NEWS RELEASE

For immediate Release

Regulations / Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

OTTAWA, December 17, 2001 - Joe Fontana, MP (London North Center), Chair of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration today announced that the Committee will conduct a study on Regulations established under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.  The Committee conducted extensive public consultations on Bill C-11 before it became the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.  In light of testimony received during their cross-country hearings, the Committee members want to review the Regulations before they are published in the Official Gazette of Canada.

The regulatory package (Parts 1 to 17) includes provisions relating to temporary foreign workers, students, the examination of persons seeking entry, the Permanent Resident Card, residency obligations, the selection of skilled workers and business immigrants, temporary resident permits, the family class and sponsorship, refugee and humanitarian protection programs, the pre-removal risk assessment, inadmissibility, detention and release and the making, effect and enforcement of removal orders.

During the course of its study, the Committee will invite a number of selected witnesses and organisations who have already appeared on Bill C-11.  The review of the Regulations will begin on January 29,2002 and a report is expected to be tabled in the House of Commons on Friday February 8, 2002.

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