I highlighted one area where I think there are serious constitutional issues, which is the detention. It's not the only area. I expect there will be constitutional challenges to the provisions denying family reunification because of the impact it will have on refugees who are in Canada.
On the provision you are talking about, I have clients accepted as refugees who have applied for permanent residence. Unless they get permanent residence before the bill comes into effect, they will then undoubtedly be retroactively designated—I'm talking about people on the boats—and then won't be able to apply for permanent residence for five years, or their applications will be suspended.
I expect that the concept of retroactivity will be one of the things we will be challenging once the bill is implemented. It is unfortunate that the government has chosen to bring forward a bill that I think, and many other experts think, has so many serious constitutional flaws. Undoubtedly, we're going to be spending years in the courts as these matters get adjudicated, instead of doing what we should be doing, which is protecting refugees.