We therefore undertook an awareness campaign with the objective not of persuading people to our position, but simply of informing them about the content of Bill C-31. And what happened was that a majority of the students we approached were opposed to the proposed changes. In the space of just four hours, we collected over 150 signatures to stop Bill C-31 from being passed. I would also like to ask the committee's permission to send it a copy of the petition.
Ladies and gentlemen, members of the committee, why do you think that young students like us are wary of this bill being enacted? The reason is that we make up a demographic group that takes an interest in the news and in Canadian politics, but that actually will not hold any seats in the House of Commons for another 10 or 15 years.
In the meantime, we are apprehensive as we follow the enactment of new laws like this one, which proposes to put entire groups of newcomers, including minors, in detention for one year. We are shocked by the fact that families will be separated for at least five years. We are shocked that entire countries might be considered to be safe, when to obtain refugee status, a person has to prove that they have been persecuted in their country, as an individual.
We consider it to be anti-democratic that the responsibility for drawing up that safe country list will be assigned to just one person, the minister. We wonder why the government considers the distinction between real refugees and bogus refugees to be so important, and penalizes the latter group. Even if they do not meet all the criteria in the official definition of a refugee in the Geneva Convention, a large majority of those refugee protection claimants are in need of help.
We are also disappointed that the minister would deny that the proposed changes will in fact punish these so-called bogus refugees.