Chris Alexander

[Citizenship and Immigration, April 8th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, Canada, under this government, will of course continue accepting refugees from all over the world.

What Somali Canadians understand, though, is that only a few years ago, among the top ten source countries for refugees coming into this country, half of them were safe countries. In 2011, 6,300 asylum claims came from the European Union. That was more than we had from either Africa or Asia, in spite of their being much larger continents with populations with much higher rates of conflict.

Thanks to our reforms, in 2013 we saw needy countries like Afghanistan, Syria, Congo, Egypt, and, yes, Somalia, back in the top ten—

[Foreign Affairs, April 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we are tremendously concerned about reports and evidence of anti-Semitism in Ukraine and other countries in central and eastern Europe. We follow these trends extremely closely, and when it comes to designating safe countries, there are objective criteria in Canada's legislation, and those designations are reviewed on a continuing basis.

In the meantime, we are extremely proud that our reforms have reduced the number of asylum claims from safe countries, including those in the European Union, opening the door to a much larger number of asylum claims from those countries that are truly not safe, where large numbers of Jews and others face persecution on a large scale. For genuine refugees from around the world, Canada will continue to do its part.

[Citizenship and Immigration, April 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, Canada, as usual, has been generous in responding to the Syrian refugee crisis, as we have always been, in Diefenbaker's time and under every Conservative government. Hundreds of Syrians have arrived in Canada. They have been accepted faster than in any other country.

Earlier this year I mentioned a number that had to do with the referrals we started getting from the UNHCR. In December, we acted quickly on those referrals. We continue to act quickly and to be generous. There are 1,700 applications in process. That is more than any of our peers can boast.

[Citizenship and Immigration, April 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, no, as I have already said, we have no intention of introducing new requirements in terms of language or any other criteria for spousal sponsorship.

We are in favour of open debate. We want to protect women from violence here in Canada and within the immigration program. Does the third party support protecting women from violence? Their leader, the Leader of the Liberal Party, does not appear too sure about that.

[Citizenship and Immigration, April 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, will the member opposite agree that women in Canada deserve protection from violence, and just as they deserve protection from violence in Canada, they deserve protection from violence in our immigration programs? That is what our discussion is about, and we will do everything in our power to make sure that those protections are strengthened.

Diefenbaker would be proud of our legacy today. He would not have been proud of the Liberal legacy of promoting abuse, of taking asylum seekers from the European Union, from the United—

[Citizenship and Immigration, April 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, will the member opposite agree that--

[Citizenship and Immigration, April 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we do have a very proud legacy when it comes to protecting refugees. It dates back to the time of Diefenbaker, but was interrupted during the Liberal years, when abuse of the system began to run rampant. We are in the process of cleaning up that mess. We are in the process of getting the refugee system back on track. We have already exceeded our objectives when it comes to Syrian refugees; 1,700 applications are already being processed.

Two hundred refugees have been referred to the government and welcomed by the high commission. Yes, we are going to do more—

[Citizenship and Immigration, April 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, Canada continues to be a beacon of hope for dissidents, for the persecuted, for refugees around the world. We will take no lessons from the NDP, which has opposed our asylum reforms at every turn, reforms that were aiming to focus Canada's resources on those who need it most. We are proud of the fact that one in 10 refugees settled by UNHCR around the world continues to come to Canada. We are going to make sure that continues to be the case.

[Citizenship and Immigration, April 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, as the Leader of the Opposition well knows, refugee cases, asylum cases, are heard by a very professional, independent Immigration and Refugee Board. Our government is enormously proud of the steps we take to focus our asylum system on the needs of real refugees.

We have reduced, by 87%, the number of asylum seekers coming from safe countries. The number of refugees being processed from Syria has risen to 1,700, and we are processing all of the 200 refugees referred to us so far by the UNHCR from Syria. That is a record to be proud of.

[Citizenship and Immigration, March 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, no, we have no intention of imposing language requirements for spouses, but we will continue to study these issues and to hear from Canadians. It is irresponsible of the Liberal Party, as it does almost every day, to cite a comment at a round table and then suddenly fearmonger among Canadians about an important issue.

What we are trying to do here is to protect women in the immigration system from violence. Do the Liberals have any idea of what the issues are on that front, and will the member opposite agree that there are barbaric practices that should be called just that, which their leader still refuses to do?