Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Oct. 24th, 2023

[Fayçal El-Khoury, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome to our committee, Minister.

Our committee is also conducting a study on the exploitation of foreign students. As you know, some foreign students have been victims of fraudulent immigration consultants, who use fraudulent letters of acceptance for their student visa applications.

Can you tell the committee about the work being done by our government to counter abusive behaviour by bad actors posing as immigration consultants?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Minister Miller, you have the floor.

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

Thank you, Mr. El‑Khoury.

That's a key question in the current context, particularly as it relates to your comment about bad actors. I would definitely not want us to draw the conclusion that we should be blaming individuals. There are some people who have been given false hopes of coming to Canada, perhaps by obtaining permanent residency through below average or misrepresented education. However, someone who's willing to pay $40,000 to learn how to drive an Uber taxi is not the kind of person we're looking for when we try to recruit brilliant people from abroad to come here to contribute to Canada's reputation, whether here or elsewhere around the world when they return home.

I don't want people to think that we are against foreign students. In cabinet, there were at least a dozen members, including me, who had studied abroad, were enriched by the experience and even learned a foreign language. In no way do I wish to diminish the importance of that.

Nevertheless, there was a highly lucrative system, not only for institutions that do good work, but also for a number that are fraudulent. Frankly, it varies from province to province. Some don't do their work as well as others, while certain provinces have taken action against some of their own institutions to do damage control. Something needs to be done so that the institutions being affected, particularly private colleges, but also some major institutions, do their homework with respect to the accommodation, integration and recruitment of quality students from abroad.

The federal government also has a role to play. I can't be there for everyone, but I have to try and eliminate fraud. Over the coming weeks, we are going to announce improved measures to counter fraud in letters of acceptance and to ensure that we have reliable institutions that do their homework. These institutions could be entitled to a fast-track process, unlike others that require—and I'm putting this very diplomatically—a little help from the federal or provincial government to comply with standards of integrity for their students.

[Fayçal El-Khoury, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Thank you, Minister.

I have a a multi-diverse riding, and the huge number of tourist visa refusals is unbelievable. I always face constituents who have received the same answer—I could assure you it's copied and pasted—that the department is not convinced that the tourist visa applicant is going to leave Canada.

I had a discussion with someone, and he told me, “I provide more than a million dollars. My wife is here. My children are here. I have a business here. I am going to investigate again for the future if I will move my business over”.

What can I do in this case?

This problem occurs repeatedly—on a daily basis—so I ask if there is some miracle in the ministry of immigration that, with you as its head, you could recommend with some ideas and send it to the staff, who treat the applications abroad. How can it be satisfied? Give us some guidelines and that I, too, can send to the applicants. How can they satisfy the agent?

How will the agent be satisfied with the applicant?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Minister, you have 30 seconds to respond.

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

You know, you're my friend, so, as soon as they visit you, I'm surprised they don't leave.

In all seriousness, my job is to treat people in a equitable fashion. Clearly, we need measures in place to make sure that people who intend to come to this country have the capacity and willingness to leave. That is sometimes in doubt. I don't deny the fact that it has led to some really odd consequences at times and that they do accumulate.

We do our best. I will say that there is no miracle. There really is no miracle. What we can do is constant review to ensure that the public service acts in the independent and professional fashion that it is expected to when triaging different applications.

It's surprising at times, the source countries where people get rejected. When I see trends, I do have the duty to raise that with my deputy minister and her team to make sure that we are not pursuing systemic discrimination and bias.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you, Minister.

On behalf of the committee members and this chair, Minister, thank you for coming. We are looking forward to seeing you often here at this committee.

Thank you again, and we wish you the very best.

The meeting is suspended.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

I call the meeting back to order.

We will now turn to our study of exploitation schemes targeting certain international students. Officials from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency are here to provide an update on the situation.

I am happy to welcome Ms. Kingsley, assistant deputy minister of economic, family and social migration at IRCC; and Mr. McCrorie, vice-president of intelligence and enforcement at the CBSA. The panel has five minutes to make an opening statement before we go to questions.

The floor is open to the panellists.

Go ahead, Ms. Kingsley.

[Michèle Kingsley, Assistant Deputy Minister, Economic, Family and Social Migration, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

Thank you, Chair.

I want to start by acknowledging that we're meeting today on the traditional and unceded territories of the Algonquin Anishinabe peoples.

Thank you for having invited me to appear here today.

Foreign students make important contributions to our communities. They support local economies and strengthen skilled workforce across Canada.

To be able to study in Canada, foreign students must have received a letter of acceptance from a Canadian learning institution, submitted a study permit application, and have the application accepted.

This year alone we have received and processed over 600,000 study permit requests. These students benefit our communities, campus life, as well as contribute well over $20 billion to our GDP annually.

Media reports surfaced earlier this year of fraudulent letters of admission being used by international students, unbeknownst to them, to come here and study. Concerns were raised by this committee and by others that genuine students were being taken advantage of by unscrupulous actors. That is why a task force was struck to review the facts of cases for individuals connected to fraudulent letters.

The task force reviews cases once the IRB, the Immigration and Refugee Board, has completed its procedures. The task force made an effort to identify legitimate students who had been defrauded, from a practical standpoint and with a view to facilitation.

For example, if a student enrolled during the three terms prior to arrival, and the application raised no concerns or problems related to things like criminal activity, the task force determined that the person in question was genuinely a student.

Earlier this year we reported to the committee that there were 309 cases of interest to the task force. Further review reduced this number to 285 after removing duplicates. The task force prioritized the review of cases of students in Canada at risk of removal. We also reviewed cases still before the IRB so that action can be taken swiftly as the IRB concludes hearings.

In all, the task force has reviewed 103 cases and determined that 63 were genuine students. To date, 30 have been approved for temporary resident permits of up to three years. In the 40 cases where we deemed them not to be genuine students, individuals have the opportunity to present additional information to support their case.

The remaining cases identified are still before the IRB and the task force will take action where required once the procedures have been completed. That's why these figures will continue to change.

Progress was also made by law enforcement authorities seeking fraudsters to bring them to justice. In June, the Canada Border Services Agency charged a man involved in the facilitation of fraudulent letters of admission.

The work of the task force continues in parallel as we work to improve the international student program more broadly. We've added information on our “How to report fraud” web page with specific support and instructions for genuine international students, who may have been duped by unscrupulous actors.

We are now focusing on the program's integrity and on making students less vulnerable.

Work on developing a model for recognized learning institutions is ongoing. We asked for advice from the provinces, territories, educational associations and post-secondary learning institutions with a view to further enhancing the model's framework.

To conclude, I would reiterate that the impact of international students in our communities is significant, and the task force continues its important work to ensure that genuine students impacted by fraud have the opportunity to continue their journey in Canada should they wish to do so.

Thank you for your interest in this matter.

We will now be happy to answer any questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you, Ms. Kingsley.

Mr. McCrorie, do you have anything to add?

[Aaron McCrorie, Vice-President, Intelligence and Enforcement, Canada Border Services Agency]

No, we thought that we'd just have a joint opening statement and give the maximum time for questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

That's fine. Thank you.

We'll go to the honourable members. We'll start with the Conservatives.

We have Mr. Redekopp for six minutes, please. Go ahead.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks for being here today. I'm disappointed that the deputy minister wasn't here, but that's okay.

I recently met with a group of 20 students to check to see if your task force was actually doing the job that you described. Out of the 20 students, nine had no IRB decision yet and 11 had removal orders. Out of the 11 with removal orders, eight had received their TRP, but three had not. They hadn't heard anything. That's including Lovepreet, one of the students who testified here at this committee in June.

My first question is this. Does it make sense that three students with removal orders have not heard anything from the task force?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Mr. McCrorie.

[Aaron McCrorie]

Yes, I'll start.

By way of the process, the committee has looked at each of these individual students. I think we've provided an update. Sixty-three so far have been deemed to be genuine, and 40 not to be genuine. For those who are deemed to be non-genuine, CBSA is doing a follow-up and reaching out to them. We'll see if there's additional information they can provide to demonstrate that they are a student. If they are a genuine student, then—

[Michèle Kingsley]

Then IRCC issues a TRP. Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Do you want to say something, Ms. Kingsley?

[Michèle Kingsley]

I was just going to pick up where my colleague was ending to say that if there is a determination that a student is genuine, then IRCC would issue a TRP.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you.

Mr. Redekopp.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

I understand that, I think. The point is that these three students haven't heard anything. They haven't been asked a question or communicated with in any way by IRCC. They are still in the limbo that we found them in April, before the task force was set up.

It seems like communication is a big problem here. In fact, all 20 students expressed the same concern that they hadn't had very good communication. Even the ones who received a TRP said that they just had a TRP, and that was it. There was no information on how it was going to go from this point forward. Communication is an issue.

Is it possible for you guys to communicate concerning all 285, just to let the people know where these cases stand? There's a lot of confusion and concern in the community.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Ms. Kingsley.

[Michèle Kingsley]

Absolutely, we can increase communications. In the cases of genuine students who have TRPs, if they have specific questions they're welcome to reach out to us as well, of course. In the cases of non-genuine students, they will be contacted. There's a possibility that people have not been contacted immediately. During this time they're not at risk of removal.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

I have a list that I'll leave with you. There are UCI numbers that you can check out afterwards.

Another problem we have is that some who have received their TRP have had their passports seized by the CBSA. It seems like the CBSA agents have no idea what the task force is. Even when one of the students showed the CBSA agent the TRP documentation, they still were not able to get their passport back.

Does that make sense? Are students with TRPs allowed to have their passports, or are they confiscated by CBSA?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

We have Mr. McCrorie or Ms. Kingsley.

[Aaron McCrorie]

Again, it's the theme of communication. We need to do more outreach and communication with our own staff within CBSA to explain to them what this task force is doing and what the results of it are.

What I would say is that under normal operating and policy considerations, it is normal for us to take those passports and hold onto them. In part, it's because there are other immigration processes at play, for example, that may have an outcome where we may need to remove them. It's not because of their fraudulent student behaviour, but because of other processes that are in place.

This is new territory for us. We're working through that. We are reviewing that practice right now.