I'd be happy to address that.
The minister, when he was testifying on April 26, made it abundantly clear that the five-year wait for permanent residence and family reunification were punitive measures designed to deter refugee claimants. He actually said, “So we thought this was the single, most effective way to dissuade people from paying smugglers to come to the country.” He also said that that he hoped that prospective customers of criminal smuggling syndicates would take account of the delayed permanent residence and family reunification before they engaged smugglers.
In our submission, holding vulnerable refugees in detention and denying them family reunification in a deliberate attempt to deter others who are not here is completely unacceptable. It converts Canada from a nation of refuge to a calculated human rights abuser, quite frankly. It's both inhumane and illegal.