Well, I do know that at the time, former Minister Elinor Caplan was under massive pressure from victims organizations and police organizations because of the Just Desserts murders, where certain violent convicted foreign nationals, while delaying their deportation from Canada, had shot up a Just Desserts restaurant in Toronto claiming I forget how many victims. So there was a great public demand to do what we are now proposing, to streamline the appeals process so that we could more quickly remove foreign criminals.
But then there was a huge counter-lobby from the immigration lawyers, and as we've just heard from Mr. Lamoureux, they were typically an interest group, a special interest strongly supportive of the last government. I think they persuaded Minister Caplan to include this ability to appeal to the IAD for foreign nationals who receive convictions of between six months and two years.
Let me point out that many courts have actually given foreign nationals sentences of two years less a day, with what is pretty clearly the expressed intent of allowing them access to this appeals process. That is to say that someone who might otherwise have received a longer sentence is actually given a lighter sentence precisely so they can delay their removal from Canada. This has actually had, I think, a negative influence on strict sentencing for foreign criminals convicted of serious crimes.