I want to come back to the Safe Third Country Agreement, if I may. The information we have, that is the first statistics that have already been compiled within the framework of this agreement, between 2004 and 2005, there was a 40 per cent decrease in refugee claims made at border crossings and a 23 per cent decrease at inland offices and airports. Since Canada shares its only land border with the United States, clearly the agreement has greater impact on refugee claimants travelling through the United States.
This affects individuals in the two countries providing the highest number of claimants: Columbians and Mexicans represent 47 per cent of refugee claimants per year. Already, in North American, we can imagine that many of them leave their country of origin and travel through the United States in order to apply.
Should we be concerned about the adverse impact on these refugee claimants? Do they prefer to remain illegal refugees, for fear of being returned to the United States? Could this agreement be causing increasing illegal border jumping?