I don't know the details of the number. I have no idea what these offences are that the people have been convicted of.
Does the fact that there is a forum where people with these kinds of convictions have an opportunity, prior to removal, to have all the circumstances of their case considered before that deportation concern me? No. I think that's right; I think that's just.
I'm not saying—and certainly the IAD doesn't function that way—that every permanent resident with a serious conviction will go to the IAD and get a stay of removal. Certainly, they won't. I don't know what the success rates are, but they're certainly not a hundred per cent. The fact that there is a place to go to raise their mental health issues, their connection to Canada, the sixty years they've been in Canada....
There's a case that I heard about from a colleague of mine. It was an extreme case, but it shows you that extreme cases will also be caught up by this provision. A child was brought to Canada by her parents when she was four months old. The child is now in her fifties. She did end up with some addiction issues and she did commit some serious criminal activity, and she is now facing deportation to a country where literally she's never set foot. She wasn't even walking at the time she came to Canada.
I'm a lawyer. I understand what a citizen is and what a citizen isn't. I understand that citizenship is something that the executive grants to a person.
That being said, for the vast majority of Canadians, people who come to Canada at that age and live here all of their lives are Canadians.