Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I have read all of the witness statements as part of this review.
Let me begin by thanking all members of the committee for their diligent efforts over the past month. While not all members may agree on all details of the bill and the broader package of reforms, there is no doubt that all members have discharged their duties as legislators with evident concern for this very serious issue in all of its complexity.
And you are right to have done so because, at the end of the day, this reform is not about words on a piece of paper. It is about people. It is about justice, fairness and about redeeming Canada's refugee system from years of dysfunctionality, so that we might better protect those in need of our help, while discouraging those who would abuse our generosity.
Let's remember why we're here. For too many years governments of different stripes, including of my party, have looked the other way rather than address serious problems that have burdened—many would say have broken—our asylum system. With an average long-term backlog of 40,000 cases, we have a system that forces victims of torture to wait for more than a year and a half for the certainty of Canada's protection, while allowing manifestly false claimants to game our system and our taxpayers for years.
Mexican President Calderon reminded us of the consequences of our broken asylum system just last week, when he said,
I...know that there have been some who, abusing the generosity of the Canadian people, have perverted the noble aims of the asylum system to their own ends, which led the Canadian government to require visas for those travelling between our countries.
He went on to say, “We sincerely hope that the solution that this Parliament is studying through comprehensive amendments to the refugee law will also serve as a bridge that will allow us to renew our exchanges”.
Band-aid solutions have been tried in the past, Mr. Chairman, but they have failed, like injections of more taxpayers' money to fuel the broken status quo, but which left us no further ahead in dealing with a cumbersome system that is, quite frankly, too easily abused.
And so we must act. Bill C-11 represents an historic opportunity to do so. I do not pretend that the bill as presented by the government is perfect. But it is the result of years of study and consultation by my ministry, and experts, to design an asylum system that, in the words of former IRB Chair Peter Showler, is both “fast and fair.”
I believe that this bill strikes the right balance. But as I have said from the beginning of the process, the government is open to thoughtful improvements that achieve what I believe is our common goal: a fair and fast asylum system.
That this is the common goal came clearly to light in March of last year when the official opposition immigration critic, the member for Vaughan, demonstrated leadership by standing in the House of Commons and asking me, “Why has the Conservative government failed to provide a timely and efficient refugee determination system to people who desperately need one?”
His question, to be fair, reflected the policy of his party, which in its 2008 platform said, “A Liberal government will respect Canada's international commitments to refugees while providing a timelier and efficient refugee determination system”.
I replied to his question that I was delighted to hear the interest of the member in hopefully working together to create a more efficient refugee system. We have indeed, all of us, worked together to that end.
As members of the committee will know, I consulted with many of you prior to the introduction of Bill C-11, inviting ideas for sensible asylum reform. Following introduction of the bill, I went across the country to listen to stakeholders and others.
I'm very pleased to report that following that tour, virtually every newspaper editorial board in the country endorsed our reform package, as did dozens of stakeholders. But I took note of concerns expressed by some groups; for example, Christine Morrissey, the founder of the Rainbow Refugee Committee in Vancouver, and Heather Mantle of the Matthew House Refugee Centre in Windsor.
When Bill C-11 came before the House at second reading, I listened to every speech. I can assure you that I've read all the transcripts of this committee's hearings. During all of these debates and consultations, the government has taken note of constructive criticism and we recognize that we must work together with the opposition to craft a bill that will reflect a parliamentary consensus. But let me be clear, we cannot and will not do so at any expense.
As you proceed to clause-by-clause, we are open to sensible amendments that would render a fair and fast refugee determination process. However, if amendments are made to the bill that for example would significantly slow the process or would undermine our efforts to disincentivise waves of false claims from safe democratic countries, then the government will elect not to proceed with the bill and its associated reforms.
So the stakes are high. If members choose to play politics with this real opportunity for balanced reform, then let's be clear as to what we will all be losing. We will lose a new refugee appeal division for the vast majority of claimants, an appeal division that's better than what was contemplated in IRPA in 2002. That means that if the bill fails as a result of unreasonable amendments, no claimants from any country of origin will have access to a refugee appeal division. That will be a choice if people make such amendments.
Protection for bona fide refugees in a few weeks will be lost, rather than 19 months, which is the status quo. Removal of false claimants in about a year, rather than about five years, will be lost, as will some $1.8 billion in savings for taxpayers.
A program of assisted voluntary removal for failed claimants will be lost. Also, $540 million in new resources for the refugee system, including a 20% increase in resettled refugees and a 20% increase in the refugee assistance program for government-assisted refugees, would be lost. Finally, fully independent decision-makers--rather than political appointees--at the refugee protection division of the IRB would be lost.
Colleagues, I sincerely hope that we will not lose these progressive reforms. We can work together to put the interests of Canada, of taxpayers, of victims of persecution ahead of any of our own political interests. We will do so thanks in part, I believe, to the leadership of the official opposition. Their immigration critic has approached the government with determination and with a series of compelling and we believe workable amendments to the bill, as well as related regulations and IRB procedures. Allow me to detail these changes.
In response in particular to Mr. Bevilacqua's request to increase clarity, we propose to include the term “safe” in the legislation in relation to the designation of countries, and to provide greater transparency around the criteria that will have to be met to designate a safe country of origin.
We also propose to clearly limit the powers of the minister in the designation process. The accompanying regulations, which I am pleased to table today in draft form, further outline the criteria that will need to be met for a country to be designated as safe. You will note that these draft regulations further limit the minister's powers and require that a safe designation can only be made if an advisory panel, including at least two independent external human rights experts, recommends it. Of course, as we've said from the beginning, we anticipate the involvement in the UNHCR in that process.
These amendments go a long way toward depoliticizing the designation process.
A second amendment addresses concerns regarding access to the humanitarian and compassionate process. We've tabled an amendment that would allow people who withdraw their refugee claim prior to a hearing before the RPD to make an application for humanitarian and compassionate consideration. So that concurrent bar would be lifted at the front end of the process to allow people to redirect their claim into the appropriate stream.
A third legislative amendment we have proposed is to transfer the pre-removal risk assessment function from my ministry to the IRB. As the IRB presently delivers the majority of risk assessment decision-making, we agree with many experts that it is a more logical place in which to centralize the risk assessment function.
The official opposition immigration critic strongly advocated the views of many that the proposed timelines for the interview and initial hearing are too short. I do not share that concern. I believe, in fact, that the proposed timelines are longer than in all, or virtually all, of the comparable systems--for example, in western Europe--and those are benchmarks against which we must assess ourselves. But in order to get consensus on these reforms, I made the difficult decision to accept Mr. Bevilacqua's recommendations and to write to the IRB to suggest the timeframes for the triage interview or the information-gathering interview be moved from eight days to 15 days, and that the RPD hearing be moved from 60 days to 90 days. We've written to the IRB chairman recommending that and expressing our policy preference, and you will see in the letter tabled before you that he has written back positively.
I'll close now, Mr. Chairman.
Let me be clear, these changes together represent very significant changes to the bill, to procedures, and to regulations, and address most of the principal concerns that have been expressed by opposition members and interest groups. While I frankly have concerns that some of these measures may go too far in the other direction, not maintaining the kind of balance we hoped for, I know that the government must compromise in order to move the Balanced Refugee Reform Act forward, so we will compromise. For the greater good, we will accept these changes.
In closing, I would like to once again thank all of you for your hard work. And in particular, I would like to recognize the member for Vaughan, who has been a tenacious advocate for his party's tradition of fairness and justice, while demonstrating the kind of leadership that we need to make this minority Parliament work for all Canadians.
I look forward to your questions.