Official Languages committee  Destination Canada is a project that we implemented to conduct targeted recruitment in Europe and North Africa. The idea is to attract, to target francophone immigrants who want to come to Canada.

Official Languages committee  Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I'm first going to provide you with an overview of the Foreign Credentials Referral Office. The office was established through Advantage Canada. It is located in the offices of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. We always develop programs and policies designed to support people who want to start a settlement process before leaving their country of origin.

Official Languages committee  We have a number of performance indicators for the Strategic Plan. We go through the steering committee to ensure that we have close communication. With regard to priorities, I'm going to ask Mr. Saint-Germain for more details. Through that committee, we ensure that our activities are directly related to priorities.

Official Languages committee  Not to our knowledge, no, but I can get back to you on that point.

Official Languages committee  Yes, of course.

Official Languages committee  We use our “formats”, for example, the steering committee that I co-chair—

Official Languages committee  Thank you for your question. Mr. Kenney's office is responsible for coordinating activities with MPs and for organizing those kinds of meetings.

Official Languages committee  I believe the minister has to be aware of the conversations of his—

Official Languages committee  We always trust MPs, Mr. Bélanger, but the department has to coordinate important issues—

Official Languages committee  I'm not saying you have to be in the minister's office, but the request has to be made to the minister's office.

Official Languages committee  We can respond to requests, but to organize meetings, we always have to inform the minister's office—

Official Languages committee  I would say that, in response to that kind of request, I would coordinate my answers with—

Official Languages committee  If the idea is to organize a meeting, that's correct.

Official Languages committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this invitation to speak with you today. My name is Les Linklater and I am the Assistant Deputy Minister for Strategic and Program Policy at Citizenship and Immigration Canada and now the department's Champion for Official Languages. I am accompanied by Yves Saint-Germain, CIC's Director of Information, Language and Community Program Policy, and my colleagues from Foreign Affairs.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  In the current context of the act, what you're suggesting is a significant departure for Canada with respect to managing access to our territory. It should be recalled that even with visas, people will have access to our system for requesting asylum, refugee protection. Furthermore, there will still be problems even with an assessment of the good faith of individuals before they come to Canada.