Citizenship and Immigration committee  Frankly, I'm leery of biometrics. I'm uncomfortable that the technology today allows a government, foreign or domestic, to identify and locate the holder of certain documents containing chips. I'm leery of the facial biometric recognition software in our ports of entry. Canadians

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, it isn't a path to bankruptcy because the input on the intake is finite, so there's not going to be an uncontrolled bleed of money. In addition, this bill actually tightens up the process, monitors, and controls on the financial side. In addition, on our refugee board, wha

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, thank you for that tough one. Look, I've yet to see a perfect law come out of Parliament. What we are seeing here today, as I say, is a collision of passions. It is impossible to derive a perfect law because of the balancing, the compromises that make legislation possible

Citizenship and Immigration committee  When the convention was drafted... You're looking at a law that's about half a century old, a protocol or understanding or international agreement to provide sanctuary. It's country-locked. So, yes, in law you can make a case that you're being persecuted, not discriminated agains

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, sir.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I am, sir—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  —and a Canadian. The Québec Bar allows explicitly the use of the word “attorney”, and I've checked that since our last intervention, sir.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In keeping with past tradition, I'll keep my remarks brief and to the point, jealously guarding the chair's time. After canvassing individuals, associations, and colleagues from coast to coast, I have found that there's a collision of passions. On th

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Increasing it based on current resources, or even on greater resources, is not the answer.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Without doubt, that is the correct approach, but it has to be paid upfront. You do not want the government monitoring medicare usage and enforcement of promises or obligations post-arrival. It has to be a one-lump-sum amount paid upfront directly to the Government of Canada in th

Citizenship and Immigration committee  With apologies and the greatest respect to the other witness, this is where we fundamentally disagree. And this is, I think, Government of Canada, past and present regime, stroke-of-genius stuff: by having foreign workers in this country, paying taxes, what are the settlement and

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Don't forget that those people have to pass a medical. People with serious medical conditions are not going to get into Canada. The grandparents who come will be the healthy ones. It is very important to emphasize that. Grandparents' applications need to be processed as a priori

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The question was expected and I contacted families in cultural communities all over Canada in order to come up with an appropriate answer. Families are certainly waiting for their parents and grandparents. They would like to find a solution that would cut down the waiting. It i

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Overall the hard political question, the unpopular one that I'd propose--but my colleagues would not, at the immigration bar--is to prioritize another stream for the parents and grandparents. Put at the back of the queue the parents with dependants. We're not running a parallel