Mr. Chair, next I would like to address the issue of denaturalization and deportation.
The parliamentary committee on citizenship and immigration has held hearings across Canada on this issue. Although it only seems to directly affect a handful of people in Canada, it in fact affects all of us. It devalues the citizenship of all Canadians when Canadians, by choice, those who have immigrated to our country, do not have the same rights as Canadians by birth.
The existing process which allows citizenship to be removed by in-camera, secret meetings of the special committee of cabinet, runs contrary to the rules and intent of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. When citizens' rights are taken away from them, ostensibly for crimes committed or for the safety of our society, it should only be done by a judicial process and not a political process. When people say our judicial process is too costly and too slow, I like to tell them there is a cost, but it is a cost society has to bear if it is to be a just and civil society.
It is high time that our present system of de-naturalization and deportation, a relic from pre-charter rights days, be consigned to the dusty shelves of the Library of Parliament archives.
I am sure the minister looks forward to the recommendations of the parliamentary committee on citizenship and immigration, recommendations that we hope will guarantee all Canadians, whether they are Canadian by birth or by choice, are treated equally by our laws and are treated equally before our courts.
In the minister's short term in citizenship and immigration he has moved quickly on a number of files. Could he comment on the issue I have just raised. When will a new citizenship act be forthcoming?