Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, they are not immediately given permanent residency. There's a five-year delay.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It's a five-year delay from the date of the claim. Once designated foreign nationals are recognized, they do not get permanent residency under this bill.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  If they are outside the country.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  If they are outside the country. What's more, because of the denial of travel documents during those five years, they can't even visit their family outside of Canada. It's a forced family separation.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, but if they could travel, they could at least visit their family in another country.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, I am. To a certain extent, I am presenting my plea to you as parliamentarians, because there is certainly a lot more connection between parliamentarians than there is among bureaucrats on these issues.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  My answer is yes, I'm 100% behind the push to promote respect for human rights in Sri Lanka. I think that's valid. I think it's important. I think what parliamentarians have done is good. The problem is it's inconsistent with Bill C-31. That's the problem.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you for inviting me. I would like to address only one of the many changes proposed by Bill C-31—the provision that deals with designated foreign nationals, which you've heard about before. I am a former chair of the immigration law section of the Canadian Bar Association,

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Section 167 right now, as I understand it, deals only with the hearing itself and not with the preliminary interview. If you want the legislation to have something that deals specifically with the interview, there should be a specific provision inserted.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm happy to try to answer that. The bill itself doesn't address that issue, and there has been some concern. Elsewhere in the legislation it says you have a right to have a lawyer before the Immigration and Refugee Board for the actual hearings. In my view, it would be a useful

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I have one concluding sentence.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The net result is deterioration. Thank you.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you very much. Bill C-11 is entitled the Balanced Refugee Reform Act. It supposedly balances improved protection for refugees with enhanced prevention of abuse. For the bill to realize its aim of balance, five requirements must be met: one, there must be a need to improv

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Perhaps I could also echo what Mr. Amyot said. This is not a partisan issue, because human rights are not partisan principles; they're accepted by all parties in principle. I accept that all the parties are trying in their own ways to come to grips with respect for those principl