Citizenship and Immigration committee  Exactly.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I can say, sir, in our city of Niagara Falls we don't see those people on the streets as homeless people. As the regional chair suggested, the commissioner of social services accommodates these individuals through our upper-tier government. We don't have that problem with them sitting idle.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Once again, Mr. Chairman, I understand what the regional chairman is saying. That's something that we wouldn't necessarily be privy to on the process. But we hear from people on a regular basis who are well-intended, and I'm not sure whether matters are being dealt with expeditiously enough to allow them to proceed with their lives in a timely manner.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you very much for the question, Mr. Dykstra. Primarily, most of the cases are dealing with the time that it's taking these people to have their cases heard. In my case, they're asking me to facilitate or to help them facilitate the acceleration of the time taken to have their matters dealt with.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Your question is to whom?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  If I may add, I was hoping that the process would allow for fair and equitable matters to be dealt with in terms of time and a request for information. Once again, I would rely on the hearing chairman and the process to allow for amendments to time to be granted, if that was required.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Niagara Falls has a population of about 82,000.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, that's exactly the point I wish to make.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Again, I can't speak to the whole climate in Greece, and I'm not an expert in that area, so I would have to defer to those people who could answer the question. As you heard the regional chairman say, the people coming to our country, in general, are very productive. It's just very disheartening when we have people waiting to be processed.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Mr. Dykstra, I'd like to weigh in, if I may. As the mayor, many times I have refugees coming to my office. In their country, of course, the mayor has different powers. They come to my office and they are anxious to have their matters dealt with. They're living at very loose ends.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, it is, and as the regional chairman said, many times in our offices all we hear about are the problem cases, and I'm referring them to our federal members' offices.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  With all due respect, sir, you as a legislator have to determine what the alternative arrangements could be. I would hope, and we would trust, that the hearing chair would allow for subjective decisions to be made to allow fairness and so that accurate information would be provided at a hearing.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Ms. Chow, I'm going to let our regional chair act on that response, because those are regional figures, and he can give you that number.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Ms. Chow, I know you represent the residents of Toronto. We see a lot of gravitation towards the GTA. I think probably they feel comfortable because they may have relatives there. They may be feeling more welcomed having people of like nationalities living close by. But we are seeing more and more people either travelling from Toronto or coming back to our area, to work in our hotels and factories as well.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, the primary interview, of course, at eight days sets a purpose. It allows the government to collect the initial information and to open the file. We understand it's only an interview, it's a tentative interview, and many times the claimants won't have any representation at that stage.