Citizenship and Immigration committee  CIC does not have responsibility for prosecutions, and so we rely on our collaboration with CBSA and RCMP.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Les Linklater, and I am director general of the immigration branch at Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you. I'm accompanied by Brenna MacNeil, director of social policy and programs for the immigration branch at CIC, as well as by colleagues from the CBSA, the CRA, the IRB, and the RCMP. We would like to thank the committee for inviting us to speak to you today on the issue of immigration representatives.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, it would not jeopardize the 24 months within 36.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We have issued labour market opinions and work permits for 39 months from the outset so that the individual caregivers who come into Canada are not obliged to renew their permits on a yearly basis, as was the case in the past. It was an inconvenience to them in terms of client service if they stayed with the same employer and required them to pay a fee each year.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Mr. Chair, when we look at the program parameters—and they are still very much under development for the Canadian experience class—our thinking is that those temporary foreign workers in the skilled trades, the technical occupations...that is a very significant gap the labour market is missing out on now.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The temporary foreign worker program is demand-driven. If employers are finding it difficult to meet their labour needs locally, they can approach HRSDC with their case and demonstrate the efforts they've made to hire locally. If those have proven to be unsuccessful, they can then access the temporary foreign worker program.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, 165,000 labour market opinions were processed by HRSDC. At CIC we issued about 112,000 work permits in 2006. I think the average approval rate is likely around 70% to 75%, but we'll get that number for you.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm not familiar with the specifics of that case, but in general terms, visa officers are looking at the applicant's ability to do the job that's been offered and their bona fides as a visitor to Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Exit controls are hard to enforce. There is no systematic monitoring process in place to ensure that these workers leave the country. However, if the agency finds out that a particular person has no status, his name will be entered immediately in the removals file.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  There are a number of employers who are exemplary users of this program and they offer support services to their workers once they arrive. They provide additional training, whether it's official language training or sensitization to their new local communities, and these are employers that we want to work with more, to use as an example for others.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  At this point there is no program for settlement funding per se for temporary foreign workers. The terms and conditions of our current program structure direct that this funding be used for the establishment of permanent residents.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Right now we have the pamphlet in English, French, and Spanish, and it's being translated into Mandarin, Indian, and Tagalog.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. Telephone numbers are available, as are those for local offices of the CBSA.