Thank you, Chair.
I think you might have heard some of these words before. This amendment allows for additional evidence to be presented on appeal so that people can have their cases reviewed in a very thorough manner. It expands the evidence that is admissible on appeal from evidence that arose after the rejection of their claim. You've got to look at it that when a lot of these people first come in, the new asylum seekers, they're not going to have everything with them straightaway. For some of them, it's going to take time to gather all the evidence, all the materials, even identity.
On the risk issues, I was talking recently to a couple of people from a gay and lesbian community who have been granted refugee status here from Mexico, and they told me how long it took them to get all their evidence together before they could present it. This actually allows for that kind of admissibility.
A person could not have reasonably had time to make the presentation at the time of the rejection because they weren't able to get things from the country they were escaping from. Many of our asylum seekers who come here may not necessarily come directly from their home country. They might already have been in camps or in other situations in other countries at the time. It also allows them to present additional evidence that was not before the decision-maker at the time of the rejection of the claim. It's like taking another look.
This is a little bit broader than I know the original was, but that is the intent, and I'm really hoping this will be accepted. It's a very reasonable amendment we're putting forward, in light of the fact that here we are talking about the asylum seekers who will be designated as irregular arrivals—not that we believe in the designation. The very fact that they may not have identity on them and the fact that it will take time to verify...this is why we need to at least give them this opportunity to be able to present the new information they have gathered.