The House resumed consideration of the motion of Mr. Kenney (Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism), seconded by Mr. Moore (Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages), — That Bill C-31, An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Balanced Refugee Reform Act, the Marine Transportation Security Act and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Act, be now read a second time and referred to the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration;
And of the amendment of Mr. Davies (Vancouver Kingsway), seconded by Mrs. Sellah (Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert), — That the motion be amended by deleting all of the words after the word “That” and substituting the following:
“this House decline to give second reading to Bill C-31, An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Balanced Refugee Reform Act, the Marine Transportation Security Act and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Act, because it: (a) places an unacceptable level of arbitrary power in the hands of the Minister; (b) allows for the indiscriminate designation and subsequent imprisonment of bone fide refugees for up to one year without review; (c) places the status of thousands of refugees and permanent residents in jeopardy; (d) punishes bone fide refugees, including children, by imposing penalties based on mode of entry to Canada; (e) creates a two-tiered refugee system that denies many applicants access to an appeals mechanism; and (f) violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and two international conventions to which Canada is signatory.”.
The debate continued.