I would like to go back to a bit of history. Between 1903 and 1913, Canada welcomed people that were in excess of 1% of the population. In fact, in 1913 it was a little over 5% of Canada's population. A number of them were refugees, a good number of them were dependent relatives, including parents and grandparents.
In 1957 Canada welcomed again more than 1% of the population in immigrants. I think it was almost 1.6%. Again, a number of them were refugees, a number of them came as a result of the Suez crisis. I think we can tell now, several decades later, it wasn't a disaster. We were not overwhelmed with problems of sewage and garbage in our communities. Our economy thrived, our communities thrived, and we are beneficiaries of what those immigrants brought to this country.
I think we have evidence that shows that family reunification is a success, that people have settled, that they have contributed, they have participated. In fact, their children and they themselves are sitting in Parliament today. That's testimony to the success of the immigration program.