Elizabeth May: Madam Speaker, I find the hon. minister has conflated and confused the refugee stream with the immigration stream to this country.
The legislation on its face violates the 1951 refugee convention and the Convention on the Rights of the Child which deals with children up to the age of 18, so the jailing of children 16 to 18 is still a problem, and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Is the hon. minister prepared to accept that when refugees come to this country they are neither automatically illegal nor does the legislation solely deal with people who do not have identification with them? It deals with anyone who is deemed to have come by irregular entry.
Hon. Vic Toews: Madam Speaker, I agree with the member that refugees should not be detained. The issue is how we determine if they are refugees.