As my colleague mentioned, we are very worried about the fact that it will cost so much. We got this number from the 2008 Auditor General's report, which says that it costs $70,000 a year to detain a refugee in a detention centre. We are confident that those resources can be spent in a much more useful way, for example, by appointing more IRB members or refugee lawyers.
On May 7th, 2012. See this statement in context.