Welcome, all of you.
On this question of language test requirements for spouses, I made the point in the House on Wednesday that this was Orwellian and an unacceptable intrusion of government into the decisions of individuals on marriage. On Wednesday the minister didn't say much. On Thursday he said the government wouldn't do it. I think we can assume it's off the table unless he changes his mind. I didn't raise the subject of tests based on income or education, but I think that if he's ruled out language, one can assume that he has agreed that it's not the role of the state to dictate who one marries, except for issues of criminality or age.
On the question of the conditional permanent residence, I'm glad that all three of you have opposed this. The previous six witnesses—I asked all of them—all opposed it as well, so we're at nine out of nine, which is better than three out of three.
I think for me the big issue coming down in front of us is what we can do in a practical way about women being abused, and in an asymmetrical relationship, where the woman could be deported if she claims abuse or claims the marriage is not real or whatever. I think one idea is to get rid of this conditional permanent residence, because I think that puts power in the hands of the husband, shall we say.
The second thing is that I really liked your idea, Professor Straehle, of the forced marriage unit changing the terms of the onus on the person versus...not on the woman.
Last time, we also had a discussion about trying to expedite the process whereby a woman could become a landed immigrant if she was estranged from the marriage. I understand that right now the process is long and potentially expensive, and many of these women don't necessarily have the money, the resources, or the support to go through a lengthy process.
All of that is a bit of a preamble.
I'll start with Professor Straehle.
What do you think would be the primary tools that a government has in order to address this issue of asymmetrical power? Maybe that's the primary difference. You say that there is domestic abuse and there's immigrant abuse. Maybe the main difference is the asymmetrical power on the immigrant side, but not on the domestic side.