When you really take a look, it's the minister who will determine.... We know that even within designated countries, or what you would say are designated countries, there are cases for legitimate asylum seekers and refugee claimants. We know that because we've had them from countries that the minister has indicated would be considered safe.
What we're really talking about is that we have to do a really serious risk assessment before we remove people. That is not involved here. When you listen to the quote from Ezat Mossallanejad, policy analyst and researcher at the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture, he says:
Also, we are concerned about the limitation of pre-removal risk assessment and coming up with some limitation on applying on humanitarian and compassionate grounds after one year of rejection.
Here it moves it to three for some asylum seekers. By the way, I want to remind you they will have met all of the five criteria. Before they are released from detention they will have met the criteria you get to stipulate.
We have to be very cognizant of the fact that we are putting people in some very dangerous situations and not showing the sensitivity we have historically shown.
Dr. Furio De Angelis, the representative in the Canada office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, says they support efforts by government authorities to decide applications in a timely manner. We all do. I don't think anyone sitting in this room is saying we need to slow down the process. However, states need to balance efficiency with the fairness of the procedure. Overly restrictive timeframes in the context of a sophisticated asylum process can lead to increased rates of abandonment and the rise of a number of unrepresented claimants. This is nothing new. We have heard this from witnesses over and over again. Asylum claimants do not ordinarily have the knowledge to navigate the legal system.
Once again, we are very concerned and would ask the government to reconsider raising the bar to 36 months. As much as 12 months is not great, the opposition here could support 12 months, but we won't be supporting 36 months.