Good morning, members of the committee.
My remarks today stem from a basic premise, which is that everyone in this room is committed to the protection of people who are at risk of persecution in their countries of origin, and that no one in this room would applaud or welcome the refoulement, or return, of persons to a place where their lives or liberty would be at risk.
This has to be our touchstone. As we go through the bill, we have to ask ourselves whether the provisions of the bill impede or enhance our ability to identify those who are in need of protection.
I would like to share my concerns about two groups of claimants who are, in my experience, likely to fall through the cracks and face refoulement under the ultra-fast timelines of Bill C-31, regardless of our good intentions.
The first group includes those who are traumatized because of past persecution.
There's an inherent conundrum in our refugee system, and it's this: The people who have been severely persecuted in the past and are most in need of protection are often the least able to tell their stories. There has been extensive scientific research into this. Many people think that the first story a claimant tells is likely to be the truth, so it's important to get the account before the claimant has a chance to colour his or her story. But in fact, it typically takes a great deal of time to get a coherent and accurate account. There are a number of reasons for this, but for reasons of time, I won't go through them. I'd happy to answer questions later, if you would like elaboration on the scientific reasons trauma impedes the ability to share a story.
The problem, for practical purposes, is that the more severely traumatized an individual, the greater the likelihood that he or she will be found lacking in credibility. The person's account is likely to be found incoherent, inconsistent, vague, or contradictory. So the claimant is likely to be dismissed as lacking in credibility.
The only way to counter this is to educe medical, psychological, or psychiatric reports that corroborate the physical and mental scars of trauma. And this takes time. It takes time, because claimants who are traumatized often will shut down their experiences. They don't want to talk about them; it's their way of coping. The accelerated timelines under Bill C-31 will impede our ability to identify those who have suffered persecution.
The second group I am concerned about are those who are in detention. As you've heard this morning, detention in all centres outside Toronto and Montreal is in correctional facilities. Correctional facilities are designed to manage people who have been convicted of or charged with criminal offences. These are typically people who are quite difficult to manage. Moreover, correctional facilities impose quite severe restrictions on the ability of people inside the facility to communicate with the outside world. These restrictions apply to refugee claimants. There are severe restrictions on incoming calls. There are severe restrictions on outgoing calls. There is no access to Internet. There is no access to email. As a result, claimants have a great deal of difficulty obtaining identity documents or other evidence germane to their claims, such as complaints they may have filed with the police in their countries of origin, medical reports from hospitals, and so forth.
They also have—