Evidence of meeting #82 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was abuse.
A recording is available from Parliament.
6:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
Thank you again, Deputy Minister, for staying with us. It's a long day today.
I would also like to welcome Mr. Hollmann, director general, asylum policy; and Ms. McQueen, director general, resettlement and asylum strategic operations.
I am going to give the floor to the deputy minister for up to 20 minutes.
Please go ahead.
6:20 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Good evening.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to update you.
I'd like to start by pointing out that we are on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe Nation.
Thanks for having me here today.
I do want to provide a bit of an update on the work that we're doing at our department to address asylum claim increases, on how we are fulfilling our legal requirements and on how we are working globally to reduce the number of people seeking asylum claims.
I would like to express my appreciation for your committee's work and thank you for your recommendations.
I also want to thank you for your ongoing focus on supporting newcomers.
Since the committee's report and the government's response, we have expanded the application of the safe third country agreement. This has changed the context and the circumstances of our response, and we feel that it is important to update the committee.
Immigration is obviously an important part of Canada's economic future. Through the recent increases in immigration, we are seeking to reduce the impact of our aging population, which was highlighted in census 2021, and we are seeking to find the skilled workers we need in Canada to support employers. We also believe that immigration is a solution and an opportunity to address the labour challenges in the construction of new homes and in staffing our hospitals and long-term care facilities.
Just as we are competing with other nations to attract the skilled workers we want, we are also collaborating with other countries, the UN, the IOM and other partners on the record levels of displaced persons and refugees.
The world is facing unprecedented flows of migrants and refugees, and Canada is not immune to these trends. According to the UNHCR, approximately 110 million people “were forcibly displaced” in 2022 “as a result of persecution, conflict, [and] violence”. Solving this challenge will require a global response.
Canada is committed, through federal legislation and international conventions, to providing support to people who seek asylum. We have a duty to protect the integrity of our borders and manage resources on behalf of all Canadians.
As I mentioned in March of this year, Canada and the U.S. signed the expansion of the safe third country agreement to include the entire land border and internal waterways, which significantly reduced the number of people attempting to cross irregularly into Canada to make asylum claims. Where Canada was previously seeing over 4,000 irregular border crossings per month, it has now dropped to between 50 to 100 per month. That's about 11 claims per day.
As the claims have dropped significantly in irregular crossings, we have seen increases in the number of claims being made at airports. However, many of the policies put in place in recent years are helping us to respond faster to the challenge of the larger number of asylum seekers. For instance, in budget 2022, the government invested $1.3 billion over 5 years to expand our capacity to be able to process 50,000 claims.
We must now look at how the increased arrivals have impacted the system and work closely with our partners at the CBSA and the IRB on reforms.
Earlier this year the federal government also expanded the interim housing assistance program. This program was initially set up to support quarantine requirements for asylum seekers, as well as to provide temporary housing. The program provides reimbursements to municipalities and provinces for the housing of asylum claimants. It has provided almost $700 million between 2017 and 2022, and an additional $212 million was announced in July of this year to respond to increased pressures.
In response to urgent housing needs, the federal government has procured hotel accommodations. This is in addition to the money that flows from IHAP, the interim housing assistance program. We have procured locations based on local needs and growing demands, and this represents about $627 million since 2017.
The federal government also established the interim federal health program to provide basic health care access for doctor visits, hospital care or testing, as well as supplementary care for urgent dental issues, prescription drugs and vision care.
On this issue, we are working closely with the provinces as well as the municipalities to address the challenges. We are listening to our partners' requests, and in my opinion, the department has shown flexibility and offered practical solutions to the challenges at hand.
When provinces and municipalities have asked for assistance, we have responded. We do expect that all jurisdictions have a role to play in these responses.
As claims have increased in Ontario and, in particular, the greater Toronto area, we have increased our engagement and our resources. We have established an operational table, which I chair, with provincial and municipal counterparts—city managers and provincial deputy ministers—to maintain regular and ongoing dialogue.
When the IHAP program was extended, we earmarked funding of nearly $100 million specifically to the City of Toronto for specific relief of demands relating to housing asylum claimants.
We have also increased our resources to provide more federal hotels, as I mentioned earlier. The federal government currently has 3,600 hotel spaces in Canada, which house over 6,500 asylum claimants. The vast majority—about 4,200 or 65%—are spaces in Ontario.
We are seeking to further expand our space by an additional 300 before the cold of winter sets in.
We are also looking to increase the housing capacity in Quebec.
Because of our expanded presence in Ontario, we have been able to transfer about 1,000 claimants out of shelters and churches and into federally supported hotel spaces in municipalities across Ontario.
We know that moving asylum claimants from one temporary solution to another is not a longer-term plan. We are working on potential reforms.
Since 2022, IRCC has had a temporary public policy to provide open work permits to asylum claimants. This process includes an initial screening for a positive eligibility decision, which is a first screening to ensure the individual has a basis for claim. Then there is an interim medical exam. Once this process is completed, the temporary public policy allows IRCC to provide a work permit that can allow them to work while their asylum claim is under review and in the system.
To date, we have provided over 93,000 work permits to asylum claimants to help them support themselves and their families and potentially find alternate means of housing. For example, in Ontario, as of October 14, 80% of the work permit requests were processed within nine days of criteria being filed with IRCC.
We have also intensified our efforts in co-operation with shelters and churches that have asylum claimants. IRCC is not waiting for people to come to our offices. We are conducting processing blitzes where we are going into shelters and churches to provide asylum claimants with refugee protection claimant documents and work permits. We've had 3,000 individuals during September of this year alone. That represents a 300% increase in processing from the month before.
We therefore work closely not only with provinces and municipalities, but also with volunteers and community leaders, to address needs in real time.
Finally, the department is focused on how it can connect asylum seekers to employers in a skills recognition and matching initiative. We are at the early phases of thinking about how we can actually do better matching and provide people with opportunities to contribute. We need to be creative to work with the private sector and settlement organizations to respond across sectors in support of those seeking refuge in Canada.
Even with these efforts, the ability to address this challenge is ultimately a global issue. With the record levels of displaced people, increased conflict and political or economic upheaval, Canada's efforts have also been to focus internationally.
As the members and the committee also recommended, we are acting to address our challenges in partnership with international bodies, security partners and allies. We are working with countries like the U.S. to focus potential asylum seekers towards existing programs and immigration streams, creating pathways.
In October of this year, the Government of Canada announced its plan to assist 15,000 refugees and displaced people from the Americas in coming to Canada. The humanitarian-based pathway for about 11,000 of those displaced individuals will provide the ability for individuals from Colombia, Haiti and Venezuela to come to Canada, provided they have an anchor relative.
We are working with international partners to build up capacity to manage refugees and asylum seekers in places like Central and South America. Due to the political and economic upheaval in Venezuela, millions have been forced from this country. Canada has provided support and expertise to neighbouring countries, including on border measures, developing screening capacity and support for resettlement programs.
In conclusion, our approach to addressing asylum seekers is a multi-faceted one, involving domestic supports and programs that uphold our legal and international obligations, as well as work to prevent asylum seekers from needing to make a claim here in the first place.
Immigration remains an important economic policy for the government, and we are working to maintain our position as a leading destination for migrants. We will continue to respond to the challenges, working with our partners to support newcomers, and provide programs that support asylum claimants and newcomers alike through programs to focus on potential asylum claimants to existing programs, and we're supporting policies that reduce irregular migration, like the STCA.
I'm very happy to take the questions you may have. This is not an easy challenge. We have a number of people arriving at our doorstep every day. We have a context of higher numbers than the country has ever seen. I think we not only need to respond to what we're seeing now, ensuring that housing and employment needs are met, but, most importantly as a country, we need to think about where we're going.
What are some of the best practices that we're seeing internationally? How do we deal with the context that, in our view, will not go away?
Asylum seekers will be coming to the country. How do we deal with this in a way that is comprehensive and supports people?
I will stop here, Mr. Chair, and open it up for any questions you may have.
6:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
You finished in 11 minutes. That was very well done.
I have two speakers on the list right now. I have Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe and Mr. Redekopp.
6:30 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Fox, thank you for still being here at this time. I know that you have to leave soon to teach basketball.
Correct me if I'm wrong. You said in your presentation that there were no longer many irregular border crossings, but that there were a significantly higher number of asylum seekers at airports. We're mainly talking about Pearson in Toronto, and Trudeau in Montreal, the two main airports for asylum seekers that have seen a massive increase in the number of asylum claims compared to recent years.
At the beginning of the summer, we learned on Radio-Canada—so I'm not making this up—that your department had issued a directive last spring about tourist visas for nationals of many countries, particularly African countries. This directive asks officers to no longer invoke the section of the law whereby an officer can decide not to grant a tourist visa to a person if they fear that the person will not return to their country. Now, all of a sudden, we're seeing a huge increase in asylum claims at Canadian airports.
Is this true? Did you issue the directive?
6:30 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Thank you for your question.
The department constantly reviews its decision-making practices based on their categories and risks. In the case of someone who has come to Canada multiple times and has always obeyed the terms of their visa, for example, is it possible to make effective decisions while also taking into account the level of risk?
The department did find itself in a particular situation, as we were facing a major backlog, and we were looking for ways to process more claims. It is customary for the department to make changes to its policies. We saw an increase in the number of asylum claims after the government's decision, but it may still be a little too early to establish a link between the two, given that the number of asylum claims has risen around the world. Therefore, the situation is perhaps not unique to Canada, and in this case, the increase in asylum claims may not be solely attributable to the decision the government made.
Either way, we're studying the data because we're aware that the number of claims has gone up.
6:35 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Wait, I just want us to be clear and respect everyone's intelligence.
You say there's been an increase in the number of asylum claims all around the world, and not just since the spring.
6:35 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
However, the department issued a directive this spring, which incidentally did not show up on its website until July. What's more, to the best of my knowledge, it took the government weeks to respond to Radio-Canada journalists.
Are you now telling me that there's absolutely no correlation between the department's directive, the rise in asylum claims at airports and the closure of Roxham Road?
6:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I'm not saying there's no correlation. What I'm saying is that the department makes decisions based on public policy, the level of risk and directives issued to officers.
The number of claims has risen and the new public policy is more flexible. We'll have to study the data over time to get very accurate figures on the number of people who came to Canada under that public policy and how many of them sought asylum. I'd say that not everyone who entered Canada has done so under this public policy. Has that number started going up? Yes, there has definitely been an increase. However, I don't yet have the exact numbers, so I can't say at this stage if we're talking about an increase of 5%, 20% or 30%.
6:35 p.m.
Liberal
6:35 p.m.
Bloc
6:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
I think we'll give five minutes to each party first, then if we have time—
6:35 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
It wasn't clear at first and I thought we had as much time as we wanted. We're in the middle of an extremely interesting discussion.
6:35 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
What I understand is that a public policy was put in place because the department wanted to reduce the number of claims in the backlog, which you have confirmed to us. It wanted to reduce the backlog because things were crazy in the office. So the department introduced a new policy to deal with that, but instead it led to a huge increase in the number of asylum claims at airports.
That's what the people here and I understand right now, but could the department finally own up to it? You have yet to admit it, but it's as clear as day to me.
6:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
The department is closely studying the data resulting from the introduction of this public policy. The policy decision was based on data, not only the presence of a backlog. It was made to ensure that people who wanted to enter the country would face acceptable processing times. The department is always looking for ways to speed up decision-making. Therefore, we will carefully study the data resulting from the introduction of this public policy when it comes time to decide on the best way to manage such decision-making processes in the future.
6:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
Thank you very much.
Mr. Redekopp, go ahead, please, for up to six minutes.
6:35 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
You talked about hotels, which I want to focus on. Money has been spent on that.
There was an Order Paper question about the Ramada hotel in Cornwall, Ontario. I'm sure it's a very nice place. The contract that was given was for $10,479,000, which works out to $63,000 a day, or about $560 per hotel room to provide food, accommodation and other services.
Does that seem like an exorbitant cost to you?
6:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
When we have contracts, we obviously do competitive bids for them. We work very closely with PSPC. I think it's not just the room itself, but there are services at the hotel as well. You mentioned food services. I visited some of the hotels in Atlantic Canada. There would be at times a nurse and a health professional. There could be security. It's not just the cost of the hotel.
6:35 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
I understand that, but this is a Ramada in Cornwall. Do you believe that $560...? To me, that seems very high. Would you agree? What are your thoughts on that amount?
6:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
We have a competitive process to get value for money for the contracts that we award. Those contracts are not just for the hotel room; they have built in supports in them. That is what I would state as the answer.
6:40 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
If there is no proper competition in a particular place, you just have to pay whatever they ask. There's no upper limit. There's no logic put to that. How does that work?
6:40 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I think that in the Cornwall context there are other locations that we're using. We're using the DEV centre and other hotels in Cornwall. We're always looking at maximizing.... We're also conscious of the fact that municipalities and settlement organizations in those municipalities can sometimes feel overwhelmed if they have a large number of asylum seekers who arrive in their community. I think sometimes we try not only to take into account the availability of hotels, but also how we can work with municipalities across Ontario to look at distribution.