Evidence of meeting #15 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was claim.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
I'm speaking specifically about the original application a refugee would make. Under the terms of the new legislation, do you think they would automatically be turned down if they were from a—
Staff Lawyer, Immigration and Refugee Group, Parkdale Community Legal Services
If they made a refugee claim, they would be turned down, yes, if they were from a supposedly safe country, and they would not have access to the humanitarian procedure.
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
Why would you say that? The whole idea behind it is that every person has the opportunity to make the claim, regardless of where they come from, initially, so they would be heard.
Staff Lawyer, Immigration and Refugee Group, Parkdale Community Legal Services
That's the way it is now.
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
I thought you stated a couple of pretty good examples of where there were exceptions to the rule, so I'm just trying to understand. You think there may be exceptions to the rule in some areas, but you're definitive that no one from a safe country of origin would be granted refugee status in their initial application?
Staff Lawyer, Immigration and Refugee Group, Parkdale Community Legal Services
I would not say that at all. I don't know what the safe countries are going to be, for one thing. No one does. I know, for example, that if Mexico was put on the list, there would be many people who should be granted refugee status from that country because of the current human rights—
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
Sorry, when you were conjecturing about your concern about safe countries of origin, what were you basing it on?
Staff Lawyer, Immigration and Refugee Group, Parkdale Community Legal Services
I'm extremely concerned about safe countries of origin because we don't know who is going to be making that decision and what criteria they're going to make it on.
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
So we need to define the criteria and define who should be--
Staff Lawyer, Immigration and Refugee Group, Parkdale Community Legal Services
Not only that, it's totally contrary to the whole principle of the United Nations convention on the protection of refugees. It's supposed to be an individual determination based on the individual's experience. People from very developed countries have even had experiences that would fit the determination that they're a refugee. So it's just contrary to the whole principle.
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
So you are acknowledging that it's possible, but you just don't think it's practical.
Staff Lawyer, Immigration and Refugee Group, Parkdale Community Legal Services
I do not think it's practical. I don't think it's going to help or speed up the system because it's certainly going to be challenged. It really is going to politicize the refugee process to a terrible extent. I can't imagine why any government would want to get into making those kinds of decisions when we want to have good trade relations with China. Well, guess what? China--
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
Okay, thanks. I understand. You don't agree with what we're doing here. Thank you.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Maurizio Bevilacqua
Thank you.
On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank the witnesses. You have given us a lot to think about. There are obviously certain themes that are emerging from our hearings, and we will give them the attention they rightly deserve. Thank you so much.
This meeting is adjourned.