Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the comments with respect to Toronto.
This has come up a number of times. “Illegal refugees” is a term that is somewhat problematic, because by nature refugees are not illegal. Perhaps the act of crossing the border could be deemed to be illegal, but refugees themselves are not illegal.
This is what I speak of when I speak of criminality. When we talk about refugees and we speak about them in the context of the previous Harper government, it is often in the context of criminality. They are referred to as terrorists, criminals, queue jumpers, and undesirables. I illustrated what happened with MV Sun Sea and Ocean Lady. I was in Vancouver when those boats came. I did a lot of work around dispelling the myths of the previous government. The problem is that it is the same tone in the Conservatives' motion, which is to look at refugees and those who come here as somewhat undesirable. While there are some legitimate concerns, it is important we also understand the tone and tenor of what we are talking about, because we cannot continue to vilify people.
There are 65 million refugees around the world. A country like Bangladesh is housing a million refugees right now. We have to put that in perspective and in the context of the broader issues with respect to refugees around the world.