Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1987
Abstract
The essence of C-55 ignores the admonition of the Standing Committee that we must be "knowledgeable and sensitive to human rights issues rather than immigration issues. The determination decision is not an immigration matter but instead a decision as to who are Convention refugees in need of Canada's protection." In stark contrast, immigration authorities have spoken of the importance of refugee law reform as a means of "enabling us to continue our strategy of controlled growth in immigration to Canada." By speaking of refugees in the same breath as immigration policy, the department has effectively confused the privilege of immigration with the duty it owes to persons who have a wellfounded fear of persecution. C-55 is a departmental bill that flagrantly ignores the will of Parliament. I urge members in the strongest terms to resist this bureaucratic intervention in the democratic process, and to reconsider the recommendations of the Standing Committee, as well as the constructive model proposed this week by the Committee for an Alternative Refugee Determination Process. As a member of that Committee, I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have in regard to the alternative proposal.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Hathaway, James C. "The Humane and Just Alternative for Canada." Refuge 7, no. 1 (1987): 10-11. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.21517
Comments
Work published when author not on Michigan Law faculty. Copyright the authors, 1987. This open-access work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, which permits use, reproduction and distribution in any medium for non-commercial purposes, provide the original author(s) are credited and the original publication in Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees is cited.