Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Oct. 24th, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Madam Fox.

[Christiane Fox]

Could I address that? I commissioned the report.

I think what was important.... The Yeates report became public because it was released, but I wanted to make sure that prior to giving it to this committee, every employee at IRCC had a chance to read it, absorb it and talk to me about it. It will be submitted to this committee as well, but I wanted to respect every employee who works at IRCC.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Mr. Kmiec.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

When will this committee get it?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Madam Fox.

[Christiane Fox]

I can commit to giving it to committee within the next two weeks. I wanted people to have a chance to read it.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Mr. Kmiec.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Thank you, Deputy Minister. You are very well informed.

Those are all of my questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you.

Now we will go to Mr. Ali for five minutes.

Please go ahead.

[Shafqat Ali, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for being here today.

I have many constituents in my riding in Brampton Centre from the Indian diaspora, and they are concerned about the current situation between Canada and India where 41 of our diplomats were expelled from. Could you expand on the efforts your department is making to compensate for the forced reduction of your workforce in India? The constituents are concerned about their visas, their travel and so on. Could you expand on that, please?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

First, I can understand and appreciate that whether you're Muslim, Sikh or Hindu our relationship with India can create some fear about what your status is here in Canada, whether you're a student, permanent resident or a Canadian citizen. My job as immigration minister—any cabinet minister or MP's job, for that matter—is to make sure people are safe and feel safe in a country that is there to protect them, especially against a foreign power. That is our primary responsibility.

In the face of a really unfortunate diplomatic issue with the Government of India where the Prime Minister and cabinet are standing up for our principles, it's important to understand the effects this can have. I am not an expert on the Government of India, but we know that the measures it took breach international law in making Canada reduce its capacity to operate in India. That means only five IRCC members are now able to do the on-the-ground work that is essential to process applications, whether it's international students or others.

There are some things we have to be on the ground for, and that is undeniable. We can't game and adjust entirely for it. What that means is that while we're able to adjust, whether it's in Manila, here or through our global network, the processing times will be impacted. The number we have offered publicly is that with respect to about 38,000 applications we had planned to process by December we will only be able to process 20,000, which could have effects and carry-on effects in Canada.

I think anyone watching this should know we're there to make sure people in Canada are kept safe and that we protect our own abroad. That, essentially, Shafqat, is our number-one priority.

[Shafqat Ali, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

Talking about being on the ground, our government invested $74.6 million through Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy to enhance Canada's visa processing capacity within Canada's centralized network, as well as in New Delhi, Chandigarh, Manila and Islamabad to support people-to-people ties.

Since the announcement, I constantly hear from many of my constituents in Brampton Centre and stakeholders across Canada that have close ties to Pakistan about the additional resources allocated to improve processing times in Islamabad.

Minister, can you give us an update about what has been done so far to increase the IRCC staff capacity to improve visa processing times in Islamabad and TRV processing times in Pakistan?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Minister, you have 60 seconds to respond.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

When it comes to Islamabad, we are actually sending, physically, more people to help with processing on the ground.

I would encourage the committee to read the Auditor General's report. It has some good, bad, and ugly, but it has shown and noted a marked improvement in processing times, which was an important part of my role as one of the presidents of the services committee when we had real challenges coming out of COVID.

It should not be a surprise to anyone that this is a department, as with others, that has had challenges adapting to the 21st century, particularly in the face of the overwhelming volume that we've seen post-COVID and in the last year. That is something that we are still struggling with, but if you look at some of the progress that the Auditor General noted, as well as the carry-on progress that has occurred since the reference date that the Auditor General examined, there's some really positive stuff going on. There is also some work that we need to do in a little more integrated fashion.

Digitization is one of the ways to go paperless. That has allowed us, essentially, to process 89% to 90% of applications outside of, for example, India. We want to continue along that path.

There's some stuff we need to do on the ground.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you, Minister.

We will move to Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe for two and a half minutes.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, on February 1, 2023, the House voted unanimously in favour of motion M‑62, which basically requires the government to receive 10,000 Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim refugees beginning in 2024. Where do we stand on that? Do you feel we are going to reach the two targets, which is to receive 10,000 refugees, beginning in 2024?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Thank you.

We were indeed all in favour of the motion. The challenge is to implement a plan to make sure we bring 10,000 Uyghur refugees to Canada. I won't deny that there are problems, but it's a target we expect to meet properly. Every challenge has its impediments. I don't want to hesitate, because it's something that has to be done. The devil is in the details, which we would like to itemize—

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

So the will is there, but—

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

The will is there and what we need to do is make the required effort.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

—it may not be a priority at the moment. Is it still a priority?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

It's not a question of priority but rather implementation. I'm hoping to be able to announce something over the next few weeks.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

That's fantastic.

As was discussed at your impressive retreat, is it still about a cap on foreign students?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

As you know, the cap issue was problematic. Minister Fréchette claimed Quebec jurisdiction in protest of the introduction of a cap. I feel that this cap was a rather clumsy way of proceeding with surgery that was deemed to be necessary.

I also hope to be able to announce something next week in connection with this. It won't be a detailed announcement, but it will be a start.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Something is coming on that score and you can rest assured, Minister, that we are listening.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe, you have 20 seconds.