Citizenship and Immigration Committee on April 8th, 2008

Evidence of meeting #25 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was iraq.

On the agenda

Undocumented and Temporary Foreign Workers

Iraqi Refugees

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Alda Benjamen Educational coordinator, Member of the board, Assyrian, Chaldean, Syriac Student Union of Canada

Paul Baba Member, Assyrian Society of Canada

Mirza Shmoil Chairman and Executive Director, Welfare Committee for the Assyrian Community in Canada

Nabil Farhan Canadian Chapter Chair, Mandaean Human Rights Group

Amy Casipullai Policy and Public Education Coordinator, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, STATUS Coalition

Francisco Rico-Martinez Co-Director, Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ) Refugee Centre, STATUS Coalition

Macdonald Scott Immigration Consultant, As an Individual

Kirpa Kaur Activist, No One Is Illegal

José M. Eustaquio Labourers' International Union of North America (LIUNA)

Alfredo Barahona Program Coordinator, Refugees and Migrants, Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives (KAIROS)

Cosmo Mannella Director, Canadian Tri-Fund, Labourers' International Union of North America (LIUNA)

Tanya Molina Executive Director, Mennonite New Life Centre of Toronto

Mariela Salinas Student intern (Settlement), Mennonite New Life Centre of Toronto

Noon

Liberal

Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON

Just let the witnesses answer.

12:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle

I will point out that Bill C-50 will not be voted on tonight.

12:05 p.m.

Liberal

Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON

To have full hearings on this, we call stakeholders and do the responsible thing of letting you decide which way you want us to go.

12:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle

Order, please.

Just to set the committee at ease, Bill C-50 is not going to be voted on tonight. Today is an opposition day. There is not going to be any vote on Bill C-50. We've already checked the Journals Branch. It's on the Budget Implementation Act. Let's forget all about that.

Are there any comments here?

12:05 p.m.

Director, Canadian Tri-Fund, Labourers' International Union of North America (LIUNA)

Cosmo Mannella

I hope the work of this committee does not go for naught and that the government does listen to what we're saying. We have interests from various parts of our society, but the end result is that dealing with the problem of immigration and the existing undocumented workers is going to be a net win-win for this country, and that's what we're advocating. Let's get into a winning position. It's not acceptable to have no public policy as a form of public policy.

12:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle

Thank you.

I sense that Mr. Barahona would like to make a comment.

12:05 p.m.

Program Coordinator, Refugees and Migrants, Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives (KAIROS)

Alfredo Barahona

I'm sure you have heard an echo effect on many of our recommendations and concerns. I do trust that you will make the right decisions when it comes time to make them. It's all in your hands.

12:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle

We want to thank you for coming.

It was an excellent panel and an excellent group of presentations. Believe me, we will be using your recommendations as we make our recommendations. Thank you.

The meeting is adjourned for now.