Thank you, Gift.
Our third point is about the designated countries list.
The crucial question here, as I'm sure you know by now, is who designates a country as safe and why. The bill as presented would place this power in the hands of the minister and officials of the government. This would politicize the refugee determination process even further and ultimately discredit it more. Canadians have often mocked the political patronage appointments to the IRB. This use of the designated country list would only further jeopardize the independence of the refugee determination process.
Until this process is completely separate from political interest it will not be credible--not to the refugees and not to the citizens of this country.
The political interests involved in the designated country list are many. Today we heard about the efforts of President Calderon of Mexico to convince the Canadian government that Mexico is safe. Tomorrow it will be another country.