Mr. Chair, I move that Bill C-43, in clause 10, be amended by replacing lines 26 to 31 on page 3 with the following:
or who does not meet the requirements of this Act and may grant the foreign national permanent resident status or an exemption from any applicable criteria or obligations of this Act if the Minister has reasonable grounds to believe that it is justified.
Similar to our amendment to clause 9, this amendment seeks to restore the minister's ability to consider humanitarian and compassionate grounds, including the best interests of children involved.
I want to point out that the TCRI, which represents 142 community organizations in Quebec, which assists immigrants and refugees, submitted that the complete exclusion of humanitarian and compassionate considerations in these contexts is contrary to Canada's international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which, among other things, provides protections of family rights and security of the person, and as well violates Canada's obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
While we may agree that dangerous, violent criminals should be removed from Canada as quickly as possible, we hope that committee members would also recognize that it is important to make sure the minister can still consider the protection of children in these cases.