Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, I looked at the proposed pay grade for these new board members or civil servants, and it's up there. The quality of decision-maker is up there. The eight-day tape would disclose, unlike a transcript, the sense of whether that claimant understood the nature and quality of th

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Ideally, yes. You have your thumb directly on point. It's exactly the situation. We have to bring that convention forward in time half a century, or whatever the magic number is, to reflect today's reality. Back then, there were customs and borders between each of these countries

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No. I would, with respect, part company there. We have two principles in that convention: safe third country and internal flight alternative. We're just recognizing that other parts of safe Europe present an internal flight alternative. They're holding EEC passports, so it's the

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The eight days is a good tool. With due respect, I don't buy into the vulnerable, ignorant, scared claimant who needs to be hand-held. I agree, what we need to do is to provide training on the intake side. We need eight and sixty. If, for operational reasons, the financial consid

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, absolutely, because, in concrete terms, it is possible for a person to enjoy freedom of mobility and of travel between countries such as France, Germany, etc. It is not necessary to amend the Convention. All that has to be done is to amend our legislation and eligibility for

Citizenship and Immigration committee  For the first time in Lord knows how long, I actually had a tingle of optimism trickle down my spine. I apologize if some members disagree; I don't mean about the entire bill. There is room for negotiation and change, but fundamentally the policy-makers within CIC clearly fixed m

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, I think everyone is on the same page. I've spoken with failed claimants, and their anguish is in the delay—the delay in getting a decision, the delay in knowing whether they're in or they're out. They have to plan their lives. The timeline is critical in this process, and

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think competence is at the core. As long as a decision-maker is competent, I don't think it should make a difference whether the person is a member of one political party or the other. This brings up the larger situation of how our Canadian political machine is energized; it is

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Goodness, I took my oath, I believe, in October 1988, so it's a while.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  My goodness. The bulk of my refugee work was done from 1988 through 1994. At that point, I couldn't take the stories of pain and suffering any more. Even today, I don't want to recall those oaths. It's too high a personal price, frankly. I dwindled it down. I decided to help extr

Citizenship and Immigration committee  A distinction has to be drawn between a bogus claimant—someone who intends to abuse Canadian generosity—and someone who just misses the mark. You can have good-faith claimants who simply fail the test of persecution because of their personal circumstances. However, when there is

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, as long as those claimants can get off the plane in Paris, Heathrow, and Frankfurt in safety, I don't see what the problem is.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think I'm already on record back in 1993 for answering this kind of question the following way.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Naturally, a brilliant question. I think implementation has to be done right. If you need to take baby steps, take the baby steps. Experience shows that rushing to the finish line results in an inadequate structure and expensive mistakes, including a potential loss of life and r

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'd go for the most expensive component first. I'd do my best administratively to provide relief using the existing administrative structure to soften the H and C or the PRRA on that end until the refugee appeal division is fully functioning. So soften up the intake and perhaps i