Sergio Marchi

[Immigration, April 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I said very clearly and as completely as I could under the guise of question period that no immigration official is permitted to administer any medicine, injection or sedation at all.

The 12 cases last year out of 9,000 were done on the orders of doctors usually practising in the provincial field for the benefit of the individual who was being asked to be removed because of his or her condition.

I will certainly make every effort to ensure that the policy be observed and respected from one coast of this country to the other.

[Immigration, April 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for raising a very sensitive question. This gives me an opportunity to address it based on the facts.

First, it is general policy of this government, as it was in previous governments, that people on medication who are asked to be removed should continue to receive the prescription through a regular practitioner.

Second, under no circumstances is it policy for the purpose of removal to simply sedate individuals.

Third, last year there were approximately 9,000 removals. My department informed me this morning there were under 12 individuals who required medical attention.

In the case of the woman from Zaire I caution the member because no immigration officials are permitted to administer any kind of medicine whatsoever. In this case the woman had a medical condition which I am not permitted to get into because of privacy laws. There was medical attention recommended and administered by a practising physician under provincial jurisdiction.

[Refugees, April 21st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. friend and colleague for Scarborough-Rouge River.

I can say to the hon. member and to the House that the number is lower than the 24,000 being thrown around by the media. Approximately 10,000 of those individuals, would be claimants have been refused but because of previous policy directives have not been removed. For instance the individuals from the People's Republic of China as well as other countries fall into that category. As you know, Mr. Speaker, the government is

actively pursuing a strategy of how to clarify that status in fairness to them and to the system.

An anticipated one-third of those individuals are no longer in this country and therefore are not a financial drain. There are also individuals in detention and in our prisons and there are some cases where the processing of a particular case has fallen between the cracks as sometimes happens with governments.

I ask the member to recognize that the government has moved on allowing work permits for refugee claimants while they wait for their cases. We have had approximately a 70 per cent take-up of claimants asking for work permits. As the Prime Minister said moments ago, not only could we give them the dignity of work but also lessen the load on our social service programs.

[Immigration And Refugee Board, April 15th, 1994]

Madam Speaker, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the 1993 Report of the Immigration and Refugee Board.

[Immigration, April 15th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I caution the member to try to curtail the kind of fishing expedition he wants to engage in.

I would point out that that mandatory testing has not taken place. Second, where those individuals exhibit traces of HIV they are asked to be tested. Third, most of those individuals are not permitted into the country. Fourth, the whole question of medical inadmissibility is now being reviewed as a result of some of the charter cases that have happened in the last number of months.

I will be happy to provide the hon. member with some answers to questions that he asked with respect to specific statistics, which I do not have at my fingertips today.

[Immigration, April 15th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, that is only news to the hon. member because as my colleague mentioned earlier, they clearly have a vacuum in their research capacity.

The fact is there is not mandatory HIV testing. However, if in their routine checks they find traces of HIV, our doctors throughout the world are allowed to ask applicants to have that test. In the majority of cases they have been refused.

There is not mandatory testing yet for HIV. Many applicants are tested and many are not permitted to come not only with the perspective of problems for other Canadians but also with respect to the effect and impact it would have on our health care system in Canada.

[Immigration, April 15th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I think clumsiness is in the eye of the beholder. Quite frankly the hon. member is trying to make an issue of a non-issue. No one is calling the Quebec government or the province of Quebec into question on its resettlement and settlement programs.

I told the hon. member in committee two days ago. I told the hon. member yesterday. I repeat for him again that my government and I believe Quebec has done a yeoman's job and service on settlement.

Second, the hon. member intentionally confuses what I said on the settlement issue with citizenship materials to try to standardize citizenship materials from one coast to the other. That is citizenship, settlement is immigration, and the member knows it.

[Immigration, April 15th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, no Government of Quebec official has called me to order. Quite the contrary. I spoke to the Quebec minister responsible for immigration and he said very clearly what I told the member yesterday on the floor of the House of Commons.

First, he says that Quebec has nurtured a settlement process that clearly is at the top of the list after a 20-25 year agreement with the federal government.

Second, he has no problem that the committee overseeing the Canada-Quebec accord regularly meets with federal and provincial officials to discuss what there is for public debate.

Third, he confirms to me that there is no incompatibility with promoting strong, exciting patriotism and love of Canada and one's fierce loyalty to one's province or region. One either lives in a province in a country or one lives in a country and in a province.

Quebec has jurisdiction over independent immigration that comes to Quebec, but as far as I know Quebec is still in Canada.

[Integration Of Immigrants, April 14th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, that is an absolutely false and inaccurate allegation which the member just made on the floor of this House of Commons. What I said yesterday in the committee was in reaction to what two media reports suggested about somehow low bridging or hiding Canada.

As the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, on behalf of a national government we ought not to hide whether it is our country called Canada or the loyalty that one feels for one's province or region. Part of my responsibility simply is to promote Canada, east, west and north.

When an immigrant comes to our country, he or she comes to a country and lives in a province and ought to feel loyalty and patriotism to both.

[Integration Of Immigrants, April 14th, 1994]

Not at all, Mr. Speaker. We discussed that yesterday with the standing committee. I made three statements. First, I said that, during the 25 years of the agreement, the government and the province of Quebec had done a good job of integrating immigrants.

Second, I said to the member of the media who made the allegation that it would be a good idea for the committee to review this allegation, not investigate, but talk with officials from Quebec and Canada.

Third, I said that you could be proud of being a Canadian and at the same time be proud of being a Quebecker or the resident of a given region.