Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of the people of Surrey Central to participate in the debate on Bill C-31, an act respecting immigration to Canada and the granting of refugee protection to persons who are displaced, persecuted or in danger.
Before I go further, I want to extend my appreciation to the hon. member for Lakeland, the immigration critic for the Canadian Alliance, for his thoughtful presentation in the debate earlier today.
My office received numerous calls during the Easter break. I am sure that other members also received many telephone calls concerning this bill.
I was on a radio talk show on the weekend discussing this bill. The public is confused and fed up with the misinformation the feds have fed us. There has been weak Liberal government propaganda about changes to Bill C-31. They have given selective information to the media. They have told us that this new act will do certain things for new immigrants. They said that it will give people an opportunity to sponsor any person or any relative. This is one among many other misgivings they have given. I had to defend the whole procedure by saying that this was not yet an act but only second reading of the bill. I had to explain the whole process of how a bill becomes law before people could digest this.
In one of the phone calls I received, someone told me they were going to arrange a marriage in the family but that they were going to hold off with the plans because the new law will probably help them to sponsor a relative to Canada. People are making decisions based on government propaganda.
Before federal elections the Liberals have a habit of throwing sugar-coated pills to garner political support from immigrants. In their first red book, the propaganda was that they would increase the immigration quota, so the immigrant communities that thought the idea was good voted for them. Once the Liberals were in power a smaller number of immigrants were allowed to come to Canada.
Similarly, concerning the opening of the consulate office in Chandigarh, in Punjab, India, statements and pictures appeared in the newspaper saying that a consulate office was being opened in Chandigarh. Most of the people from India who are in Canada are from the Punjab and they were demanding a full consulate office in Chandigarh.
The Liberals took pictures and made statements before the 1997 federal election and even before the 1993 election and all those promises were not kept, particularly by the fisheries minister. He is on record as having said that he helped the Liberal government open the consulate office in Chandigarh. However, it is only a liaison office. It does not give application forms for visitor visas. Even if a marriage certificate is missing in a file they do not accept that. The Liberals are in the habit of this kind of propaganda.
Because the election is around the corner the Liberals have started singing the same song. They forget that they can fool people only once.
The purpose of Bill C-31 is to repeal and replace the current Immigration Act of 1976. It attempts to address the growing problem of people smuggling and human trafficking, Canada's refugee determination system and the definition of who can become a refugee in Canada with increased focus on protection. It also attempts to address the creation of an in-Canada landing class of immigrants, expanded criteria for family class immigration and increased controls on sponsorship. This bill will not accomplish its objectives. Rather, it will likely significantly slow down the entire immigration system.
The government has failed to even make the changes based on simple common sense. It will never be effective unless the Liberal government, that lacks vision, makes improvements in the management of the system: better training, tighter auditing and meaningful enforcement.
Let me highlight some ineffective salient features of the bill. Paragraph 3(3)(d) of the bill provides protection consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to all those in the world who would seek admission to Canada. That means anyone who is denied access to Canada has the full right to appeal the decision, the same old onion effect will continue, the layers will keep on peeling and it will never end.
The legislation provides very little protection to Canada's borders, as this clause ties the hands of the immigration officials who may become increasingly reluctant to refuse entry and it will significantly add to a litigious immigration system.
No other country in the world gives the rights of its citizens to foreign nationals. While we should welcome genuine immigrants to Canada, the department must be able to retain certain controls of the system rather than handing over the controls to lawyers.
This bill, rather than tightening, broadly expands the definition of refugee well beyond the UN definition of a conventional refugee and in contrast to the direction taken by most other western nations. This will continue to make Canada's refugee determination system the easiest target in the world for abuse and it will encourage human traffickers and smugglers. This will almost guarantee that anyone arriving on our doorstep with a good story provided by the smugglers will be accepted as a refugee.
Canada currently accepts over 50% of the people applying for refugee status, in contrast with the U.S. which accepts less than 20% of the people applying for refugee status. The United Kingdom accepts less than 30% and New Zealand accepts less than 15%. The problem is not to accept refugees; the problem is that the criteria should be such that genuine refugees are given the protection, not bogus refugees.
While we should welcome genuine refugees to Canada, the department must provide immediate protection to those refugees and reunite their families as soon as possible, rather than keeping them in the current clogged pipes of the system for years and years.
I have firsthand experience in my constituency of Surrey Central dealing with at least 40 refugee cases which were accepted five or ten years ago but for which there has not been issued a landed document. Therefore, the families could not be reunited. The people involved cannot work properly.
I remember in one case the refugee was accepted, his fingerprints were taken and he was accepted as a refugee. However, the weak system failed to give him the landed certificate. In the meantime, he was working under a work permit, making a little money, and he wanted to buy a taxi. He could not buy that taxi. He could not go into business because he did not have the landed document. That is the kind of clogging in the pipeline which inhibits the economic contribution of these people who become immigrants in Canada. This is unacceptable. We must not let it deteriorate further.
The bill provides for higher maximum penalties for human trafficking and people smuggling. That looks good on the surface. When the minister introduced the bill she delivered a message from the government, but the message is on a different track, and what this legislation would offer is on a different track, and both tracks are going in different directions.
Similarly, it looks like tough talk, but whether it will be practical, whether it will be implemented, that is the point. The stiffest penalties would only apply to those in charge of people drafting operations, and they operate primarily outside the country and remain absolutely untouchable.
The middle level organizers in Canada are protected by organized crime rings and are rarely caught and seldom convicted.
The current maximum penalties have never actually been applied to anyone convicted of people smuggling. In fact, as of 1999 the highest penalty ever handed out was 10 months in jail and a $3,000 fine. That is a mockery of the justice system. It is a mockery of law and order.
Recently the minister went on a junket to the Fujian province of China with a view to stopping human smuggling. It is laughable. There are 150 countries from which thousands and thousands of people want to come to Canada. They would use any kind of means, legal or illegal. They do not care. Will the minister be going to all of those countries to stop those people? She failed to tighten our legislation here in this country. I thought it was the responsibility of the foreign minister to use diplomacy and be effective, not the responsibility of the immigration minister.
She failed earlier to send a strong message to smugglers around the world by sending the illegal migrants back. That was her job to do. She did not do her job, but she wanted to do the foreign minister's job.
She has failed to put teeth in the new bill. Perhaps she would prefer to go on an around the world trip and compete with the foreign minister for air miles.
The bill also proposes that there be security checks for refugee claimants prior to these cases being referred to the IRB. Is it not shocking that this weak government admits now that this has not been done in the past? Why not? Why were security checks not done before the cases were given to the IRB?
Without more emphasis on enforcement it will be very difficult to do proper security checks on 60% of the refugee claimants in Canada, according to the Auditor General of Canada. They come to Canada without identification. When they board the plane they have some sort of identification documents, but when they get off the plane they do not have any documents. According to the auditor general, 60% arrive without documents. How can security checks be done?
The new bill would allow foreign nationals to apply for permanent residency status using the independent immigration side of the act; that is, applying from within Canada. This makes sense in certain cases, such as a highly skilled foreign worker, or a student perhaps who has completed a post-secondary course that is in demand in Canada. However, past experience has proven that this cannot be maintained as a broad-based application and would allow thousands of people without status to stay, further clogging the system.
Another thing the minister mentioned this morning was that, as usual, this bill will rely heavily on regulations for its interpretation. The legislation is small, but there is a truckload of regulations to follow. The legislation is like a blank cheque signed by the ineffective minister. Without backroom management, administration, enforcement and training, the attempts to speed up family reunification for both independent immigrants and genuine refugees will be irrelevant.
I am the co-chair of the Standing Committee on the Scrutiny of Regulations and I can testify that regulations, enormous in number, come through the back door; whereas in the House, when we debate, all the emphasis is placed on the legislation.
It would be correct to say that 80% of the whole effectiveness of the law is through the back door, through the regulations, and that probably 20% of the 300 members spend their time and energy getting excited about that in the House.
We need a better system to scrutinize the regulations so they will be effective and keep the intent of the legislation which was originally passed in the House.
What is the position of the Canadian Alliance? We see Canada as a land built by immigrants. We will continue to welcome new immigrants. I myself am an immigrant, and I did not come to Canada a long time ago.
We would support sponsorship for immediate family members. Our immigration policy would take into account Canada's economic needs. We would introduce greater fairness and security to the system, including enforcement of sponsorship obligations. We would welcome genuine refugees to this country with open, warm arms. We would work co-operatively with the provinces on the settlement of immigrants. We would protect the integrity of the valuable contribution made to the fabric of Canada by millions of law-abiding immigrants. We would not allow their good reputation to be jeopardized by those who engage in criminal activity, and would speedily deport such individuals once their sentence was served.
As well, we would affirm Canada's humanitarian obligations to welcome genuine refugees. We are proud that our country has provided a safe haven for displaced people from across the world. To ensure fairness and put an end to queue-jumping, we would immediately deport bogus refugees, those who would abuse the system and other illegal entrants. We would severely penalize those who organize abuses of our system. We would ensure that refugee status was arbitrated expeditiously, consistently and professionally. We would end the abuse of refugee claims as a fast track to gaining the benefits of landed immigrant status.
The system should work for the legitimate, genuine people who want to come to Canada, not for those who are criminals or who would enter through the back door and abuse the system.
Our refugee system is such that it does not work for the genuine refugee. Imagine those pictures we watch on TV about the UN camps for refugees; those genuine refugees who are displaced and suffering. However, if they cannot come into the system, the system is not working for them.
I want to dedicate some of my time to express what my constituents in Surrey Central are saying to me. Surrey is one of the fastest growing communities in Canada, one of Canada's more racially diverse and multicultural metropolitan centres. We are proud of that.
I hear complaints about Canada's flawed and broken immigration system. I heard complaints that people were taking bribes in our embassies abroad. When I brought this matter to the attention of the minister, the RCMP were expeditiously dispatched to investigate the matter and people were punished. The point is, why is the system not detecting the problem and working for the genuine people?
Another problem is with the backlog of cases in Canada. I hear from my constituents frequently that there is a funeral, a birthday or a party and people want to come to visit their family members, but they are not able to get a visitor visa. Some people even gave personal guarantees or were willing to post a bond, but the system did not work for them. If no visitors can apply within Canada, how would those people get visitor visas to come to Canada? The knot is tightening on visitor applicants, which will make the system unfair. There is no right of appeal for a visitor visa.
Members of parliament are caught in between. They can neither help their constituents nor do anything else about the problem.
I wanted to talk about the head tax and non-governmental agencies, but time will not allow that. The system should be effective and working for genuine immigrants. The government has failed to deliver what Canadians want with this new act.
