Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to pick up on Mr. Waldman and the member's question.
It's interesting. If you ask the minister, and he's had the press conference, as to the five reasons this bill is before us, he'll list off all those horrendous cases and say that's the reason for this legislation, that Canadians don't support these murderers. He'll come up with pedophiles and a whole litany of things as to why it is this legislation is absolutely critical. He'll label permanent residents as foreign criminals. Many take offence, including myself, to that fact in itself. The reality is that he is referring to a very small percentage of permanent residents and he's highlighting those in order to justify a flawed bill.
I want to go back to the example because I think it's worth looking at this. As members of Parliament we have constituents. I'll use the example of young adults who are graduating from high school. They decide to go down to the United States. Winnipeg is only an hour's drive from the United States. A 19-year-old person uses false documents because the drinking age there is 20 or 21. If that person is not a permanent resident of Canada—and we're not talking about a few; we're talking hundreds or thousands across Canada—that person could be in big trouble.
I'll refer to the example used. Using a false or fraudulent document is an offence under section 368 of the Criminal Code carrying a maximum potential penalty of 10 years. A 20-year-old permanent resident who is convicted of using fake identification to get into a bar while visiting the United States is inadmissible under IRPA for foreign conviction. It doesn't matter that the U.S. court punished him only with a $200 fine. IRPA section 36(1)(b) does not require any particular sentence, only a foreign conviction.
Imagine the profound impact this could have on a number of permanent residents. In the example I used, this could have been a student who came to Canada when they were two years old and went through the whole system in high school. The student's mom and dad, for whatever reason, didn't get their citizenship, and this individual now, without the right to appeal, could be deported back to a country that he or she would be nowhere near familiar with, and may not even speak the language.
This is the profound impact this bill, if it passes, will have in a very real and tangible way.
The minister can use the types of examples that he has chosen, but I would suggest that the types of examples I could come up with would be far greater in number. I'm wondering whether we are making a grave mistake.
There is a suggestion I would make at this stage, at the very least. Would you not agree that people who are brought to Canada as young children, whether they be 10 or 15, but let's define an age, should be exempt from this legislation, given that at an early age it's society, it's our community that in essence rears those children?