One of the other elements of this bill, and Minister Kenney has been very clear on this, is that parents will have a choice. Let's say people arrive on the shores of Canada. If they have children under the age of 16, they've got two choices. For parents escaping from a fire and arriving in Canada, I want to know how much of a choice there is. They can either keep their children with them in detention, in prison, in jail, or they can hand their children over to the authorities of the province in which they are being located. What kind of a psychological impact would this have not only on the parents but also on the children, remembering that the children are escaping from that same fire?
On May 1st, 2012. See this statement in context.