Fighting the Scourge of Human Smuggling

Fighting the Scourge of Human Smuggling

 The fairness of Canada's immigration system is being abused by human smugglers bringing illegal migrants to Canada. This is why, following the arrival of the illegal migrant vessels 'Ocean Lady' and 'Sun Sea', Prime Minister Harper and our government recently introduced tough legislation to prevent human smugglers from abusing our immigration system. Let me briefly explain the contents of the legislation, and provide an update on its progress in Parliament.

 We recognize that human smuggling is a serious criminal offence that endangers human lives and benefits criminal organizations. These mass arrivals also make it extremely difficult for officials to assess whether or not the individuals pose security risks to our communities.

 With the Preventing Human Smugglers from Abusing Canada's Immigration System Act, our government is cracking down on human smugglers, including the captain and crew of illegal migrant ships, by:

 . Making it easier to prosecute them under our criminal laws, including providing mandatory prison sentences of up to 10 years; . Holding ship owners and operators liable for use of their ships in human smuggling operations.

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 The legislation will also help protect Canada's national security by ensuring that illegal migrants who pay human smugglers to come to Canada are detained until they are removed from Canada or their status is determined. This will allow us to conduct criminal, identity, and security checks, and will prevent them from “going underground” to escape removal from Canada. Mandatory detention is an essential component of the new law, and the only way to protect the safety and security of Canadians from illegal migrants, particularly given how often they destroy their identity documents.

  We also need to make our country seem less attractive to human smuggling operations. To that end, the legislation includes the following deterrents:

. Preventing those who come to Canada as part of a human smuggling event from applying for permanent resident status for a period of five years, should they successfully obtain protected person status; . Preventing them from sponsoring family members for five years; . Ensuring they can be removed from Canada if conditions improve in their country of origin; . Limiting the health and benefits package they receive, which is currently more generous than what the government provides Canadian citizens; and . Making it easier to revoke the protected person status of refugee fraudsters who go on holidays or travel back to the country they claim is persecuting them.

 These are tough measures. But they are balanced. And they will restore fairness to our immigration system. Unfortunately, this tough legislation is being criticised by the “immigration industry”, including refugee lawyers and immigration consultants. It has also been attacked by  Jack Layton's NDP, the Ignatieff Liberals, and the Bloc Quebecois.

 Nevertheless, it is important that Parliament pass this legislation to prevent dozens of other human smuggling ships from reaching our shores every year.

 This legislation is sending a clear message – while we are a welcoming country, we are not naïve; we are not pushovers. Canada welcomes immigrants who respect our laws, work hard and play by the rules, but we will not be treated as patsies by human smugglers, illegal migrants, and queue jumpers who abuse our immigration system.

 I thank you again for your continued support in our fight against this scourge.

Sincerely,

Randy Hoback

Randy is the Member of Parliament for the federal riding of Prince Albert