Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to discuss Bill C-63.
I want to take a more personal perspective on it. As an immigrant to this country it was an honour when I, with my parents and my other brothers and sisters, finally swore the oath of allegiance to Canada. I have an understanding of what an absolutely wonderful thrill that was. Growing up in such a free and great country as Canada, I had hoped that other immigrants and other people wanting to come here would not be side stepped or roadblocked or delayed in any way from their achieving the same possibilities that my family and I have achieved.
Unfortunately Bill C-63 is a bit of a bureaucratic nightmare. To say to people coming here that they may or may not be accepted as citizens of this country because of bureaucratic bungling in the department is unacceptable. It goes to prove that the people who drafted the bill did not think of all the particulars. It would have been better if they had taken more time and carefully drafted the bill.
I also have concerns regarding the oath of allegiance. Even though I come from an area which is very much in favour of the monarchy, there are many aspects to the oath of allegiance that I think need to be modernized and accepted to more Canadians. The previous speaker from the Reform Party was correct that there should have been a wide open debate. Something of this importance in stature across the country should have been open to all Canadian to debate exactly what kind of an oath of allegiance we should have for new Canadians.
The concern that is often neglected in the aspect of citizenry is our aboriginal people. They were the first citizens of this country. Nobody asked them. They seem to get bypassed in all these circumstances and everything else. We came to this country 400 or 500 years ago and literally took over from them. They had a very good way of life for thousands of years and we came in an said we were going to change everything. That is stretching the argument a bit, but unfortunately the fact is they are an integral part of our society.
We talk about two founding nations in this country. We actually have three and they were the first. The part that really disturbs me is the fact of having an understanding of the French or English language, the two official languages. It is really a hardship on new immigrants who come to this country. There is no question that when my family came here they hardly knew a word of English at all, not a word. According to the bill they could be restricted from entering this country because of an act of that nature. I find that wrong. I wish that the minister and the government would take that back and review the situation and go through the clauses that many of us on the opposition side feel are flawed in this department and in this bill.