Citizenship and Immigration committee  That is another deeply troubling piece of the legislation, the fact that there will essentially be a five-year bar because of the inability to get permanent residence for five years for the individuals you've described, and with that, therefore, an inability to sponsor family members.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think the sense of discrimination that lies at the heart of this bill, treating refugees differently based on how they've arrived in Canada, based on their country of nationality, and therefore being denied equal protection of some key human rights issues—access to appeal provisions, access to family reunification, ability to travel abroad—simply on those grounds is deeply troubling.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you. There are many international legal provisions at stake when we look at the detention regime here. It starts with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees against arbitrary arrest and detention, and the need for regular, timely access to an ability to challenge the reasons for detention.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We're very clearly of the view that these detention provisions do not conform to our international legal obligations. I think we're already starting to see that signalled. As I said, earlier this year, in February, Canada was reviewed by a UN-level human rights body, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think there's a big difference between a notion of expediting claims on the basis of country of origin and denying access to something as fundamental as an appeal hearing in something as consequential as a refugee claim. I think the high commissioner's comments were dealing with timelines and speeding up processing.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you very much. I certainly appreciate learning of your support for Amnesty International. Absolutely, we agree that speedy, expeditious processing of refugee claims is not just an important government objective, it's an important objective for refugees themselves. Obviously they want their fate to be resolved.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We already do have provisions in Canadian law that allow for detention for the purposes of verifying identity. This new approach of imprisoning an entire group simply on the basis of their group identify and their means of arrival is something very different, with respect.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Okay. The last point I want to make is a point about appeals. For years the lack of an appeal on merits has been the notable shortcoming in Canada's refugee system. We welcomed, therefore, the inclusion in Bill C-31 of establishing the Refugee Appeal Division. What is deeply troubling, though, is the discrimination in terms of who gets access to an appeal, most notably those who have arrived as part of an irregular arrival or those coming from designated countries of origin.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, and good morning, committee members. The right to liberty is a cornerstone human right grounded in the innate human yearning for freedom. Human rights norms universally, therefore, make it clear that the state's power to take away liberty through arrest and imprisonment is and must be constrained and restricted.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Actually, Madame Vaugrante will begin for us. Thank you.