Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair and honoured members of the committee. We are really pleased to be here tonight, and are delighted that you are taking up this important issue. We are here to recommend in the strongest possible terms that the excessive demand clause in the immigration act be repealed, and having made that comment, I'm tempted to rest my case right there, but of course I'm not going to.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Some of the cases that come to us involve families in which the son or daughter has a disability and that person is deemed ineligible, so the family has a heartbreaking decision to make. Do they come to Canada and leave their son or daughter behind, or do they not come when they want to try to make a new life for themselves?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I do. When you think about some of the other groups that are allowed in—people who are heavy smokers, people who are at risk because of a potential accident or whatever—those people are allowed in. They may be non-disabled now. We sometimes use the term “TAB”—temporarily able-bodied—but there is no guarantee that tomorrow those persons won't suffer an accident or sometime shortly down the road develop an illness because of their lifestyle.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We agree. The numbers you quoted, sir, bear out my earlier comment that Canada is not likely to be flooded with a huge number of additional applicants should this discriminatory provision be repealed.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm afraid I don't. We've heard those numbers as well. It sounds like a lot to us, but we've heard those numbers.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I don't think I have a breakdown for you, but I know that a lot of the cases that have come through the doors of our national office seem to be on the ground of intellectual disability.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  If I can just add.... If that were to occur, it could set up a patchwork of eligibility province to province. I don't think that's something we want in Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I totally agree with you. It seems to me a very arbitrary process that when a particular disability is identified, chances are that this person is automatically excluded. That does not take into account the fact that telling you that a person has a given disability tells you a lot less than many people think it does.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  If you look at the history of Canada's immigration system, in the past other groups were arbitrarily excluded and Canada has changed sometimes more slowly than various groups would have liked. Now we just think it's time that Canada continue that incremental improvement in its system by removing this.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm glad that—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  You raise an interesting example. I wish we could get back to discussions about the humanity here rather than just the overall cost. I think settlement organizations can help us a lot. I think your example shows how community creativity can help mitigate some of the perceived costs and can help individuals settle in our country.