Thank you.
Honourable members of the committee, my name is Dominic Tse. I came to Canada as a teenager. I was 17 at the time. I have been here over 40 years. I love Canada and I think like a Canadian in most cases, but I also love Hong Kong.
I think the members of this committee all agree that the Hong Kong situation is a crisis, and it is a crisis that calls for bold and swift actions. Our conventional tools are not very effective right now.
We have the asylum systems, but the people being persecuted cannot leave Hong Kong because their passports have been confiscated. I know young people who are in the court system, and it's being dragged out for months and years, basically forcing them to confess and plead guilty and go to prison, with hefty sentences. This is the game that the Hong Kong government, under Beijing's rule, is playing, so our conventional asylum system is not working.
Also, there are people who have participated in demonstrations who cannot leave. They want to leave. Right now, of course, with the pandemic and other things, we have tools, but many people cannot leave. Mind you, it's not only young people who are demonstrating. We have middle-aged people, 40 or 50 years of age, who go into the streets. The two million people comprise not just young people but a lot of people. Many people in Hong Kong want to leave.
Britain has now swung open the doors and two million or three million BNO holders can go there, providing lifeboats and a safe destination. I think Hong Kong requires more lifeboats and more safe destinations, and I believe Canada is a good destination. In fact, many Hong Kong people have relatives, friends or classmates in Canada. If they have a choice, they would actually rather go to Canada than the U.K. I love the U.K., but I have a lot of friends who simply like Canada's weather better than the U.K.'s because we have more variety and so on.
Canada must act quickly and boldly to offer more lifeboats and a choice for these lifeboats to go to. Canada's system has been doing some things, such as allowing students to stay, but I think we should do some catch-up. It's not just a humanitarian crisis. It's also a challenge for Canada to attract all those good, hard-working people: smart, educated, professional people who want to leave Hong Kong and want to come to Canada. They might not have $100 million or something, but they will be major citizens who can build this country better. I think Canada can do something quickly.
I am proposing in my brief that we do a three-plus-two system, giving a lot of people work permits so that they can come here to a safe Canada and apply for whatever they want to do. It's the same concept as the BNO system. We don't have a BNO, but we can have them come in, using a work permit for three years, and then they can apply. The advantage of it is that it provides security in a shorter time so that people can come and then start applying to the process. With this thinking, we don't need to change the immigration policy or system.
I have talked to an immigration lawyer who is a friend of mine, who is an expert in the field, and she says we should not create a special immigration policy just for Hong Kong. The thinking is that we don't change the door—the door is the same—we just create more lineups, different pathways to come in. People go through the same door, but we allow them to come quickly, once the pandemic is over, when restrictions are probably lifted and people can come on a work permit and then can proceed to apply to different programs.
That would include a lot of people. People who have been in demonstrations who have not been arrested yet but are fearful, they can come. People who might not qualify under the normal circumstances can come with a work permit, and once they gather the work experience, they might be able to apply. They can come to school, and so on.
Canada, in facing this humanitarian crisis and a competition crisis, must act quickly and boldly.
Thank you.