Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe

[Citizenship and Immigration, June 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, on As it Happens, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration was unable to say how many of the 1,150 Syrian refugees who have received Canada's protection are in fact here, in Canada. He promised to call back with the answer. Perhaps he knows the answer today. Can he tell us how many Syrian refugees are in Canada at this very moment? Are there more than 10, as the CBC announced in March?

[Citizenship and Immigration, June 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago, the minister had to apologize to an immigration consultant whose name he unfairly dragged through the mud. The minister also attacked the Canadian Bar Association for its position on Bill C-24, and yesterday, he went after Toronto constitutional expert Rocco Galati, who was another victim of the minister's mood swings.

Why is the minister ignoring or attacking everyone who does not agree with him? Does he not realize that this attitude, which is typical of the Conservatives, is completely ridiculous and inappropriate?

[Citizenship and Immigration, June 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the minister no longer knows what to say to salvage his credibility.

A number of experts, including the Canadian Bar Association, believe that the citizenship bill is unconstitutional. Yesterday, in a CBC interview, the minister dismissed the criticism, saying that Bill C-24 is similar to what is being done in other NATO countries, but what does NATO have to do with a debate on access to Canadian citizenship? It is completely ridiculous.

Will our fundamental rights in Canada now depend on the mood of our NATO allies?

[Citizenship and Immigration, June 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Bar Association, UNICEF, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, Amnesty International, the Canadian Council for Refugees and many other experts agree that Bill C-24 does not comply with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or international law.

They believe that some parts of the bill are unconstitutional. If the Conservatives really want to improve the Citizenship Act, why are they stubbornly ignoring these experts? Why not amend Bill C-24?

[Citizenship and Immigration, June 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, when the Conservatives announced that Marc Nadon had been appointed to the Supreme Court, Rocco Galati, a Toronto lawyer, immediately challenged the constitutionality of the appointment and managed to have it revoked.

Now Mr. Galati has given notice that he will take the government to court if it cannot prove that its citizenship reform bill is constitutional.

Will the Conservatives avoid making the same mistake twice? Will they listen to Mr. Galati's advice and take their bill to the Supreme Court to ensure that it is constitutional?

[Citizenship and Immigration, June 9th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, Canadian refugee settlement groups are calling on the Conservative government to do its part in response to the humanitarian crisis we are seeing in Syria as a result of the civil war. The settlement groups, under the leadership of the Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector Alliance, wrote to the minister last week to confirm that they have the infrastructure and staff needed to welcome 10,000 Syrian refugees. They are calling for immediate action.

When will the government respond to the call of the United Nations, which is trying to relocate 100,000 Syrian refugees?

[Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act, June 9th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it is hard to know where to start when we hear that kind of thing from the minister. Honestly.

Let us begin with the accelerated citizenship process. The Conservatives have performed very poorly on this issue. They have let citizenship application processing times more than double in the past few years. They are just now reacting, and they are doing a poor job of it. We are not convinced that anything in this bill will result in adequate and essential measures to reduce waiting times for those who are entitled to citizenship and get mired in an administrative morass.

Speaking of helping people who deserve it get citizenship, this morning alone, I received a number of calls from people across the country who are concerned and angry because in a few days, weeks or months, they will have met the time requirement for filing a citizenship application. They have planned their lives around that and carefully calculate every day that counts toward being able to file their citizenship application as soon as possible. Today, the minister is telling them that despite their expectations and dreams, the waiting period is being extended. That is very disrespectful. On behalf of all of them today, I just want to say how unacceptable it is to rush the debate like this. For one thing, it penalizes many people who were counting on filing their citizenship application shortly. It also flies in the face of all the normal House procedures.

This bill was first introduced on February 6. The second hour of second reading did not happen until May 29. For three months, the minister dilly-dallied instead of bringing this bill back to the House. We were not able to debate it, and at the last minute, the minister is bringing the bill back and forcing it down our throats without accepting any real debate. This is unacceptable.

[Victims Bill of Rights, June 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech, which was most interesting, as always.

I was very pleased that she talked about the resources that victims need but cannot always get, such as services, help or support. Conservative bills often talk about helping people and tackling crime and abuse, but we never see any resources to back up this laudable goal and nice rhetoric.

With regard to victims and crimes, a number of studies and case histories in other countries show that the one thing that deters criminals from committing a crime is the likelihood that they will get caught.

Fighting crime is not merely about imposing minimum sentences. It is primarily to ensure we have the police and border resources, for example, to ensure that those who commit offences are caught and face the consequences of their actions.

It always comes down to resources, and I thank my colleague for pointing out the need for resources if we really want to help victims.

[Public Safety, June 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, they should be a little more specific. In fact, according to the email obtained by the media, the Government Operations Centre keeps a list of all the protests that take place across the country, and it shares the information with its partners. Police forces, Canadian intelligence services and the department involved come to mind immediately.

Can the minister tell us if any personally identifiable information about the participants is collected and if this information is also shared with foreign intelligence services?

[Public Safety, June 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, this government is knowingly violating people's privacy. We learned this week that the Government Operations Centre, which falls under the Department of Public Safety, keeps a registry of protests and spies on the people who participate in them.

Freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly are fundamental rights protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. How do the Conservatives justify transforming the Government Operations Centre into a super spy agency?