Mr. Oliphant, I would contend that family sponsorship is a privilege and not a right. There's no international legal instrument, no charter provision that says people have an a priori fundamental right to sponsor family members.
Now, we do recognize that refugees who are in need of a permanent resettlement solution should in due course be able to sponsor family members, and Bill C-49 respects that, but we say they'd have to wait five years.
Why? You have to look at the rationale. This is not, in our judgment, punitive. It is practical. Why are people paying $50,000 to smugglers? It's clear if you talk to the experts and the people who operate in the transit countries that the $50,000 price point is calibrated not for one person's prospective entry into Canada, but for that person plus the family members the person plans to sponsor. What we are trying to do in this provision of the bill is reduce the price point, so the smugglers can no longer afford to target Canada.
In Australia, between 2002 and 2008, when they went to a temporary protection visa for those determined to be bona fide refugees, it worked. Since they went back to a permanent residency visa and the right of family sponsorship for irregular marine arrivals who are later determined to be bona fide refugees, over 10,000 people have arrived in this way.