It's interesting. I listened to your testimony, and you've done very important work over the years at the University of Toronto. You've been an outspoken advocate on the need for Canada to remain a welcoming country.
I want to read for you what the representative of the UNHCR to Canada, Mr. Jean-Nicolas Beuze, says about the proposed change. He says, “The measure...still upholds a welcoming approach”. He calls it reasonable, and he says, most importantly, that what has been proposed here in the BIA is “in line with international law” because asylum seekers are still entitled to a process that considers whether they will face persecution in their home country if deported from Canada.
I think it's very important for the record to reflect what the UNHCR has to say on this issue. The UNHCR, arguably, is the global body tasked with advocating for refugees and respected for that very reason. We can agree or disagree, obviously.
You said, Professor, that you disagree with some of their positions on certain issues but the UNHCR's work speaks for itself. It's done an outstanding job in making sure that refugees are protected.
You gave a hypothetical example of an Iranian student who may feel justifiably, as you put it, that the U.S. is not a safe country for them. I wonder, though, what you would tell the 50,000 people who applied to be refugees in 2018, who were refugee claimants, who sought refuge in the United States. That is to ask you a very specific question. I understand your concerns about the United States, but I would ask you this. Is it not the case that the United States is much more than simply the presidency, that there is in fact a rule of law system in place in the United States, that there are avenues for individuals to seek due process under the law, fairly and equitably?
When we raise these hypotheticals, with all due respect, it needlessly creates questions and fears among Canadians who want our country to remain welcoming. When we have the UNHCR on side with this proposed change, when we take into account that the United States is not simply President Trump, that it's a much more complicated.... There are nuances here. There's a real democracy still in place in the United States—