Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 28th, 2013

[Robert Orr]

That's correct.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

That's videotaped and given to your office and stored?

[Robert Orr]

That is correct.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

For how long?

[Robert Orr]

I'm not sure how long it is retained, but it's a few months. I could provide that specific information to you.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Okay.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Provide it to the clerk, please.

[Robert Orr]

Yes, certainly.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Tell us about the subcontractors. Are you aware of whether VFS Global is subcontracting to other outfits?

[Anita Biguzs]

I'm not aware of that.

[Robert Orr]

No, I'm not aware of that happening, but I can confirm that again, Mr. Chair, through the clerk.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

The other question around these VACs is this. What are the extra fees for applicants that didn't exist before? Can you tell us what they are?

[Robert Orr]

There is a fee for taking the biometrics, which includes the visa application centre fee, of $85. For dealing with the visa application centre, there is a fee as well.

Our experience is that where people have had the option of either going to the visa office or going through the visa application centre, they have overwhelmingly chosen the visa application centre. There is much better service provided, and in their language.

So our experience has been that our clientele have very much welcomed the visa application centre and have seen it as a significant client service improvement.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Let me just get this straight: to save some money and potentially please the people who are using the service, you subcontract it out, but then you're allocating staff to monitor this office. Is this extra staff or is this the same staff that's doing other work? How is that working?

[Robert Orr]

Largely it is the same staff who were doing it previously. They're visa officers who would be involved in monitoring the work with the visa application centres.

It is a client service initiative that has proven itself significantly. The deputy minister made reference to the lines outside the Delhi office, as an example. They developed their own industry, as people were outside selling things to people in the lineups—

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

With the greatest respect, I understand that there are lineups there. We have lineups in our constituency offices in Canada for these situations.

[Robert Orr]

Certainly.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

I think we all understand that there are lineups.

If I might just say something parenthetically here—

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

You're already over, so please be quick.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Okay.

I have to say that the reference to people as clients rather than as members of families who also live here in Canada is something that I want to raise and put on the record as being a concern to us. The language around immigrants and applicants for visas concerns us. We're looking at them as clients and economic digits as opposed to members of families who live here.

That's the essential issue that we're dealing with at this committee. Family reunification is bringing families together, and that's the great, great frustration. When I hear that we're allocating funds for a private company but then also taking resources that we need—

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Mr. Cash, I'm going to have to move on. You're way over time.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Okay. Thanks.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Mr. McCallum.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome to the officials.

First of all, I want you to know that the somewhat negative tone of some of my questions to the minister doesn't change the fact that I do recognize you're working very hard in the department to improve services.

I guess my difference with him is mainly on the interpretation of certain statistics. My first question has to do with that. He said that in 2012 Canada was admitting a record high number of parents and grandparents. But that is not true, because the department's own statistics show that the number admitted in 2012 was 21,815, and in 2002 it was 22,502.

I think what the minister was referring to was the upper end of the range for admissions, which was 25,000. That may well have been a record high, but that's a high end of the range; that's not an actual number. What is important is the actual numbers admitted.

I'd ask you to comment on that point.