Thank you.
I agree that this should be a no-brainer for all of us. I don't think anyone here would think that we have the authority to do this. However, we have just spent, in what I would say was a fairly non-partisan conversation, several committee meetings examining and unravelling a situation in which a parliamentarian believed she had delegated authority to undertake action.
There are now multiple court cases that will hinge on the premise that she had delegated authority. Those might succeed. I think that's a very dangerous precedent to set, because I think it undermines the integrity of Canada's immigration system being at arm's length and non-political. I think we should be availing ourselves of the opportunity, whenever we have it, to specify that parliamentarians—I agree with and will be supporting the amendment—do not have the authority to make these decisions.
Again, we are now in a situation in which a sitting parliamentarian is alleging that she did have authority to make decisions. There is correspondence that her consultant had, corresponding with people who I believe are now litigants in a case, stating that this letter will get you into Canada.
I think we need to be very clear. I would like to take action, after hearing all this testimony over the last several months—and, frankly, after being given the runaround for two years on one of my constituent's cases—and actually clarify in legislation that parliamentarians do not have the ability to make these undertakings.
Many times, we as legislators will add extra clarity in law to specify something, either to give added protection or send a message to the public. It is over a decade now since enshrining gender identity into the various legislative documents in Canada came up and was first being debated. Arguments were being made that this was already protected under certain categories or whatnot. Parliament decided, and rightly so, that this was worthy of protection in a certain area and to underline that.
What we're doing here is clarifying. There are many precedents of this in the House of Commons. We're giving extra clarity that this is something that parliamentarians should not do. There are also many times when parliamentarians amend the Standing Orders in the House of Commons or add additional clarity. I think particularly about when parliamentarians have broken the rules in the past, even though they shouldn't have done that; then we add extra regulations in the Standing Orders or whatnot to clarify that this is something you should not do. It's like a code of conduct.
The reality is that we have seen multiple instances of this with this certain parliamentarian over the last year. Now that we have the opportunity to amend the Citizenship Act, I want to clarify that parliamentarians do not have the right to do this unless it is carried forward in a manner that is set forth in this amendment.
I do support the subamendment, because it does cover all parliamentarians.
Thank you.