Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 29th, 2007

[Dave Batters, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

I have a quick point of order, or perhaps a motion, Mr. Chair.

It's been very touching to hear what we've heard today.

Madame Faille was going to bring this up regarding Monsieur Vallière and his daughter. I'm assuming that for the other witnesses, the Cochranes and Ms. Galbraith, expenses have been paid by this committee to appear before us today.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Yes.

[Dave Batters, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

Because Monsieur Vallière was a last-minute addition, I would like to suggest to this committee that we approve paying the expenses of this proud Quebecker and proud Canadian for having shared his story with this committee today. It's for both Mr. Vallière and his daughter.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Do you want to make that in the form of a motion?

[Dave Batters, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

I'm in your hands, Mr. Chair. If it's what I need to do, I so move, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

I shall ask for unanimous consent that this be carried out.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Okay. We're all done.

Thank you, Mr. Cochrane.

We'll now go to our questioners, and the first one is Mr. Telegdi.

I think we'll let you have four to five minutes, instead of the usual seven minutes, in order to get everyone in.

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

Thank you very much.

I'm glad Mr. Batters is finally concerned about the right group of people instead of the bureaucracy.

First of all, let me apologize to all you folks. You should not have had to go through what you have gone through.

Last year we in Canada celebrated Canada Day by deporting some undocumented workers, one of them being a Canadian baby.

On this July 1, Australia is going to celebrate our Canada Day by having a new citizenship act come into force. It should have happened and would have happened here, but we have a new government that took away the $20 million that was budgeted for a new citizenship act.

On the stories about pensions being cancelled, unfortunately, those things are true.

Let me ask you, Mr. Cochrane, did you serve in the military?

[Doug Cochrane]

Yes, for 17 years.

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

Here we have a son and daughters or, I should say, the offspring of a Canadian veteran who fought in the Second World War. We have the children of war brides and the next generation.

You served 17 years in the Canadian military. We're bookends in terms of military service to this country.

[Doug Cochrane]

I find it shameful for anybody who serves their country in the way Marion's father and grandfather did and in the way I and my family did. Their wives and children deserve the respect that is due to them, and they obviously didn't get it.

There's no value placed on sacrifice anymore. Whatever is currently in fashion is what's given value and attention. Marion, her father, her mother, and her sister deserve much more from Canada than they've been given.

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

I want to thank you for your testimony.

I know it's not easy to come to a public meeting and bring skeletons out of the closet, if you will, to satisfy or try to deal with some archaic laws that make absolutely no sense. I know it's not easy, and I really appreciate your efforts.

I can tell you that the majority of this committee is going to work very hard to make sure these archaic citizenship laws are corrected. It ill serves us as Canadians to allow this kind of legislation to be in place.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Thank you, Mr. Telegdi.

Madame Faille.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I am terribly disappointed with the department's handling of your case. I am deeply moved by your account.

We have worked with your family, Mr. Vallière. Testifying before the committee is not an easy thing to do. We hear similar stories at our offices. My riding is home to a fairly large population, perhaps because of its close proximity to the veterans hospital. Many people, particularly in the Hudson area with its large anglophone population, are affected by this issue. For those caught up in administrative red tape, misinformation is a terrible thing to have to content with.

I would also like to thank Melynda Jarratt for offering to help us. Normally help should be forthcoming from the department. Fortunately, her website is a good source of information. I would like to take this opportunity to praise her for the superb job she has done. We have also received a tremendous amount of support from the organization Lost Canadians and from a several immigration lawyers who are well versed on this subject. It is unfortunate to have to cut through so many layers of red tape.

This afternoon, we will be hearing from the minister, who will confirm cuts of nearly $26 million to the citizenship program's budget, compared to last year. It is very disappointing. We will be asking the minister to explain the reasons for these cuts and I hope her answers will prove satisfactory.

[A voice]

That would be impossible.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

I was being facetious. Given the problem people are having, we cannot afford to slash $26 million from this program's budget.

Moreover, a number of citizenship cases are currently before the courts, including the Taylor case and that of Mr. Vallière. We have received confirmation that he could not be granted Canadian citizenship merely by invoking the Taylor decision, or the fact that the government is appealing the case. No one knows how long that may take. Unfortunately, those affected by the Taylor decision are elderly.

The first persons affected are Canadian ex-pats who left the country for the United States or elsewhere between 1947 and 1977. Some of these people went back to England after spending half their life in Canada. When they return to Canada, their status is very unclear.

I don't really have any questions. Your testimony this morning was very moving. However, the government can take a number of steps, not the least of which is restoring funding to the citizenship program to correct this situation. At present, it is acting on a case by case basis. All of the citizens who show up at my door have asked the department to re-evaluate their file. However, the number of such cases continues to increase, as more information comes to light. Most likely, we will face a crisis similar to what is happening with passports, with people scrambling to obtain and renew permanent resident cards. Each case will need to be dealt with.

I just want to say that I understand what you are doing. We will try, to the best of our ability, to put things right for you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Thank you.

Thank you, Madame Faille.

Mr. Siksay.

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

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for your testimony.

Thank you for your testimony. It's been very important for all of us to again hear, as we've heard so many times over the course of our study, just how passionately people feel about their Canadian citizenship and how important it is as part of their identity as people. I don't think parliamentarians—I don't think that perhaps governments—have appreciated the passion with which Canadians hold their citizenship. It seems strange. Maybe we're not known for being passionate about our Canadian citizenship, but it's clear, once we bump into someone questioning our citizenship, that it's there. It's so fundamental that people feel strongly about it.

Over the course of years we haven't dealt with the problems of our citizenship legislation in a way that meets the magnitude, the importance of this for average Canadians. As Ms. Cochrane said, average folks feel very passionately about their citizenship. It's such a fundamental issue to their identity.

I want to ask a couple of questions. I know we bump into this problem with the law, and you get the answer that you're not a citizen, and then there doesn't seem to be a lot of help concerning it from the departmental side. I think it's interesting that the Cochranes got referred to the support organization by the British High Commission and not by any Canadian.

[Michelle Vallière]

You're lucky you got the right place telling you.

[Lisa Cochrane]

I thank our lucky stars every day for that. Should that information not have come from my own government rather than the British government? Why? That's just ludicrous.

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

It's interesting that there isn't a sort of advocacy approach to helping people solve these problems, given the importance; that no one takes that kind of initiative within the system.

[Michelle Vallière]

There is a person from whom I had a lot of help. We call it le protecteur du citoyen.

I went to my member of Parliament, who helped quite a bit. She's still helping me now.

They all say the same. It's like a wall. He was born here, then somebody put the wall there, and he's not born anymore. So if he's not born, he doesn't exist. Can you picture it? I can't even take him anywhere, because he doesn't exist. He has a social insurance number and everything, but is that good? He doesn't exist. He's going out of his head.

He worked on CN. He helped Canada make its way with CN. With his age—he's 81.... He didn't cross, but he went to war; he was ready. He did all he could and then he just...da-da! So what does it make me and my two other sisters? What does it make my children? Are we not worth anything? I'm sorry.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Don't apologize, please.We're happy to hear you say it.

[Michelle Vallière]

That's the question we ask. It's true; I cannot bury that poor man. I won't bury him, because he won't die yet, but....