Thanks very much, Mr. Chair.
Folks around the table will recall this recommendation from the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers. Currently, the bill says:
The Commission must refuse to deal with a complaint if the complaint has been or could have been adequately dealt with, or could more appropriately be dealt with, according to a procedure provided for under any Act of Parliament—other than this Act—or any Act of the legislature of a province.
It's a significant loophole. One might say it's a loophole you can drive a truck through. The Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers indicated that we needed to be more specific in the legislation about what the circumstances are in which the commission may decline to hear a complaint.
What is proposed here is replacing that open language with:
The Commission may refuse to deal with a complaint if dealing with the complaint would seriously compromise an ongoing investigation.
The difference, of course, is that in the first case, in the current bill as drafted, any expectation that the complaint could have been dealt with somewhere else will lead to the commission refusing to deal with that. In this case, with what the amendment proposes, the commission has the option to refuse if there is an ongoing investigation. It tightens up the language and would ensure that it is used only sparingly in a case in which an investigation through another entity had already begun.
That was the recommendation of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, and I propose it as an amendment, a new subclause 52(5).