I'm not going to. I don't really have a lot to say. To be more accurate, I have a great deal to say, but you've already heard it before, because you've had submissions from UNHCR, the Canadian Council for Refugees, and Amnesty International. I pretty much would echo all of that, so I'm not going to go into that in a lot of detail.
I wanted to begin with something that's a little bit off topic, and that's just to say how delighted we are that Immigration has decided to increase the number of both privately sponsored refugees and government-sponsored refugees. Antoinette asked me to pass that particular message on.
In terms of this particular bill, you've heard all the various issues in it. From my point of view, it's a mixed bag. There's some really good stuff in it and there's some stuff I may have some problems with.
In terms of the refugee claimant processing times, those are really good. Considering the situation now, with people having their life on hold for 18 months or longer, it's really nice to see that go through.
I'm a little bit less worried about the eight-day initial interview. I'm more worried about the two months for an IRB hearing. I have cases right now. I have a Tamil guy who needs to get some ID documents, and he doesn't even know if his family is alive, let alone if he can get in contact with them. I have another guy from the Congo in a similar kind of situation. I suspect we may have the situation that the two months keeps getting extended and extended anyway. I don't know if we really need to make it a hard limit. If we do, maybe we need to make it a little bit longer.
The other issue I have is with the speed-up. The problem right now, generally, with all areas of immigration, not just refugee determination but government processing, private processing, and general immigration issues, is that the overall system is under-resourced. If we're going to be able to meet the kinds of goals being set out in this bill, we're going to have spend a lot of money. We're going to have to hire an awful lot more officers and IRB members and clerks and everything else. You can't really set the goals unless you're willing to put the resources into it. To date—and this is nothing new, it's been like this for 20 years—a lot of the problems in the system are not because of structural issues in the system but simply because the system is really under-resourced.
The other major issue I have is with the safe country list. My issue with that is not so much that there are safe countries or there aren't safe countries. The problem I have with a safe country list is that it's going to become politicized and become part of the diplomatic relations Canada has. The act of taking a country off the list or putting a country onto the list is going to involve an awful lot more than just simple refugee realities. I think it's going to be a process we're going to get ourselves into deep trouble with.
One of the really good things about this bill, which I really celebrate, is the introduction of the refugee appeal division, and not just that it's coming in, but that it's coming in strengthened. I think that is a really good move. I think it's really important, and I'm really happy to see that.
The last point I want to make is about the limits being imposed around humanitarian and compassionate appeals and pre-removal risk assessments. I have some problems with those. In any case, I'm not a lawyer, but from what I know of the Singh decision and the case law, I would think the first time those are brought up in court they're not going to be tolerated.
As I said, it's a mixed bag. There's some really good stuff in there. Anything we can do to speed up the system would be really good. I think one of the things we have to remember is that currently 40% to 50% of the people making refugee claims are in fact refugees. These are people who are going to become Canadians, and if we're putting them through this limbo or this hell for 18 months or longer before that happens, we're not exactly getting them off to a good start in Canada. I work in Family and Children Services, and I'm pretty concerned, particularly about some of the children of refugee claimants. Their entitlements are very limited.
Incidentally, I should point out that here in Calgary, for years there were tiny numbers of refugee claims. Starting two years ago, and then especially last year and right now, the numbers have gone way up. My agency is pretty much the only agency that's serving refugee claimants here in Calgary, which is why I'm here.
Anyway, that's really all I have to say. I didn't have a prepared statement because I was asked to come here only this morning.
Do you have any questions?