Well, that's kind of you, Chair. I'm grateful and honoured to be here as well.
I have two quick points.
First of all, the council went to Colombia over the summer. That trip and subsequent research resulted in a report uniquely on the issues arising from the Venezuelan refugees, the largest exodus in the history of the Americas. It's going to rival the Syrian refugee exodus in its volume. The implications are huge for the hemisphere.
We launched the report last week in Washington, including at the OAS. It's only available in the English language, so I cannot table it with you, but I've provided the clerk with details. It's available online.
The second point is that one of the recommendations the council will make is that countries around the world should make it possible to confiscate frozen assets of crooked foreign leaders and use that money for the benefit of the population that they've swindled. Canada and other countries around the world have literally billions of dollars on deposit in our banks or as assets in our jurisdiction. We have legislation—including the legislation you passed last year on Magnitsky—authorizing the freezing of those assets, but then they sit there.
What we're suggesting is legislation—it could be an amendment to Magnitsky or free-standing legislation—that would authorize the Attorney General of Canada, or someone else, with her consent, to apply to a superior court of the provinces for an order authorizing the confiscation of those assets and their repurposing. Either send them back to the country of origin, or, if that country is still in the grip of a corrupt government, provide that money to an international agency like UNHCR, or an NGO that is accountable to the court. Every dollar would be tracked, and the court would get a report as to how the money is being spent. The court would make that order on notice to all interested parties, so you have transparency, accountability and the rule of law, but you'd put these assets to use.
Similar legislation with the same objective is now before the U.S. Congress. The United Kingdom is considering this approach. Switzerland already has a law in place, which is a good precedent.
I close by saying that we are going to recommend that the Government of Canada enact such legislation here and be a model for the world. We can use that money in an underfunded system. There's some symmetry, justice and accountability that arises from that approach as well, and we'll commend it to the committee and to the government.
Thank you, Chair.