Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
There is a built-in frustration in having to deal with stuff in government, particularly in this immigration and refugee division. The set-up under Brian Mulroney was a real mess. Then in a non-partisan fashion, we really fought, and it came from Conservative members, the New Democrats, and some Liberal members, and it was cleaned up. We had the backlog under control. We were going to improve the consistency of the decision-making we have to do, which is the refugee appeal division--that's the only time you're going to have consistency. Just like when you have the Federal Court, you have the Federal Court of Appeal that sets the rules for folks so the decision-making is consistent.
Then we get to the point where we're looking forward to getting six-month hearings. We're into a year and a half. A crisis was created by this government, and it is as frustrating as hell. I was frustrated when the Liberals weren't moving fast enough. It's so incredibly bothersome that we got to where we got, and we still have a vacancy of 45 members at the IRB. It's unconscionable.
We have criminals we cannot get rid of from this country because they cannot have hearings before the immigration appeal division. I shake my head, because the party opposite, the governing party, is big on law and order. Yet we can't deport criminals out of this country because of this. I really hope you get us those figures, and we're very much looking for criminality. This is a public safety issue for Canadians, and the Conservatives have to take responsibility for it.
We want the Minister of Public Safety to come to this committee, but he has never come. We have not had Stockwell Day, the Minister of Public Safety, who spends his time shovelling people out of the country, before this committee. His priority is undocumented workers who are contributing to the economy of this country, and he has been contemptuous of any effort we have made to try to get him in front of this committee.
Just yesterday, we passed a motion in the House, a motion of concurrence, that we put a halt to deporting undocumented workers. Surely to God.... I appeal to my colleagues on the other side of the table. When I was in the chair, I fought with all parties to get changes that were going to make the system better. It's just frustrating as hell to see this mess coming to us.
Ms. Figg, you mentioned that you were dealing with Vietnamese refugees. I'm not sure if you followed the work of the committee. We've been pushing for getting the few refugees from the Philippines into Canada so we could close the chapter, if you will, on the Vietnam War. Do you have any knowledge of that situation over there?