Madam Speaker, it is really a pleasure to talk to this bill today. I like the way the Liberals take credit for all of this immigration change we are talking about. As we have said, the majority of these changes have already been enacted. However, any change that has moved the government off its position has come from our critic from Calgary Northeast. He should be congratulated.
The folks over there have not gone far enough. I am going to talk from personal experience, from my time in immigration hearings and refugee board hearings out of necessity and out of requests from people in my constituency. They are requests from victims. That is who we are talking about.
I really take exception when the Liberal government starts talking about the vast majority of people saying that we are only talking about a very small minority. That is true, but it is not a small minority when we count all the victims that lie in the wake of some of these creeps it is allowing in.
Let us make one thing very clear and concise on this whole issue. It really does not matter what all of the rules are from the day a person comes into the country until he or she leaves the country. What really matters is whether they can leave the country on demand from Canada. That is where the fault lies with the philosophy that is expounded over there. I am going to demonstrate that with letters I have from the minister.
One might ask: "Is there not something that will work in the bill?" That may be. There may be some things that work in some aspects of these changes. The Liberals have had an opportunity until now to undertake the actions that are outlined in the act. They have not taken them. In many cases they will not get these people out even if they say they are going to deport them.
I discussed a recent case with immigration officials who, by the way are very frustrated at the inaction of this government. They say that Bill C-44 will not work. People on the task forces talk to us rather than these people because they know that at least we understand what the position is.
What about the 10 Vietnamese fellows arrested and on deportation orders by a task force? All have been released because they could not get travel documents. A travel document is necessary if we are to send these people back to Vietnam. If Vietnam is not going to take them back, then they do not go.
What happened? They brought these 10 scum in off the streets and then let them out again. These Vietnamese are walking around Vancouver. If the Liberals think we like these kinds of people, let us talk about the young man who shot a kid in the face in Vancouver; another one who has been charged with sexual assault with a weapon; another one B and Es and is a member of a gang; another one has robbery, assault, trafficking times four in heroin. He is out on the streets again. Another one who must have been his buddy has trafficking times four in heroin. They probably have a company going.
Liberal members are talking about all of the rules up to the point of getting them out of our country. However when it comes time to boot them out they let them out on the streets because they cannot get a travel warrant. That is not addressed in Bill C-44.
There was another fellow I was contacted about by immigration. This guy was ordered deported. He lost his deportation appeal. He cannot get a travel warrant. They have been trying for a travel warrant since September 1993. They cannot get him out of the country no matter what rules we are applying in Bill C-44. He must be a harmless guy. Why not let him out on the streets? They did. In 1990 he had a sexual assault conviction. He has two
outstanding criminal charges. He ripped up a government office in British Columbia and he is on welfare.
The Liberal government sanctimoniously talks about how well it is doing and how it is going to get these people out of the country. It is false. It is all rhetoric. It is rhetoric like half a dozen other bills it has put through the House. We are sick and tired of it.
I wrote to the minister in July. When he announced the task force to move these people out I suggested to him that since he has this task force and he is trying to oust these animals, why could I not give him some names to put on his list, the list that he said he had. I did. I gave him the name, José Salinas Mendoza, from my area. The minister stood up in the House and said: "That's an isolated case. You are making the whole system look bad because of José Salinas Mendoza". He has only 12 criminal convictions.
I gave him another name, another isolated case in my community, Karel Kral. I talked a bit about good old Karel who has been in this country for 17 years, 14 of which he has been behind bars for so many convictions we lost count.
Then I wrote the minister a letter about Charles Dennis Martin who has only been ordered deported and escorted out of Canada nine times. Wow, what a track record the government has.
I received a letter back from the minister which stated: "While I appreciate your interest in these matters, the Privacy Act prohibits the release of information on our clients". They are clients. Because of the Privacy Act I cannot find anything out about these guys.
I said: "Gee, am I exempted?" "Oh yes, except to members of Parliament and Senators who are seeking to assist the client in solving the problem". I am not the least bit interested in assisting the client to solve a problem. I am really interested in getting some of these creeps out of the country, which is directly opposite to what the government is attempting to do.
"In the case of Karel Kral" the minister says, "you state that he is currently awaiting trial on a sexual assault charge. The conclusion of the criminal proceedings and the serving of any prison sentence supersedes any action by immigration officials". I am going to get back to that in a minute.
Lots of problems have not been addressed. In this bill the government has not addressed removing these people from our country. It has not addressed the major understaffing at our borders with our enforcement people, at detention centres. If members took the time to talk to their own employees in immigration and on these task forces they would tell them so.
The immigration officers do not really have the authority of arrest of the police. You would expect them to go to approach some of these creeps, heroin and narcotics dealers. Some of them are murderers. Does you expect them to go to them and say: "I am from immigration. How would you like to be arrested today? Do not use the Uzi in your back pocket".
They have to be given some authority. They have been asking for this and they have been denied it. The Liberals have in no way addressed those inept individuals on parole boards and on the refugee boards. I am going to talk about a few of those.
Actually the member did address one, Marcelle Brisson, who actually gave a decision in 15 minutes on Bounjan Inthavong who I am going to talk about. The member addressed her all right. She got another three year agreement to stay on. None of that is addressed in here. That is what really counts. That is the meat of the issue. The government is not addressing what is important.
Let us talk about my three favourite buddies in my riding. What an interesting chap is Karel Kral. He has been in this country for 17 years. Why would I bother addressing Karel as a refugee, as an immigrant, whichever he came in on. I am not sure of that. Why would I bother?
He has been in and out of prison for 14 years of that time, not at one time. He has so many records against him that it is a real shame. I was asked by Joan to give her some moral support, go to the sentencing, go to the court case and see what goes on with good old Karel.
Karel sexually assaulted Joan in my riding. Joan is 63 years old and good old Karel attacked her with a needle full of cocaine. He got his due, did he not? He was sent up for four years. He is getting out after the sentence. He was sentenced in November. He will be out on an unescorted day pass in May.
I was told that the privacy laws prohibit me from getting his record. Fortunately we have some responsible people within the system who got me the record anyway.