Mr. Chair, once again this amendment is extremely important. Many of us in our offices and in the news have heard of H and C applicants who have been issued a deportation order but with intervention have ultimately been granted permanent residency based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds because of the strong merits of their application. H and C applicants should have the opportunity to have their cases heard. This is why this category exists, Mr. Chair. The risks are just far too great to risk deportation before the application is heard.
Should this clause remain as it is currently written, we will be removing discretion for humanitarian and compassionate grounds for the first time in Canadian history. The H and C option is for those who are being left behind in our immigration system. It has always existed in our immigration legislation and is an extremely important component of it. It would be unCanadian to have this removed from our immigration legislation.
Thank you.