Denis Coderre

[Immigration, September 18th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, that is the same question again.

Our government is pretty keen on security. We are doing what it takes. Every time there is an inquiry we are now participating in that inquiry. We have the RCMP, our people from our department doing their jobs. We are not interfering. Every time there is a serious allegation we react and we act.

[Immigration, September 18th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, today we celebrate equity. We celebrate flexibility. The government made some changes. We announced an adjustment to the passports for the federal skilled workers applicants. From now on with the new grid, instead of needing 75 points, one needs 67 points. I think that is good news.

On this side of the House we do not perceive immigrants as potential terrorists or criminals. We take every allegation very seriously. We are doing our homework. I can assure members that security is also a priority for the government.

[Immigration and Refugee Board, June 10th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, once again, I will not comment on specifics, but I think that it is quite unfortunate that today an attempt is being made to discredit the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, an independent board that has proven itself and whose members are doing an excellent job.

So instead of getting into specifics, let us instead congratulate the Immigration and Refugee Board on the job it is doing.

[Immigration and Refugee Board, June 10th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, as I have always said, we take these allegations very seriously.

Since the hon. member is also a lawyer, she understands the importance of respecting the legal system, so we are waiting for the RCMP to finish its investigations. If there are charges, the RCMP must be allowed to do its work. Then justice must follow its course.

[Question No. 213, June 10th, 2003]

Insofar as Citizenship and Immigration Canada is concerned, the reply is as follows:

With respect to (a):

Note: CIC has been in the process of implementing a national case management system, NCMS, since 1999 and the roll out will be completed in June 2003. Although the department has some data for some locations, it does not have a full count of performance bonds issued for the period requested. A performance bond is a promissory note to pay if an immigration condition is not met.

With respect to (b), performance bonds and security deposits are not issued for visas. They are issued as a means of ensuring that any and all conditions imposed, either by an immigration officer or by a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board, are respected.

With respect to (c), individual risk factors, as well as the ability of the person or guarantor to meet the requirements of the performance bonds or cash deposit, are considered by the decision maker when setting the value of the bond or security deposit. There is therefore no typical value for performance bonds.

For security deposits, the value can vary substantially. The average value of bonds deposited for the five year period was approximately $3,152.

With respect to (d):

[Immigration and Refugee Board, June 9th, 2003]

We are not sure.

We should know better: that when there is some allegation based on police operations we have to let the RCMP do its job and let justice follow its course, as simple as that.

[Immigration and Refugee Board, June 9th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, like I said in the beginning, and she should know better because she has had legal training and she knows exactly how it works--

[Immigration and Refugee Board, June 9th, 2003]

Hold him down, somebody.

Mr. Speaker, I can say simply that when speaking of allegations and police investigations, my role is obviously to stay out of these investigations. We will let the RCMP do its work and, more importantly, we will let justice take its course.

[Immigration Board, June 9th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is referring to allegations concerning an individual. Since a police investigation is currently underway, we can in no way involve ourselves in this situation.

We will let justice take its course and then we will see.

[Citizenship and Immigration, June 6th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, this type of comment is completely unacceptable. It is completely unacceptable because these people are doing extraordinary work to ensure a certain level of well-being for society.

I will never accept such an individual, who—to top it off—comes and asks us for Minister's permits, telling us that we are not doing our job. These employees do their jobs well, end of story.