citizens.