Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 27th, 2010

Evidence of meeting #20 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 appeal.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Bill C-11, An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Federal Courts Act

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Shahid Hashmi Chairman, CanPak Chamber of Commerce

Sohabe Hashmi Administrative Director, CanPak Chamber of Commerce

Mary Jo Leddy Member of the Ontario Sanctuary Coalition, Founder of the Romero House for Refugees, As an Individual

Gift Ogi Romero House

Gustavo Gutierrez Refugee Claimant, Romero House

Sylvain Thibault Coordinator, Projet Refuge Program, Montreal City Mission

Kemoko Kamara Volunteer, Montreal City Mission

Rob Bray Manager, Family and Children Services, Special Projects, Calgary Catholic Immigration Society

Huseyin Pinarbasi President, Kurdish Community and Information Centre

Dogan Dogan Research Analyst, Kurdish Community and Information Centre

Sharalyn Jordan Rainbow Refugee Committee

8:55 p.m.

Conservative

Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON

I think one of the things we're going to do to make it less cumbersome is we're not actually going to go out and say, well, there are 200 countries in the world and we're going to put the list together. We're going to start to look at this when we see a huge intake from one particular country and we find out that the rejection rate is higher than it should be and the acceptance rate is that much lower. So while we may start out to call this a direction of safe countries of origin, when you come down to it, it really is a mechanism to ensure that those whose lives are in danger do have an opportunity to have a fair and quick hearing in this country to be able to be accepted as true refugees.

8:55 p.m.

Rainbow Refugee Committee

Sharalyn Jordan

Absolutely. I agree with that goal. I wonder about changing the mechanism from a list in the power of the minister's hands...instead designating Canada Border Services the power to expedite certain claims. They would identify these on an individual basis, based on the research they do--

8:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative David Tilson

I have to cut both of you off. Sorry. You're two minutes over. These guys will yell at me.

Mr. Dogan, Mr. Pinarbasi, Ms. Jordan, thank you very much for your presentations. They've both been excellent. We thank you for taking the time at this late hour to come and speak to the committee. We've appreciated it. Thank you kindly.

This meeting is adjourned until Monday, May 31, at 6 p.m.