Citizenship and Immigration committee   basis without interfering with refugees or the family class itself. So it's important to appreciate the context within which Bill C-50 arises. It's in the context of a system that's burgeoning with a backlog that's not moving anywhere. And it's fair to say we have the tools now

Citizenship and Immigration committee   more numbers, is kind of counterproductive. Integration, and making sure that people who come here do succeed by making provision for them, is an appropriate consideration. There were considerable dollars placed into the refugee programs--some $20 million. There were several other

Citizenship and Immigration committee   a compromise solution. When you answered my colleague Mr. Siksay, you seemed to recognize the need for an appeal based on merit in the Refugee Appeal Division. I recognize the efforts you've made to date to try to find a solution. It seems it's no longer the number of applications

Citizenship and Immigration committee   to put it this way, victims of the system as it exists today. We're some point away yet from actually proposing specifics on that agency. With respect to the Immigration and Refugee Board and the current process for refugee determination, I think there are a number of problems

Citizenship and Immigration committee   if I didn't ask why the commitment to the Refugee Appeal Division isn't in these estimates. Again, this is something that every immigrant and refugee-serving agency in the country and some international agencies have called for, and it's in the law. Yet successive ministers

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I present again a petition to the House that calls upon Parliament to immediately halt the deportation of undocumented workers and to find a humane and logical solution to this situation. I was at an event over the weekend for FCJ Refugee Centre, which

Citizenship and Immigration committee  —in here faster, family reunification faster, refugee protection that will not be affected by Bill C-50, and it will be carried on as it is. It's a question of policy, and policy is something that is set by government. The parties will have their opportunity to decide whether

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The government's into some good old immigrant-bashing. As a former refugee, I know what that means and I understand it. I think there are advantages to be had in the province of Quebec, where the ADQ almost came to power, and then the reasonable accommodation debate.... They're

Citizenship and Immigration committee  If it's the only solution available, that would help a lot in clarifying what's at stake. The ideal would be that any changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act are not made to play the role of a pawn in a political kind of exchange, and be made a matter of confidence

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Exactly, the Refugee Appeal Division issue has been around for years. I believe that it is an affront to Parliament because Parliament itself adopted the legislation. I am not saying that it is ridiculous, but it is rather shameful that Parliament is now being forced to adopt

Citizenship and Immigration committee   issues but that perhaps people from those countries are fundamentally incompatible with settling and integrating in Canada. So we're saying that if you don't have proper checks and balances, it's the moral duty of the organizations that serve immigrants and refugees to raise a banner

Citizenship and Immigration committee   and Refugee Protection Act. The National Congress of Chinese Canadians was established in Vancouver in 1992 following a resolution at the national convention of Chinese Canadians in May 1991 in Toronto to discuss and try to get a fair settlement of the Chinese head tax and the Chinese

Finance committee  The refugee may not be under the charter, but certainly the minister is.

Citizenship and Immigration committee   a real crisis, under this government, in the Immigration and Refugee Board. We had the backlog down to 18,000. Now it's going to go over 60,000 this year, and it's going to go to 70,000 next year. The bureaucracy has really created a crisis, and I expect that at some point they're

Finance committee   in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. It also has to be consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms--everything we do basically has to be consistent with that charter--and it explicitly prohibits any form of discrimination. So I want to be clear that what you're