Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Dec. 5th, 2023

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

As we know, people's homes have been bombed and all their belongings destroyed. Is the minister saying that unless they have identification documents, they will not be considered?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Honourable Minister, you have ten seconds to respond.

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

I'm not being as categorical as that, but for the safety and security of the situation, I think we will have to make sure that the people who claim to be part of this category are the people that claim to be part of the category.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I have children who have been rendered without parents. They're orphaned and they are nieces and nephews of Canadian families.

Would they be able to be considered, under special circumstances, to be brought to safety?

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

Obviously, these are hypotheticals, but there are also countervailing hypotheticals.

I can't speak on specific cases, but in the case of children, we do worry about their physical safety and also about the challenges with respect to child trafficking, which does exist.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you very much, Minister and Madam Kwan.

We will go to Mr. Godin.

Mr. Godin, we will go to you for five minutes, and then to Mr. El-Khoury.

After that, we will end the meeting with the minister.

Mr. Godin, go ahead, please, for five minutes.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister Miller, thank you for being here today.

My first question is for you and it concerns spending. For 2023‑24, has additional funding been earmarked for francophone immigration?

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

Are you talking about the supplementary estimates specifically or about the budget in general?

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

I'm talking about funding added to the supplementary estimates. Did the department add any activities for francophone immigration this year?

[Christiane Fox]

There has been an increase in funding under the official languages plan. However, this funding isn't included in the supplementary estimates (B), 2023‑24. It will appear in future budgets.

We received funding to promote francophone immigration, one of the pillars of the official languages plan.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Are you talking about the official languages bill passed in June 2023?

[Christiane Fox]

I'm talking about the official languages plan launched this year.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

You're talking about the action plan for official languages 2023‑28, which came into force in April.

[Christiane Fox]

Yes.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

I'd now like to talk about the Official Languages Act. You have a new responsibility as a result of the passage of Bill C‑13 last June. Has any additional funding been earmarked for this purpose, or had it already been allocated under the action plan, before we even knew the outcome of the bill?

[Christiane Fox]

There's funding for francophone immigration under the 2022‑24 immigration levels plan, and additional funding under the action plan for official languages 2023‑28.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

This leads me to my next question.

Minister Miller, under the new section 44.1 of the Official Languages Act, your department must adopt a policy. Has this policy been tabled?

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

No. It hasn't been tabled yet, but it will be shortly.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Why are we still waiting for it? Can you tell us today when the policy required by clause 44.1 will be tabled?

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

I would say, without committing officially, that it will be around January.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

That's a pretty evasive answer.

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

You'll see in January. Wait until January.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

We'll wait until January, yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Please, don't talk fast, because it's very hard for the interpreters to interpret.

Please follow through the chair. I would really appreciate that.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Minister, in your opening remarks, you mentioned that there had been an increase in the number of immigration applications. Can you give us the percentages of francophones and anglophones?