Thank you.
This amendment once again ensures that the bar for humanitarian and compassionate applications is limited only to those designated foreign nationals who have not been identified or where there are reasonable grounds to have security concerns about them.
I just want to read a little quote here from Barbara Jackman, on April 30:
Secondly, we have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. You as parliamentarians are responsible for ensuring that the legislation complies with the charter. Thirdly, every time you put an absolute bar in legislation you make it open to challenge, because absolutes often don't comply with the charter.
For example, persons who are excluded from the system may have a good reason to have their refugee claim determined. Or, for example, for a person who has lost their pre-removal risk assessment, there's a 12-month bar on making another application. It may be that conditions in the country change before they're moved, but by making an absolute and prohibiting them from being able to make a second provision if the conditions warrant, you are forcing them into court on a constitutional challenge. That's the problem with the absolutes. That's why we are placing this amendment on the floor.