Citizenship and Immigration committee  Those are just some of the comments I wanted to pass on to you to show how our society is structured. I think that's what benefits us on the immigration front.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  You said we could share our experiences as far as immigration policy is concerned. We don't have any experience, in comparison to your tradition and history and what is happening right now. We are willing to learn from you, because we are aware that Europe is lacking in immigrants.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Devolin's. When the issue is to determine whether an individual will or will not be accepted for immigration to Canada, Immigration Canada is only one of the partners involved. You looked at the issue of health. There are a number of questions there, and decisions to be made. Moreover, there is the security issue.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Mr. Chairman, as part of the 2000 audit, we looked at the relationship between Immigration Canada and CSIS. Some procedures need to be followed. For example, CSIS has developed security profiles. We ensure that Immigration Canada was following the rules established for requesting or not requesting advice from CSIS.

Status of Women committee  Under the women's program, the idea is that community-based groups will propose projects, for example, pertaining to aboriginal women, immigrant women and visible minorities, senior women. It's all about getting dollars to those women to address those needs, the kinds of issues that they're experiencing, to enable them to break down the barrier, to get a leg up, and to move into a situation where their lives will be improved.

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak in favour of this bill. After listening to the comments from the hon. member for Joliette, it seems the Bloc is more concerned about the dangerous offender than the victim, or the young child who has been abused, injured or sexually mistreated, or the mother or father of that child, or those potential children who might be abused.

Citizenship and Immigration  These people and their families have good reason to be worried. Does the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration intend to offer immigration services at his embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, so that Lebanese people applying for permanent residency can do so there? The embassy exists. What is the minister waiting for?

Status of Women committee  In the Yukon we have one neighbourhood law centre that will do civil challenges, but its funding is about to be cut as well. So there are no other avenues for marginalized women, whether aboriginal or immigrant, of which there's a rising number in the north. There's no way for poor women to access the courts. They can't afford lawyers. For change to be made and for inequalities to be rectified, women need access to the courts.

Status of Women committee  We have only to look at the growth in poverty, whether it be among senior women, aboriginal women, single mothers, immigrant women or visible minority women. By cutting budgets for women's programs, the government is sending a message that women are not a priority. Why is it important to invest in women's programming?

Public Accounts committee  If we take a look at youths who are entering the labour force, potentially we're looking at 200,000, but let's even exaggerate those numbers and say 400,000 or 500,000. We know we have 200,000 immigrants per year. That's a total of 700,000, but we're issuing 1.5 million cards per year. So not only do we have a serious problem with the existing data, it appears that as we've streamlined and become more security conscious in our passport regime, in our birth certificate regimes provincially, this may in fact be the weak link that's causing this perplexingly large number of social insurance numbers being issued.

Status of Women committee  One common theme we've heard through the course of the testimony here is that time and time again—and again today—we hear very compelling examples of vulnerable women, women's groups, visible minorities, immigrant women, and senior women who are experiencing needs in their own communities. We have heard from you today that your role is to provide a voice, to be an advocate, and so on. That said, I'm running into a bit of disconnect here.

Public Accounts committee  Well, we know from other audit work that we've done—this is the global case management system in Citizenship and Immigration Canada, which we mentioned in the IT system audit that we tabled in November—that it has experienced its share of problems and delays. The target initially of 2006 is not going to be met, and I don't think the system is even—is it running now?

Public Accounts committee  The other provinces still aren't covered, but this is a significant improvement nevertheless. I think that it's crucial that links be established with Citizenship and Immigration Canada so that data can be verified. Moreover, the report stresses that quite a few improvements have been made in the area of security, but that there are ongoing problems when it comes to controlling employee access to the passport issuing system.

Arab and Muslim Community  We need to remember that many Muslims in Canada fled regimes that had misrepresented Islam's fundamental values, or are the children of immigrants who fled such regimes. They looked for freedom and true respect for those values, and they found that here. Like us, they want to perpetuate those values. The Arab and Muslim community can count on the Bloc Québécois to fight against any prejudice that could prevent it from flourishing and enriching our society.

Committees of the House  The House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion to concur in the 10th report of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.