Good morning, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee.
Thank you for the invitation to appear before you today. We are pleased to be here today to discuss the Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act—legislation that would strengthen and improve this country's immigration system.
In particular, I've been invited to address the asylum system reforms and the human smuggling measures in Bill C-31. I and my other colleagues in the next panel will be happy to address any questions you may have with respect to the biometrics measures in Bill C-31.
To begin, Mr. Chair, allow me to note that Bill C-31 further builds on the long-needed reforms to the asylum system that were passed in Parliament in June 2010 as part of the Balanced Refugee Reform Act. The proposed new measures would further accelerate the processing of refugee claims for nationals from designated countries that generally don't produce refugees. They would also reduce the options available to failed claimants to delay their removal from Canada.
It may surprise some committee members to know that Canada receives more asylum claims from countries in Europe than from either Africa or Asia. Last year alone, almost one quarter of all refugee claims made in Canada were made by European Union nationals.
I think we could all agree, Mr. Chair, that EU countries have strong human rights and democratic systems similar to our own, yet they produced almost 25% of all refugee claims to this country in 2011. That's up from 14% the previous year.
In recent years, virtually all EU claims were withdrawn, abandoned, or rejected. The refugee reform measures in Bill C-31 would help prevent abuse of the system and would ensure that all of our refugee determination processes are as streamlined as possible. This would be accomplished without affecting the fairness of the system and without compromising any of Canada's international and domestic obligations with respect to refugees.
Cracking down on human smugglers is an important element of protecting the integrity of our immigration system, Mr. Chair. That's why Bill C-31 would also help the government take action on the dangerous yet lucrative business of human smuggling.
Bill C-31 would establish mandatory detention for up to a year for individuals who come to Canada as part of an irregular arrival, in order to determine their identity and admissibility, including whether they have been involved in any illegal activity.
Mandatory detention would exclude those designated foreign nationals who are under the age of 16. Also, once an individual's refugee claim has been approved, that individual would be released from detention.
Bill C-31 would reduce the attraction of coming to Canada by way of illegal human smuggling by limiting the ability of those who do so to take advantage of our generous immigration system and social services.
In closing, Mr. Chair, let me say that the proposed measures in Bill C-31 strike the right balance between ensuring the safety and security of Canada and Canadians, and making sure that those who are in need of Canada's protection continue to have access to it.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'll now turn to Peter Hill, my colleague who is director general at the agency.