Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Vaudreuil-Soulanges for her hard work on this file over many years. I know she has taken a very active and personal interest in this file and has been very helpful in resolving some of the issues and continues to pursue that path.
In listening to her speech, I found it interesting to hear her talk about the conditions that she experienced when the detainees were being held in the provincial facility at the Metro West Detention Centre in the Toronto area and how that has changed with the transfer to this special facility at Kingston. She mentioned that they had access to the director of social services at the Metro West Detention Centre, when there is no such comparative position at the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre. I also found it interesting that they had private access to the media at Metro West but have not had that same experience in Kingston. She said that she was able to meet with them privately at Metro West, when that has not always been the case at Kingston.
I know too that the distance from their families has been a real issue for the men when they were transferred to Kingston. Since they are all from the Toronto area and that is where their families are based, the separation and distance between Toronto and Kingston has proven to be a real hardship.
It seems to me that there has been a pattern of deteriorating conditions that they have faced since they went to the Kingston centre and there is still no way of dealing with those deteriorating conditions. There is no outside, independent person who can resolve those issues.
I wonder if she could just say a bit more about that and about the need for an independent person to resolve those questions.