For those who have worked in immigration for a very long time—and it's a very long time—we once had a credible basis, a minimum de fondement. The idea at the time seemed to be almost identical to what we're doing, what is being proposed in the law right now.
Designating safe countries is an effort or an attempt to minimize, to reduce, the number of claims. That seems to be one of the driving forces for this new legislation. But it really is at odds with individual status determination. The whole convention relating to the status of refugees is that an individual needs to prove why they have been persecuted or had a threat to their life, and we're taking that away when we designate entire countries. As we mentioned before—you could even possibly suggest the case that Richard presented earlier—gender cases, cases of sexual orientation... You may be from a country that has minimum human rights standards. But there are always people who will be targeted.
Look at what Malawi is doing in cases of sexual orientation, Zimbabwe, others, etc., in Africa. It will be a nightmare, I think, to designate those countries. And it doesn't need to be. It really is a contradiction in the law. But at the same time, we understand—I think most people are quite realistic—that there are some concerns about claims that are weaker, as we describe them, that do not seem to have the same level.... Why not prioritize those claims? The process of accelerating, of giving a chance for them to be heard, for a decision to be rendered and to go to appeal--we hope--if that is the intention of individuals, then why not do that?
What do we do with our own client group? We're a responsible organization. We meet people in detention. We have no agents working overseas helping people or identifying what to say or when to say it. I think it's going to be very hard for people to understand that there are two different streams here--one, if you come from one country or several countries, or, two, from others--and to know how to prepare. Again, it always comes back to documentation. And some of them—