Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think that's the case. The government has been very clear that it wants to welcome to Canada genuine refugees. That has been the case for this government; I believe it was the case with previous governments. That's not a matter for debate. We are unable to see how the addition of the RAD is going to help this process.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think there's been an increase. I'm going to take this opportunity to make a comment on what Mr. St-Cyr just said. He's a bit put off by the fact that the acceptance rate is only 42%. However, in the department where I work, we believe that we mustn't accept or reject people arbitrarily, but that we have to enforce the law.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  As I said in the answer to your first question, I don't think the system is perfect, but I don't think the RAD is going to make it any better. Clearly, there are costs in going to the Federal Court. As it turns out, I'm now in negotiations with a number of provinces about making additional funds available to them for legal aid purposes, for purposes of the refugee act.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think we have to be reasonable. There is an arbitrary aspect to the commission and there is even one, to a certain degree, in the judgments of the various Federal Court judges. That is simply one thing we have to deal with. In response to your concern, I would like to say two things.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you. Well, first of all, Mr. Kenney and I certainly do not think this is a perfect system. The question before the committee today, though, is whether Bill C-291 will make it a better system. I would argue it will not. The individuals you referred to have the right of appeal to the Federal Court, which can have a more comprehensive look at their cases than the refugee appeal division can.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'll try to do that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. May I start by introducing my two colleagues? Micheline Aucoin is the director general of refugee affairs in the department, and Luke Morton is senior counsel in our legal services unit. Let me start by thanking you for the opportunity to appear before the committee to discuss Bill C-291.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Mr. Chairman, this reflects a change that was decided upon at the government level. These services include matters such as administration, accommodation, informatics, finance, and personnel. Previously they were allocated to the substantive programs of the department proportionately.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The department was involved in the establishment of the new system but it does not have any role in the appointments.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The review process of appointments prior to the recommendation to the minister is slightly different from that which was used when you were minister, Mr. Coderre. The government decided to give the IRB full responsibility for reviewing appointments. Consequently, nor myself nor the minister have any involvement in this process.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  First of all, to my knowledge, Mr. Chairman, this does not happen systematically. There might be specific files, in one place or another, that are problematic. That being said, we must recognize that lawyers or consultants are hired to deal with the more problematic cases. From their viewpoint, it might seem that specific issues exist.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would just like to note that all requests for a security check are sent to our security agencies. They are told what the department's priorities are. Without commenting in detail on the difficulties of the Border Services Agency and the security agencies, they have their own problems.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Essentially, Mr. Chairman, the member is right. It is a huge problem for us, not only in Quebec but throughout Canada. The provenance of the money is very difficult to verify. You are right when you say that Quebec has the initial responsibility to verify if the provenance of the funds is legitimate.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would simply add that under the current regulations, if a person under a removal order applies for a work permit and meets the conditions, neither the minister nor the official has any leeway either. If the conditions and the regulations are met, the permit must be issued.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Mr. Chairman, one of the difficulties is that the department has resources to process 280,000 files a year, whereas we currently have approximately 290,000.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We have 290,000. The difficulty is that the department and judges have to process a much larger number of files than their resources enable them to process. We're currently discussing the matter with Mr. Kenney to see what adjustments we could make. That's our basic problem.