Elinor Caplan

[Immigration, October 20th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I want to be very clear. The government will uphold the charter of rights and freedoms. We stand for due process of law. Unlike the Reform Party, we are not attempting to throw out compassionate and humanitarian traditions. We will not rip up our charter of rights and freedoms. We will not walk away from our international obligations.

We offer people due process. The individuals she is referring to had the right to a judicial review with the federal court. It is not the policy of the government to detain all failed refugee claimants before they have received due process.

[Immigration, October 20th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, while I will not discuss individual cases I will tell the member that the individuals she was referring to who have been part of the accelerated process, which was part of the IRB decision, were not in detention prior to their hearings.

They had met all their obligations. They had shown up for all their hearings. Because they were entitled to a judicial review before the federal court, there was no reason to assume that they would not continue to meet their obligations.

[Immigration, October 20th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member opposite is proposing that the state have the power to detain individuals when it has no evidence that those individuals will in fact flee.

We detain them and we have the right to detain if we do not know who they are. Until we have their identity we have the right to detain if we are concerned about criminality. We have the right to detain if there are concerns of flight.

The individuals the member referred to had shown up for all their hearings as part of the due process. I would say to him that unless there is evidence and we can make the case to detain it is not appropriate that we should do so.

[Immigration, October 20th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the member is absolutely inaccurate and wrong in his contention. It is utter nonsense. I want to tell him that it is not the policy of the government to detain all failed refugee claimants.

The sudden arrival on the B.C. coast this summer posed new challenges. We have been making the argument successfully to detain the people in boats two, three and four. Those people who arrived in the first boat were not detained after we had identified them. We experienced a problem and because of the information we had we were able to make the case for boats two, three and four.

What they are proposing is undemocratic.

[Immigration, October 19th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, unlike the Reform Party, the government is determined to enforce the charter of rights not just for some of the people some of the time, but for all of the people in Canada all of the time. Part of that procedure is to allow the IRB to do its work and make its decisions.

The department will continue to argue before an adjudicator to detain when we believe the detention is warranted. However, it is a quasi judicial, independent body and we will not interfere with its process.

[Immigration, October 19th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I want to make it very clear to this member and to everyone that I deplore human smuggling. I am very concerned about the welfare of the people who are in the hands of those smugglers.

The IRB is an independent quasi judicial process. It has assured me that it will accelerate the determination procedure. The department is making arguments to detain those individuals on the grounds that there is fear of flight until we have their identity and know who they are, or if there are criminal proceedings. That is the law.

[Immigration And Refugee Board, October 18th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to point out to the hon. member that I had the opportunity to meet Ms. Mawani for the first time shortly after my appointment, when we discussed, appropriately, the procedures and policies of the board, which is an arm's length, quasi-judicial institution.

I want to say to the hon. member and to all Canadians that competence is the first criteria with this government's appointments.

[Immigration And Refugee Board, October 18th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for the question because it gives me an opportunity to correct the record.

Ms. Mawani has served for 10 years as chair of the IRB. The House will note that this government was elected for the first time less than 10 years ago. It is true that her appointment is coming to an end and that there is a review under way for a successor.

[Immigration, October 13th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, my department is working co-operatively with the city of Toronto. We are trying to gather the data and the information. We know that this requires a response from three levels of government: the federal government, the provincial government and the municipal government. I want to point out that the refugee population that the mayor is concerned about represents about 10% of the concerns that he has and we are working with him to resolve those issues.

I want to make one point very clear. As we do this, the government remains committed, as opposed to the opposition party, to upholding the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; not just for some, but for all.

[Immigration, October 13th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the throne speech identified that people smuggling as a great concern to the government. We will not tolerate trafficking in human lives.

The concerns we have when it comes human smuggling is that not only does it endanger the lives of the people who are in the hands of transnational organized crime but it diverts our attention from genuine refugees.

Nine people have been charged and they are presently before the courts. We have the toughest laws and we are looking at making them even tougher to ensure that smugglers know they will not succeed in Canada.