Good morning, Mr. Chairman and honourable members.
Thank you very much for hearing our testimony today. We are honoured to speak before you on behalf of a group on the McGill campus called B. Refuge. For the past four years, B. Refuge has worked to facilitate interactions between refugee claimants and students, with the purpose of sharing language and culture and helping to orient refugee claimants to the city.
The work we do is premised on the belief that refugee claimants are valuable members of our community and potential Canadians. By asking Canadians to view refugee claimants as frauds and criminals, Bill C-31 undermines this premise.
Accordingly, this past year we have turned our attention to raising awareness among our peers about Bill C-31 and educating them on the dangers we believe it presents to refugees and to the larger Canadian community.