Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 25th, 2019

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

I've listened intently to these letters as well, and I'm sure there are many more. I want to hear them.

As a point to that, Mr. Chair, when I take in what's being said, I'm not sure that you can help but have redundancy from letters like this, if that's the case. These are tragic, tragic circumstances that these people have been faced with.

We've heard testimony from people before our committee on these issues, but to hear from this many persons, I think really drives home the point of the motion we're talking about today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

I think you're adding to the debate, so I would end there.

I think you're into the debate about the issue.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

All right. Thanks, Chair.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Chair, if the implication is that somehow these stories aren't valid, I'm reminded that many of these were put together with the translation and assistance of the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society. I would like to take time to put on the record my deep and humble thanks to this organization for the work they have done to help resettle members of the Yazidi community.

Essentially to your point, Chair, this is the key component to their resettlement. Can you imagine having to go through IRCC bureaucracy as somebody who has gone through this channel...? I want to thank the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society for their work in trying to get these stories to members of Parliament. Again, you've just proven the need of why we have to do this study.

I don't think that any single one of these stories is redundant. I think that they speak to the need for us to do this study. I am very grateful for the opportunity to continue to prove that point by sharing their experiences in being unsuccessful in reuniting with their families.

The other point on this is that some of the stories are similar because they're family members, and they each have the right to make these cases.

So another—

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Does Mr. Tilson have a point of debate or a point of order?

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Sir, it's a response to your comment that you might be saying in the future that there is redundancy.

I'd like to comment on that, if I could.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Yes, and it gives me a chance to clarify it. I did not say that the stories were redundant, but making the same point over and over again in a debate is redundancy.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

The stories that have been read to us are all different. The incidents are all different. What may be redundant, and it's not redundant, is they're all asking for assistance. They're all asking for a situation that particularly women, who are being left alone in this country with children with no—

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Thank you. I think that is debate as well.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

But I'm responding.

That is the redundancy. They're asking for assistance. I think they're all asking for the same thing. That's the whole point of the letters.

They're not all telling the same stories. I think it's important that we hear the different stories, because they all come from different points of view. That is not redundant.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

I believe you're debating the point.

Ms. Rempel, you may continue.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Thank you.

Again, every once in a while when we move motions in this place, Mr. Chair, my colleagues opposite will essentially ask why this is more important than what we're studying right now, when we have all these other things that are so important. The volume of stories and casework being presented here today I hope will leave the impact about why this is so important.

I will continue with another letter. They are asking for assistance in resettling their family in Canada. It states: “Before I arrived in Canada, we were all one happy family. I was a student, but we were not rich. We were happy. After ISIS arrived, all of the women were forced into marriage and made into sex slaves. ISIS started killing the older boys and men. My father told my mother, my sisters and me to escape. We escaped with some help from the people in our village who had cars. My father and two brothers stayed behind. We were in the mountains for seven days. We had no food, only dirty water, which had dead animal carcasses in it. We left the mountains after seven days, walking across the Syrian desert to reach the Syrian border. We were eventually picked up by vehicles and taken to a camp by the border. After one day it was possible to enter Kurdistan, as we were able to rent a vehicle and buy our way across the border. We were provided food and clothing, and we went to the Khanke camp, where we remained for two to three months.”

It continues: “We eventually went to another half-built house—no windows or doors—and eventually had to go to a different camp when the owner of the house evicted us. We remained there for two years. My cousin's wife was captured and then eventually bought out for $52,500 U.S. She selected my mother, sisters and me to come to Canada to help comfort her. The following family members are still surviving, and their locations are”—and they list a sister, a brother-in-law, three children, a brother-in-law, two children and a fiancé. “Pre-ISIS, we had a complete family and were very happy. After ISIS, we have been scattered. We no longer have the comfort of our family. We think about our surviving family members all of the time. The conditions in the camp are not good. People have to line up at 3 a.m. to get water. There is little food, and what there is, is not good. It is not very safe. And there are many bare electric wires, and fires happen often. I would like the Canadian government to help reunite our family.”

That letter was not...legitimately.... I don't know how it snuck in there—this one that I just turned aside since we don't have visuals today.

I will read one that is. This is another request for family reunification: “I've come to Calgary as part of the victims of Daesh program in 2017. I've come to Canada with my brother after being held in captivity in a prison and tortured by ISIS for nine months. I joined my sister and her family who resettled in Calgary five months before me. Many of my family members missing—parents, four sisters and four brothers. My younger sister, who was 10 years old, managed to escape ISIS after being tortured by ISIS for two years, but was killed by a bomb on the day of her escape. My heart is broken for her, my family and the Yazidi community. My brother-in-law has 10 missing family members too. One of my brothers, whose name is”—I won't read the name—is living in a camp in Iraq in deplorable conditions. Many members of my brother-in-law's families are living in the Mamrashan camp. My brother-in-law's families who are there include his mother and my siblings”—They list all the names. “They are unsafe and living in difficult conditions. I constantly worry about them. My constant worry makes me very uncomfortable. I am unable to do anything with my new life in Canada because of my constant worry and stress.”

It continues: “I am requesting that the government help bring my family members to Canada so they can be safe and secure with hope for a future. I also plead with the government to do everything possible to find my family members who remain missing, who are either dead in captivity with ISIS or are suffering unspeakable horrors. In addition, I would like to plead with the Canadian government to advocate on the international stage for justice for our community. I would like to see those responsible for the genocide be held responsible for their crimes. Please help me reunite with my family who are living in Iraq, and help me find my missing family members. I am unable to find peace without knowing the fates of my family members. I would like the Government of Canada to work with the international community to help those who are missing. I would like the Government of Canada to reunite all living family members. My heart is broken and will not be able to mend without being reunited with my family.”

This is another one: “I am writing to you today to request your help in reuniting my family members who are still in Iraq. I truly believe the only way for me to successfully settle in Canada and become an active member in my community is to bring my family together once again. Even with all the help I am currently receiving in Calgary, I don't think I will ever be able to feel at ease in Canada as long as my family is not safe with me here. I arrived in Calgary in January 2017 with my husband and my son. Before ISIS started attacking my people, we were living in a village called Wardiya in Iraq. I was working at home taking care of my family. When ISIS attacked at night we stayed in our village hiding for eight days before we managed to escape. We escaped to the mountains for a few weeks. We then walked to the Syrian border where we stayed in incomplete houses before going to another camp. We stayed in this camp until coming here to Canada. Some of my siblings were captured by ISIS and I don't know their whereabouts. My other family members who are still alive are waiting in camps in terrible conditions.”

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Point of order, Chair.

I have other time commitments at 5:30. I think others may, as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

The meeting does continue at the will of the committee. I'm not sure whether or not I'm allowed to have a motion to adjourn, because we have a motion on the floor. So, I would need unanimous consent to stop the meeting. That's what I thought.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Can we do a motion to adjourn?

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

We don't have a....

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

I'm on the list, aren't I?

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

You are on the list, yes.

Do I have unanimous consent to adjourn the meeting?

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

No.

This is another one: “I am writing you today to request your help reuniting my family members who are still in Iraq.”

Chair, on a point of clarification, you cannot move a motion on a point of order, so it was not even appropriate to call a question on that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

If I had unanimous consent, I could do it, which is why I was asking. I did not accept a motion.

Just to be very clear, every time a member questions whether or not I understand the rules, I need to take a little bit of time then to explain the rules, because I am very aware of the rules.

I do have the right to recognize a member on a point of order, and that point of order can actually look at the clock and discern that our meeting was called from 3:30 to 5:30, and it is very appropriate for a member to wonder whether or not we are adjourning the meeting, because normally we adjourn without a motion. We adjourn with what is called implied unanimous consent because that's the order of the day that we operate under. So it is very appropriate for me to have taken time to listen to someone raising that issue and to listen to that issue. Then my next step was, as it will always be, to check whether indeed I did have unanimous consent to continue. To have a member suggest that that is inappropriate is inappropriate.

I think I might want to just continue with this for a little while as the chair, because I actually do have the right to clarify the rules. I could actually read from the rules at great length at this point if the member wanted me to.

[An hon. member]

Forty minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

For 40 minutes, I could read them.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

I'd like to hear them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

I'm just saying I could do that.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

I would like to hear them.