Citizenship and Immigration committee  Of course we're a favourite target of human smugglers because the smugglers know that all you have to do is get on an aircraft destined to Canada. They will provide you with false documents that will enable you to get on the aircraft. Once on the aircraft the smuggler will tell you that he guarantees you five to ten years in Canada, even if you're found by the board not to be genuine.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The primary one is the one that we had in the 1989 legislation. This is that certain countries are listed as safe for refugees; they are a safe country of origin. If you're coming from a country, as I said, that's democratic, that follows the rule of law, that's a signatory to the UN convention, then you're not eligible to make a claim.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I wonder if I could make a comment on Mr. St-Cyr's question.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think it's important to realize that if the enactment of the new appeal section came into effect, it simply means a paper review. It's not a de novo hearing. There can be no new facts presented, no new evidence presented. Someone reviews the paper decision that was made by the board.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  On the security issue, I'm inclined to agree: very few asylum seekers have been found to be terrorists. But some have, and one of them, of course, is the famous “Millennium Bomber“, Ahmed Ressam, who came here as an asylum claimant from Algeria. He didn't even bother to appear before the board.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Our asylum system is really in a mess. It doesn't serve the needs of genuine refugees, it's enormously expensive, it encourages and rewards human smuggling, it presents our country with a serious security risk, it undermines our immigration program, and it has damaged our bilateral relations with many friendly countries.

Finance committee  The selection criteria today are still in the point system, but the factors of selection have changed over the years. I think the most fundamental change, which I don't think was a good one, was the tremendous emphasis given to education as opposed to skills and occupations. It means, in effect, that a lot of highly skilled tradesmen can't get into Canada because they simply don't make the points.

Finance committee  No, not necessarily. My problem is that if we're going to increase immigration levels next year to 265,000, and deal with the backlog, it's going to be a difficult task to do that. My own view is that I almost would declare, perhaps, a moratorium on new cases, except for highly needed skilled people and spouses and minor children, and try to get rid of that backlog, because you're dealing with almost a million people.

Finance committee  No, no, that's right. It would require a major change.

Finance committee  Yes, and it would require many additional staff, I would suggest, too.

Finance committee  I think the additional staff are implied with the additional $27 million over two years. I understand the minister is planning to use that money to have additional officers deal with the backlog.

Finance committee  That's the problem with the current act. You can't stop it, because section 11 of the act--I think it is--says that if the people meet the requirements, they shall be accepted. As I said, prior to the 2001 act, there were many people who met most of the selection criteria, but we didn't take them because we didn't need them, or we thought we were getting too many people, so we turned the tap on and turned it off.

Finance committee  I don't know how they do it, but they do it. It may be because the states in Australia may not have that power. Maybe it's a federal government power to license professionals in Australia.

Finance committee  I beg your pardon?

Finance committee  Certainly they don't let in as many immigrants as we do. That's true. As you know, the licensing of professions and trades is a provincial responsibility, and that's part of the problem here.