Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise on Bill C-31. My hon. colleagues from Souris—Moose Mountain and Cypress Hills—Grassland focused on how immigrants who are trying to come into the country are frustrated by the process. They spoke very eloquently. I am going to focus on a few other areas specifically within the refugee process which I am very familiar with. I was there last year when 600 Chinese boat people landed in Victoria and on Vancouver Island.
The name of the bill, the immigration and refugee protection act, suggests that the government wishes to protect refugee applicants. I suggest that it makes Canada the easiest target for abuse of the refugee system in the world. I will show the specific details in the bill. That is not what Canadians want.
Canadians want an immigration system that will allow immigrants to come into Canada efficiently and quickly. Immigration built Canada and our economy thrives on it. Canadians want a system that welcomes genuine refugees, like people from Kosovo, East Timor and other places that are in conflict or danger. What we do not want is a reputation for receiving economic refugees, or queue jumpers, or people who are abusing the system. Also once we get that reputation, people will want to come to our country through this process for illegitimate reasons and use it as a corridor to get into the United States. They could have other reasons that could be illegal.
I do not understand why our government has absolutely no interest in stopping what is going on. We heard the minister of immigration say to us in recent months that her focus was one that was going to make the process easier for refugees and to go after the snake heads, organized crime, the people who are smuggling people into Canada and making millions of dollars.
Ironically nine of those are going through our justice system now were practically thrown out the front door of the courtroom last week by a justice in Victoria who was prepared to drop all the charges. That has not happened, but it shows there is grave concern about the system and there is no leadership coming from the government.
I will focus on the specifics. There are two key flaws in the bill which neutralize any possible positive changes the government could make.
The first one relates to the Singh decision, the 1985 Supreme Court of Canada decision which states that genuine refugees, and I want to emphasize genuine refugees, would be afforded protection under the charter.
I would argue that when these people come to Canada they are not genuine. They are in fact economic refugees who are abusing the system and therefore should not be afforded the protection of the charter. The government's interpretation of the Singh decision is that if someone puts one toe on Canada's soil and says they are a refugee, they are going to get charter protection. That is not what the Singh decision says. It says that if a person is a genuine refugee under the definition of the Geneva convention then they would be afforded all the rights and protections of the charter.
What is worse is the government is putting its own interpretation of that court decision into legislation. Clause 3 of the bill states, “This act is to be construed and applied in a manner that ensures any person seeking admission to Canada is subject to the standards, policies and procedures consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms”. That is appalling. It is an utter disgrace and an abuse of power. Any person. They could be convicted criminals, terrorists, or queue jumpers.
We want to a process where we honour our commitment to the Geneva convention. To give any person who shows up in this country and says “I am a refugee”, regardless of their past and how they got here all the protections of Canadian citizens, we do not give that to people who are trying to come into this country legitimately. There are people applying to our embassies abroad saying, “I would like to immigrate to Canada”. We do not give them the protection of the charter for crying out loud, but a person who gets their toe on our soil does.
People get on planes and rip up their passports. I do not know how many hundreds of flight attendants have told me as I commute between Ottawa and Victoria on a weekly basis that when they do international flights it is a big problem. Passengers destroy their documents on the plane and they get off the plane and say, “I am a refugee,” and here they are. That is one flaw. It is absolutely unconscionable the government would even consider that.
The second is the bill expands the definition of who can become a refugee in Canada. Canada's definition goes well beyond what our commitment is to the Geneva convention. Again we are a signatory to that convention. We in the Canadian Alliance would like to honour that and we would do our fair share when we need to step up to the plate. However the government is putting into legislation that any terrorist, any criminal, anyone for any reason who puts a toe on this soil, has the protection of the charter, which is absolutely wrong. We are ensuring that Canada is going to be the world's number one target for human smuggling operations.
The nine Koreans who are on trial right now in Victoria and who came within a hair of being released and sent home to continue their business were laughing. They were waiting for us to fly them home in one of our jets so they could fill up more boats.
It is absolutely unbelievable that the government cannot see a problem. I want to emphasize that the problem is not the 600 refugees who came on boats last year; it is the 20,000 or 22,000, I do not have the exact number but it is in that neighbourhood, who each year cross our borders or come through our airports. It is wrong.
There are cases in my office where Americans have come across the border saying, “I am a refugee. I have my toe on your soil”. They are afforded all the rights. It takes anywhere from two to five years to process them. They come here for various reasons, whether it is health care or whatever. They get processed. We provide for them. In my opinion there is not a genuine refugee from the United States who is facing political persecution.
What is worse is that they leave and then they come back into Canada. They only have to be out of the country for three months before they can come back in and start a new claim. I have files in my office of people coming from the United States on their third refugee claim. The only thing they have to do is leave the country for 90 days. It is wrong.
I speak to immigration officials in Victoria all the time. They are equally frustrated that the government has taken no leadership. They do not have a clue what is going to happen this year. They have no money in the budget to deal with it. More refugees are expected to arrive on a regular basis.
How has the government shown leadership? By expanding the definition of refugees and bringing in legislation to guarantee charter protection when the Singh decision actually states that it is only for genuine refugees.
I argue that when these people arrive here, we should have concerns of whether they are genuine refugees and detain them until we can determine very quickly, whether it is weeks or months, if they are genuine refugees. If they are not, then they are not going to be afforded those charter protections. We can interpret the Singh decision in that manner.
It is time for action. The bill is full of empty threats of maximum penalties for snake heads and organized crime. Does the minister of immigration believe that she is going to go over to China and apply our laws to people over there? I do not know if she thinks she is a keystone cop. It is ridiculous.
There is only one way to send a message to stop human smuggling and stop the pain and misery of the people coming over in those rusty old ships, to stop them from dying en route. There is only one way and that is when they arrive here, bring them ashore, help them out for a few days if they need medical attention, then put them on a plane and send them home. We would be doing them a service.
I urge the government to consider that and to quit trying to play politics and trying to score political points. Canada's reputation is becoming an absolute disgrace in the international community as we are opening our borders up to who knows who.