Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I was saying earlier that I remember very well the situation in the United States when we first saw the Trump administration come into office. It was in January and I was newly elected to the House of Commons. Being the immigration critic for the NDP, I moved an emergency debate in the House of Commons on that situation, which was ultimately granted because of the dire situation there and the discriminatory practices the Trump administration attempted to bring into play to impact the Muslim community, as an example. Their immigration policy, as we saw it play out, was devastating. There is no question about that. People were separated from their loved ones. Children were put in cages, if you can imagine it, Mr. Chair. That kind of approach was taken to impact the lives of people. There were toddlers separated from their parents. I've been informed that there are situations where children have not yet been reunited with their parents. They've actually been lost in the system.
Fast forward to today. What do we have? We have Trump winning the election. We all heard what he said during the campaign period. He said immigrants and migrants are “poisoning the blood of” the United States. I sure hope that's not what we're thinking here in Canada. You can imagine the rhetoric and the toxic description of migrants in the U.S. Trump administration, what that might mean and the implications for people who look like me—immigrants in that country. What will it mean for them?
Of course, they're holding Canada hostage in some way with respect to immigration policies and implications around trade.
However, nowhere in time have I heard anyone on this committee—or the government or the minister—talking about whether or not the United States is a safe country for migrants, despite the changing circumstances in the United States, the record of the previous Trump administration and Trump himself.
That is a real question that should be heard, Mr. Chair.
Has there been a change of chairs?