--I'm sorry that I don't have speaking notes to hand out now, but I can hand them out tomorrow if you wish.
Just briefly, regarding my background, in addition to being a senior immigration and refugee lawyer in Ottawa with a vast refugee practice as well as an immigration practice, I am a former member of the Immigration and Refugee Board.
I think it's also important to understand my personal background. I am a child of Holocaust survivors. We came from eastern Europe in 1949 before the international convention on refugees was implemented in 1951, so I've had a personal and very moving experience with the issue of refugees and their not being accepted in a time of need during World War II. When I look at this whole issue of reform of the refugee system, I see it from a personal perspective, that is, from my life experience as well as from a professional perspective.
I would like to add that before I became a lawyer—before I went to law school at the age of 40—I was a high school teacher in the French public board, where I taught predominantly in schools that had a majority of refugees in their student population.
I would like to start by saying that I have to commend the government, that I praise the government, for its efforts with its legislation to streamline the refugee determination process. It is a step in the right direction, and I applaud Mr. Kenney for his efforts. I don't think it has gone far enough, but it is a first step in the right direction.
It is very difficult for anybody to actually admit that the current system is working; I think we can all agree that taking 19 months before having a hearing and five years to get rid of failed refugee claimants is excessive and unacceptable. What also cannot be contested is that there is a lot of abuse in the refugee system. I see it on a regular basis. I do not accept all of the clients who come to me to make refugee claims when I am convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that they are not genuine refugees.
So when I speak of cases, I don't speak from an academic point of view, or a theoretical point of view, or even a political point of view. I speak...[Technical Difficulty--Editor]