Citizenship and Immigration committee  Mr. Dykstra, could I say something, please? To follow your logic—and I don't think Gustavo would say this himself.... He was rejected by the refugee board for the cookie-cutter reason that all of the Mexicans received: that they were bogus, that Mexico was a democracy, and that democracies support human rights.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  And 100% of refugees do.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Mr. Dykstra, I am accepting your genuine concern, and it's shared by all of us, but we have to find a more constructive way than having a government concerned about trade with Mexico and tourism and flying in the face of every human rights report about Mexico.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Are you asking me?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think “safe country” for us is a very real problem because of the number of Mexicans we have in our houses. It's also a question of principle, because this year it's Mexico, but another year it will be another country and then another country. What we've seen over this year is that the key issue is who defines a country as safe.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Mr. Chairman, may I—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I believe that this initial interview is very much like the port-of-entry interviews that I've been part of several times. There are very serious problems there, first with the competence of the officers. When we check the port-of-entry notes that the officers make from interviews, very often they have mixed up the acronyms of political parties, mixed up the background questions of a country.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Gift. Our third point is about the designated countries list. The crucial question here, as I'm sure you know by now, is who designates a country as safe and why. The bill as presented would place this power in the hands of the minister and officials of the government.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Okay. I'm going to turn this over to Gustavo Gutierrez, a refugee from a country—Mexico—presumed to be safe by the minister and officials at the IRB.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Merci beaucoup. My name is Mary Jo Leddy and I have lived and worked with refugees for more than 20 years at a place called Romero House, which is a welcome centre for refugees. I also teach theology at the University of Toronto and am a member of the Order of Canada.