I move that Bill C-31 in clause 27 be amended by (a) replacing line 31 on page 14 with the following:
58.1(1) The Minister may, on request of a
(b) replacing lines 37 to 41 on page 14 with the following:
warrant the release.
(2) The Minister may, on the Minister's own initiative, order the release of a designated foreign national who is 16 years of age or older on the day of the arrival, that is the subject of the designation in question, if, in the Minister's opinion, the reasons for the detention no longer exist.
(3) If the Minister orders the release of a designated foreign national, the Minister may impose any conditions, including the payment of a deposit or the posting of a guarantee for compliance with the conditions, that he or she considers necessary.
Just speaking briefly to this amendment, Chair, one of the concerns that was brought forward from both witnesses, and obviously Ms. Sims and three or four members of the opposition at committee, was that there was no place that the minister's responsibility in this regard was going to be stated except potentially in regulation.
By moving this amendment into the legislation, it acknowledges that there is at the minister's discretion the ability to release an individual who has met the key criteria in terms of their identity, the safety issue, their background, and it puts the minister in a position to allow for the release from detention of one of the irregular arrivals. By putting it in the legislation, it shows there's a further method upon which detention can be lifted from an individual who arrives in the country through irregular means.