Thank you very much.
There were a couple of points that I did want to follow up on a little.
One is with respect to the screening and the comment of the CSIS officer that only one in ten applications from Pakistan get security-screened. We need to keep in mind that these officers have the tools they need to do the screening. Every decision is made by a visa officer. If the visa officers think, on paper, there's any possibility of a security concern, they can conduct an interview, they can seek advice from the Canada Border Services Agency, they can send the case to CSIS to get advice.
This is the process I see. Of course I deal primarily with refugees and with family members of refugees trying to come to Canada. I can tell you that in virtually all my cases there have been personal interviews, and issues around security have been examined pretty closely.
The other point I had hoped to make is again with respect to the issue of visa officer competence. I'd refer you to a decision of Justice Snider in the Federal Court, from April of last year, in a case called Ghirmatsion. I can forward that to the committee. Justice Snider undertook a very careful assessment of the training and the competence of visa officers overseas. This was all with respect to one particular officer, but her comments about the degree of training and oversight and support for visa officers is enlightening. I'd like the committee to keep that in mind as they hear the comments of the immigration authorities, talking about the wonderful decisions made by visa officers.