Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 14th, 2012

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

You have 30 seconds.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thirty seconds.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Very good.

Madame Groguhé, I think you have the final word.

[Sadia Groguhé, NDP, Saint-Lambert, QC]

In 2008, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada noted a lack of consistency in decisions made regarding detention measures. That was a real problem. I would like to know whether that lack of consistency has been remedied.

[Peter Hill]

Thank you for the question.

The Auditor General's report made a number of recommendations, and action plans have been developed for all those recommendations. The agency agreed with all the recommendations the Auditor General made, and measures have been taken to address the concerns with respect to detention as well as removals. The agency has made significant progress tracking and establishing targets for the removals program. So yes, the answer is we have taken steps to address....

[Sadia Groguhé, NDP, Saint-Lambert, QC]

So, in the wake of those recommendations, consistency has been improved. Have you been able to measure that improvement?

[Peter Hill]

In terms of coherence, the Auditor General is making some observations about the national consistency of the detention program. We've taken measures to address national consistency through updates to our policy manuals, to our procedures, but I also have to acknowledge that there are differences in our detention capacity across the country, and in some provinces we are reliant on the provinces to detain our population. So as a result of these limitations there are variations, but I can assure you that national program consistency is a priority and many steps have been taken to strengthen national consistency and coherence.

[Sadia Groguhé, NDP, Saint-Lambert, QC]

I would just like to confirm something. You were saying that, in one third of the cases, the detention period was 48 hours. Could you provide the committee with the statistical breakdown for each centre?

[Peter Hill]

Yes. My colleague was referring to the existing detention review cycle that falls under the mandate of the Immigration and Refugee Board. So detention decisions are made at 48 hours, 7 days, 30 days, and every 30 days thereafter.

If you're looking for statistics on detention decisions and decisions to release by the IRB on those timelines, I think we'll be able to put some information together for the committee.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

For each detention centre? That was the question.

[Peter Hill]

For each detention centre.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Okay. I think we've concluded.

Sorry, sir. Mr. Hill.

[Peter Hill]

I will certainly do what we can within the limitations of our existing information systems.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Okay. He says he's going to try, I think.

Is that what you mean? We'd love to have that information. That's important information, and you've kind of qualified it.

[Peter Hill]

Yes, we will provide the information that our systems will allow us to generate, and we should be able to give you a breakdown that gives you a sense of detention release decisions across the various timelines.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Okay. You're going to give us information for each detention centre. That's all I want to know.

[Peter Hill]

Yes, we have to do that, Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Perfect. Thank you very much.

Our time has expired. I'd like to thank our permanent representatives from the department for visiting with us once again.

Mr. Hill, Monsieur Sabourin, from the Canada Border Services Agency, I thank you. Your presentations have been well received. Thank you kindly.

This meeting is adjourned.