Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, I understand. Our argument is that it's going to become much easier for IRB members to make these mistakes, because people are going to be arriving without having disclosed what they need to disclose at the beginning, and we have seen people returned quite literally to their

Citizenship and Immigration committee  With all due respect, there has not been a gender analysis done on Bill C-31. Our on-the-ground experience suggests that no, it will not be helpful. Our people will be affected. The Auditor General has identified the source of the backlog as the lack of resourcing of the IRB—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you for this time. It's important to recognize the complexity of homophobic and transphobic persecution that exists in the world today. There is a myriad of countries—right now, 76 hold official criminal sanctions, even when criminal sanctions don't exist. Things such as p

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We have already seen an increase, without the Balanced Refugee Reform Act being implemented.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We've suggested alternative mechanisms in our brief that would address our concerns, and I hope you'll give those some attention.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We already have been.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We've been impacted because people who are LGBT have been detained and been unable to access legal counsel because of that detention. Our concern is that even though it may be a very small percentage once people are in detention and they are without review for 12 months.... And I

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Our brief outlines these in more detail. I'd also refer you to the brief by the Canadian Council for Refugees, as there are great parallels there. Creating a system that protects the most vulnerable—women who are fleeing domestic violence, LGBT refugees—creates a system that wo

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Bill C-11, the Balanced Refugee Reform Act, provided for consultation with human rights groups before a country could be designated. That's one of the measures that's been removed in Bill C-31. So yes, I do see that as one of the problems with the way that the designated countr

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I wouldn't mind responding to some of the comments that were addressed to Rainbow Refugee. Do we have time?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. We do share the goal of seeing refugee claimants move through their claim much faster than the current system allows. Clearly waiting a year or two in limbo is unacceptable. However, that waiting time was created through inadequate resourcing of the refugee board. You can

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We see overseas protection as a complement to good inland protection, but not a replacement. Canada has an important role to play in upholding good standards of refugee protection for sexual orientation and gender identity claims. We should continue to pass measures that allow us

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It's an absolute denial of justice and due process, and it puts Canada at serious risk of returning someone to their death, to persecution. When we signed on to the Geneva Convention, we signed on to be a place of refuge and protection for all refugees and to give them access to

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It clearly violates the constitution and our charter obligations, and there are intentions to move forward with challenges.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We appreciate that the government has seen that the initial interview or the screening interview at 15 days will not work. It will be ineffective and costly. As people who are on the ground with refugee claimants, we can tell you that legal aid applications in B.C. take at leas