No. I was trying to ask a question of the member from the Liberal Party.
House of Commons photoLost her last election, in 2015, with 27% of the vote.
Copyright Modernization Act November 2nd, 2010
No. I was trying to ask a question of the member from the Liberal Party.
Copyright Modernization Act November 2nd, 2010
I tried to rise. I am sorry. I was not fast enough on my feet. Another member wanted to ask questions too.
Copyright Modernization Act November 2nd, 2010
I thought we were still on questions and comments, Mr. Speaker.
Copyright Modernization Act November 2nd, 2010
Mr. Speaker, my question for the hon. member who just spoke is about the artists in Canada. If we look at the average earnings per year, a large number of them live--
Questions on the Order Paper November 2nd, 2010
With regard to immigration applications or sponsorship files, from 2006 to present: (a) how many immigration applications or sponsorship files are lost each year, listing for each file the class (economic, family, protected persons, and others), visa office involved, rationale for the missing file and wait times resulting from the loss of the file; and (b) what actions are being taken to reduce the number of lost files?
Committees of the House November 2nd, 2010
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to seek unanimous consent for the following motion, seconded by my colleague from Timmins—James Bay: That Bill C-565, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (arrest without warrant by owner), better known as the lucky moose bill, be deemed read a second time, deemed referred to a committee of the whole, deemed reported back from the committee of the whole without amendment, deemed concurred in at report stage and deemed read a third time and passed.
Madam Speaker, my constituents believe their basic rights of uniting with loved ones have been violated.
Another of my constituents, Marco Moya, said that she just had a baby and she wants her mother to come and meet her newborn granddaughter. Surely we cannot say that these elderly ladies, mothers and grandmothers, are terrorists and will hurt our country. That is absurd. So what is the possible reason for denying them? Is it because of her income, or is it because of the duration of her stay? No, in this case they said it was because the officer was not satisfied that her ties in Venezuela are strong enough.
It is not her fault that my constituent, Marco Moya, is the only child and there are no other children back home, but the mother is the primary caregiver of the grandmother. So there is absolutely no reason for this wonderful mother to be denied entry into Canada.
Madam Speaker, I want to raise the question of the unfairness surrounding the whole notion of getting a visitor visa.
I know the tourism minister recently went to China to say how wonderful it was that we finally received the designation so more tourists could come from China to Toronto. That would definitely help our tourism industry. It is good for our economy and for our culture.
What we have not examined is the fact that 20% of those people who apply for visitor visas get turned down. When members of Parliament ask the visa office why they have been turned down, they are often given a standard form letter along the lines that their economic ties to the home country are not sufficient. What does that mean?
A few months ago, through Standing Order 43, I asked the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism what precise criteria was needed at each of the visa offices around the globe to qualify visitors and allow them to get tourist visa approval.
I received a very interesting response, and that was there really were no specific criteria. There are no specific guidelines as to how much money people need to be making, what kind of job they need, what kind of property they need to have in their home land, how many family members need to be there. None of that is written down. There are no set rules.
How does one define economic ties? My constituents feel this is very strange. They have told me they have friends whose parents are making x dollars and that they are making the same amount or even more. They ask me why one set of parents can come to Canada to visit but theirs cannot?
How would I ever answer that question? We do not know the criteria. We do not know what the dollar amount is that people need in their bank account or what their salary needs to be to qualify as rich enough to come to Canada as a visitor.
I created a Facebook group called “Fairness for Visitor Visa”. I captured quite a large number of stories of people who were unable to bring their relatives or friends to Canada.
Allow me to read one or two of the stories. One of them is from Havva Seydaii. She says:
“My mother-in-law was denied a visitor's visa for the second time to come attend her son's (my husband) graduation from Ryerson University even though we provided all documents to prove she would not stay permanently in Canada. We even had a letter signed by a notary public. The really strange thing is that she visited Canada before in 1999 and returned to her home country, Turkey within 2 months, clearly indicating that she has no desire to stay here. My husband and I are both Canadian citizens and could sponsor her if we wanted to but she does not want to live in Canada and just needs a visitor's visa. It is obvious that the visa approval process is flawed and unfair. It causes people—
Preventing Human Smugglers From Abusing Canada's Immigration System Act October 28th, 2010
Madam Speaker, does the member realize that in the immigration act there is already a very stiff penalty for people who have been convicted of smuggling? It is called a life sentence. What else can we do in terms of stiffening the fine? Life sentencing is as stiff a fine as it can get. We are not talking about capital punishment; we are talking about a life sentence.
How are we letting criminals run free, if we are saying that if they are convicted, they will go to jail for their entire life? Surely he is not suggesting that refugee claimants are terrorists and criminals, or is he?
Preventing Human Smugglers From Abusing Canada's Immigration System Act October 28th, 2010
Madam Speaker, the member was involved in immigration. Just recently, Parliament approved a balanced refugee reform act. We worked together, that is why it was balanced. It was not balanced when the Conservatives introduced it, but we balanced it together. The House of Commons is much stronger when all members of Parliament work together.
Instead of implementing the bill so that genuine refugees can get decisions quickly and start a life here in Canada, and so that bogus refugees can be deported quickly, we are faced with an unbalanced refugee bill that does not treat refugees equally under the law.
Perhaps the member could talk a bit about why one refugee would be treated vastly differently than another. What kind of treatment would the so-called second-class refugee be subject to if such a refugee came into Canada irregularly?