Thank you, Chair.
I move that Bill C-12 be amended by adding after line 23 on page 18 the following new clause:
39.1 Section 78 of the Act is replaced by the following:
Determination
78 The judge shall determine whether the certificate is reasonable, within 30 days after the day on which it was referred in priority cases or within 60 days after the day on which it was referred in all other cases, and shall quash the certificate if they determine that it is not reasonable.
Colleagues, this section governs how a federal court judge reviews a security certificate. This is a tool that is used for non-citizens deemed inadmissible on national security or serious risk grounds.
Currently, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act lets a judge determine whether the certificate is reasonable and quash it if it's not, with no deadline. With no deadlines, our judicial review process becomes delayed and inefficient, as we have seen it become, and people who are not supposed to be in Canada get to stay in Canada for a very long time.
This delays eventual removals. It prolongs uncertainty and potentially exposes Canadians to offenders who would otherwise be deported, as set out in current law. Also, this means that our backlogs get bigger. This amendment allows priority removal cases to be dealt with within the tighter 30-day timeline and the rest within a reasonable 60-day timeline, while leaving the remaining language of the text, allowing judges—the judiciary—to quash certificates at their discretion. This is a common-sense amendment. It clears backlogs in our courts, allowing for due process to reach the families it intended to reach. It makes our courts more efficient while also ensuring that we're making the system more efficient.
Come on; we need that. It's so bad right now.
Here is a common-sense proposal for the government that would make the government function better. I hope that colleagues will support it.