Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
The Speaker: The hon. member for Burnaby—Douglas.
Kennedy Stewart: Madam Speaker, we hear yarn after yarn from that side of the House, so I will try my own here now.
Once upon a time there was an immigration minister who agreed to an all party consensus
on how to make refugee appeals fairer and faster but now he is going against his word.
Could the minister guarantee that any country in the world is completely safe from persecution?
Of course he can't. No one can.
Gay and lesbian refugees can be especially vulnerable, even in countries otherwise considered safe.
Every refugee deserves a fair hearing. Why did the minister break his promise?
The Speaker: The hon. parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Cit—
Rick Dykstra: Madam Speaker, the minister did no such thing.
In fact, this party and the previous government, in partnership with the opposition,
put together a foundation to build upon a refugee system, called Bill C-11.
This week we introduced a new bill that would build even further on the strengths of what is a great refugee system,
one of the best in the world, but it needs to be improved.
It has been pointed out time and time again that our system is being taken advantage of.
There have been $170 million in bogus refugee claims from the EU alone. Enough is enough. We need to move forward.