Judy Sgro

[Citizenship and Immigration, October 28th, 2004]

Madam Speaker, pursuant to section 94 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the annual report on immigration for the year 2004.

[Citizenship and Immigration, October 19th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, it is my government's intention to consult with Canadians, refugee advocates, and other interested parties on how we can better meet the challenges that are facing our government.

Canada is well known as a world leader on human interventions. We will deal with the challenges that are facing us. It is time for us to have a system that more appropriately deals with the needs and the realities of the 21st century while at the same time ensuring that we protect those most vulnerable and persecuted across the world.

[Refugees, October 18th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, as you know, Canada is renowned throughout the world for having a very strong, effective and fair process for refugees. We will continue to work with our partners to ensure that the process is fair and that diligence is present all the time for all of the applicants.

[Refugees, October 18th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to congratulate the critic from the Bloc. I look forward to working with her as we move forward on a variety of these issues.

As I have indicated before, we will be initiating in the very near future a variety of issues to do with refugee reform. In particular, on the issue of the churches that she raised, I have had various meetings with the churches. We will continue to work together to ensure that we give protection to the people that need it the most.

[Refugees, October 14th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, may I congratulate the hon. member on his election and his appointment as the critic for immigration.

We need to applaud the many Canadians who are sponsoring refugees from around the world. CIC continues to work with international organizations on uniting people in refugee camps with Canadian families who want to sponsor them.

[Patent Act, April 29th, 2004]

moved that Bill C-9, an act to amend the Patent Act and the Food and Drugs Act (The Jean Chrétien Pledge to Africa), be read the third time and passed.

[Immigration, April 27th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the U.S. have both published the draft regulations. We are awaiting comment back and we are looking forward to implementation before the end of the year. It is a very important piece of legislation that is going to improve the safety of both the U.S. and Canada.

[Citizenship and Immigration, April 19th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to invite the member to sit in on a few of these hearings and look at what the new test is all about.

It is extremely important that the people who do the interviews have the proper skills, and that we enhance them in any way that we possibly can while they are making life and death decisions on people who want to stay in Canada. The hon. member should just watch and see what is happening.

[Citizenship and Immigration, April 19th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the hon. member that making changes to the appointment process of the IRB is extremely important. It is also very important that we continue the process. We currently have delays and we are trying to speed them up. We do not want further delays. Some people have been reappointed for a one year period in order to keep the system working and decrease the backlog.

[Committees of the House, April 2nd, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 109, I am pleased to present today, in both official languages, the government's response to the 25th report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, concerning chapter 5 of the April 2003 report of the Auditor General of Canada.