Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, it has been a challenge for us to get our analysis and our information and all of our sensitization materials across to the front-line workers, and to the users of the services, and to the public in general. It's difficult for an organization to have that outreach, and thos

Citizenship and Immigration committee  If it's the only solution available, that would help a lot in clarifying what's at stake. The ideal would be that any changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act are not made to play the role of a pawn in a political kind of exchange, and be made a matter of confidence.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Exactly, the Refugee Appeal Division issue has been around for years. I believe that it is an affront to Parliament because Parliament itself adopted the legislation. I am not saying that it is ridiculous, but it is rather shameful that Parliament is now being forced to adopt ano

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It is legislation in order to enforce an act that already exists. So how much telescoping — I do not know how else to put this — will have to be done? It is indeed the matter of the limits over the executive power of the government that is at play in Bill C-50. The minister, amon

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, you gave him three minutes; let me have two.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  There was a case in Canadian history, the continuous journey policy, that was worded in a way that said that no one who didn't come to Canada through a continuous journey would be accepted. It didn't say we don't want people from that country or from that continent, but as a matt

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I too wish to thank the members of the Committee. I represent the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants. It is an umbrella organization, somewhat like the Canadian Council for Refugees. The latter operates at the national level, wherea

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm totally in support of what Debbie just said. Maybe I would just add that, in the meantime, while the temporary workers are coming here, until the big policy picture is arranged and properly addressed, we need the services to be provided, we need to make them eligible, and we

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, I'd like to supplement Debbie's answer. Subsection 3(1) of the Canada Immigration and Refugee Protection Act states the essential elements of the wisdom of Canada's immigration policy, which are being circumvented through the increased use of temporary workers. Paragraphs 3

Citizenship and Immigration committee  There has been documentation done by the United Food and Commercial Workers both here in Ontario and in Quebec. I think it's not surprising that.... We were just in Halifax last week for the Metropolis Conference on immigration. We heard of human rights violations and job abuse

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I want to thank the committee for inviting us. As Debbie mentioned, we're going to talk about temporary work permits. I'm going to do one part in French and the other in English later. I'd like to raise three points: first, our concerns about these programs; second, our proposa

Finance committee  Again, that's only one part of the problem, as I was telling your colleague. At least in Ontario last year, Bill 124 was enacted. That is the fairness commission and recognition of foreign-trained professionals' diplomas. It's going to start being implemented now. It has a fe

Finance committee  Organizations like OCASI generally offer direct services to immigrants. We provide information services on employment, housing and health. However, they are not generally able to work to defend the rights of individual immigrants. On the other hand, as a provincial umbrella organ

Finance committee  We didn't address the issue of funding for community organizations in our brief. We focused instead on the anti-poverty strategy and tax reform, which can help remedy the situation. So the question is not necessarily to inform individuals, if they find themselves in a—

Finance committee  Of course, we can inform them about their rights. Now we're thinking of establishing measures to obtain fair treatment for immigrant workers. The federal and provincial governments have undertaken to recognize credentials acquired outside Canada. That's a very good measure. Howe