Bill C-17 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

This enactment amends the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to allow officers to refuse to authorize foreign nationals to work in Canada in cases where to give authorization would be contrary to public policy considerations that are specified in instructions given by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Okay. It's understood too that we were going to talk about Bill C-17, possibly when we get back, or if there was a date available beforehand, we would be talking about Bill C-17 also.

We have a request in to bring the minister before our committee for supplementary estimates, and the news on that happens to be—

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Flowing from that, I would certainly encourage the committee to bring Bill C-17 back before this committee for consideration as a piece of legislation.

I noted that you handed out a pamphlet called Important Information for Temporary Workers Working in Canada, which essentially gives them what their rights might be and their obligations, who they can contact, including the various provincial departments dealing with labour standards and that kind of thing. That is one example of perhaps how this issue of temporary foreign workers can be dealt with.

I noticed that in the live-in caregiver side of the program, they are either given courses before they come here to Canada, which are given in their language, or there are certain steps that are taken that would certainly enhance their ability once they got here to deal with labour standard types of issues and others as well. How is that being done, and can that be transposed to temporary foreign workers other than those in the live-in caregiver program?

[Les Linklater]

Bill C-17 is designed to provide visa officers with the tools to be able to deny a work permit to someone who may be destined to a situation of potential abuse or exploitation. This would happen overseas before the potential worker was actually in Canada. But as I mentioned earlier, the way the act and the regulations are written now, they are very directive. There is no opportunity for negative discretion of any kind within the act. So Bill C-17 would allow the minister, based on objective evidence, to issue instructions to visa officers for them to take into consideration any evidence that would link particular situations with vulnerability or the potential for abuse or exploitation and refuse the permit to someone based on those circumstances.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

I have just a couple of questions flowing from the discussion on temporary foreign workers. Bill C-17, as we talked about briefly, is a step in the direction of offering some form of protection to vulnerable temporary foreign workers. Can you expand on that, and would it or an expanded form of that be the type of direction that could be taken to protect temporary foreign workers?

[Les Linklater]

As I think Mr. Kenyon said earlier, the current regulations are very directive, so should certain thresholds be met for an employer, HRSDC shall issue a labour market opinion. For Citizenship and Immigration or for the Border Services Agency, subject to a temporary foreign worker meeting certain thresholds, we are obliged to issue the work permit.

This is one of the issues we're trying to bolster through Bill C-17, the legislation on vulnerable workers, but I think as we move forward with regulatory reforms--to be able to provide sanctions within our regulatory framework, to refuse service to employers that have not met certain benchmarks, and to be able to share the information with provinces, as we've alluded to earlier--having that common base of information will be key to being able to employ a sanctions regime.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Thank you, Minister.

Minister Finley, there may or may not be an election coming. There are some practical implications to some of these bills not passing. With respect to Bill C-17, what are some of the practical implications of the impact of delays that would happen if an election came on planned activities in Canada over the next couple of years, specifically, obviously, the Olympics?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

I firmly believe--and I suspect and certainly hope this committee feels the same way--that if even one woman is trafficked, that's one too many. Absolutely. That's why we need laws that will help to protect them. We don't have that many right now, so we're trying to put forward Bill C-17 and maintain flexibility in the legislation we do have.

There is a private member's bill before the Senate, as we speak, that would reduce the flexibility we have to address human trafficking. I mentioned earlier how we extended the TRPs from 120 days to 180 days. If the Senate bill that's before the House now had passed, we would not have been allowed to do that. We would not have had the flexibility through ministerial powers to extend that protection period.

We need to be flexible in our response, because we're still learning, as is the world. We want to be able to be responsive to the needs as we identify them. So I think we have to make sure we protect these women and children. They are vulnerable individuals. It doesn't matter how many or how few, they all deserve our protection in this country.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Ministers, for your time and your presentations. We truly appreciate that.

My question goes to Minister Finley. Last week the citizenship and immigration committee, of which I am a member, considered Bill C-17. During the meeting, Liberal member Mr. Jim Karygiannis scoffed at the small number of women being protected by this bill. He seemed to think that passing a bill that in his mind only concerned a “very minimal number of people” would be wrong. He implied that such a very minimal number of women, regardless of their vulnerability to trafficking or exploitation, was unworthy of protection under Bill C-17.

Could you please respond to Mr. Karygiannis' criticism?

[Bruce Stanton, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Minister Finley, I want to get back to this issue of Bill C-17, which is currently in committee. I just want to get your sentiments or thoughts on why this bill is being held up. You mentioned that there were some witnesses who were denied access to the committee or who were turned away.

Could you give us a bit more information on your understanding of this predicament?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Minister Day and I will both address that because we're both involved.

We set up the TRP program to remedy exactly the kinds of situations you describe. It was meant to give women the opportunity to take some time and figure out what they want to do—with some safety, with some security, with health benefits. This would put them in a better position to decide where they want to go.

We're trying to get Bill C-17 through Parliament as a means to prevent trafficking and keep these women out of situations in which they could be abused. Right now it's being stalled. The committee is not addressing it. We were due to hear from several groups, including the Stop the Trafficking Coalition, the Salvation Army, and the Future Group. This week, they were mysteriously de-invited from attending, and the issue was dropped from the agenda.

We'd like to see the legislation put through as quickly as possible, not just for the Olympics. We need it now, for the situations you're describing. These women—and in some cases men—need protection now, and we'd like to see the opposition move forward with it.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, ministers, for joining us this morning.

I am concerned more specifically about one component of Bill C-17. Earlier, we talked about measures taken to assist persons already in the country, that is those who have crossed the border and are found to be victims of abuse or human trafficking. Persons turned away at the border would likely be sent to other countries where no legislation is in place to govern human trafficking.

Have measures been taken to prevent a situation where these persons end up in a country where they are even worse off and where they would still be victimized? Just because they are refused entry into Canada does not mean that they will be sent back to their country of origin and resume their lives there. Have any agreements been concluded with other countries?

Mr. Nicholson, you stated that you have been working with the United Nations.

Mr. Day, you said that you are working with different groups.

Will measures been taken to help these persons?

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Ministers, for coming today. This is an area that has been very important for us, so we appreciate the time you're giving us.

To Minister Finley first, I appreciate the changes you've already made with respect to the 120 days to 180 days and the support services to victims and the ability for them to apply for landed status during that process so that they can choose to stay in the country, which is one of the things we had recommended.

One of the things, though, that you just mentioned with respect to Bill C-17 was the stopping at the border. My question is twofold. Have there been any changes with respect to the criteria for immigration? A lot of these women should be able to come in here as legitimate immigrants. The problem is, in many cases the criteria and skills training criteria prevent them. They don't fit any of the criteria we have, and it's very hard for them to come in. We need to look at the immigration structure to make sure it's more sensitive.

The other question is, of course, about the live-in caregivers, who to some degree face a lot of abuse as well. It goes unnoticed and unreported most of the time because women are very vulnerable. Again, it's women. One of the things we were looking at was that the immigration criteria keep out women who are in desperate need, financially, to immigrate, as men do, to be able to come to this country legitimately rather than having to figure out ways around that and come in, in other ways.

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Thank you. I would like to thank the committee for inviting us here today to address the very important issue of human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

Our government is taking real action to combat human trafficking while assisting its victims.

And that is why we continue to examine ways to further improve our actions in this regard. Let me begin by sharing with you some of the initiatives of my own department, Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

My department's initiatives to target human trafficking aim, first of all, to protect the victims of the crime. To build on our ongoing anti-trafficking efforts, we've taken several important steps to increase protection of victims of human trafficking.

In May 2006, for example, my predecessor, the Honourable Monte Solberg, introduced a fee-exempt, 120-day temporary resident permit for individuals who've been preliminarily assessed to be victims of human trafficking.

The intent of this initial temporary resident permit, TRP for short, was to allow victims of trafficking in Canada to escape their traffickers and feel secure in the knowledge that they have legal status in Canada. Although this was an important improvement with respect to what we had before, we recognized that more needed to be done.

That's why last June, in response to concerns raised by stakeholders and by the standing committee, I was pleased to extend the fee-exempt temporary resident permit from 120 to 180 days. This was an important change, and it allowed victims to apply for a work permit, an option that wasn't available to them under the 120-day permit.

A valid work permit, of course, gives the victims the opportunity to earn a living in Canada while they consider their options. During that time, the victims can access health care services, including trauma counselling, under the interim federal health program. Similar to the initial TRP, the initial work permit is fee-exempt.

The TRP also allows victims time to reflect and consider, for example, whether they want to return home or apply to stay in Canada and whether they want to assist officials in investigating and prosecuting the traffickers. Victims can also apply for extensions of the permit.

Madam Chair, it is important to note that, through all of these procedures, immigration officers are instructed to treat the individuals that come forward as victims, not as criminals.

Victims are not required to participate in a criminal investigation or testify against accused traffickers in order to receive the Temporary Resident Permit.

This Government believes that these guidelines provide us with the necessary flexibility to respond in a timely fashion to evolving issued surrounding trafficking in persons.

Madam Chair, our approach to confronting human trafficking doesn't stop with protecting victims. Prevention is also key. One way to prevent trafficking is to use the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, or IRPA, as we call it, as a basis for refusing entry to foreign nationals who are destined for such situations. That's exactly what we did by introducing Bill C-17. If it becomes law, Bill C-17 will help prevent vulnerable temporary foreign workers, including exotic dancers, from being abused, exploited, or possibly even becoming victims of human trafficking. This legislation will give me the authority, as the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, to instruct immigration officers to deny work permits to vulnerable foreign workers who could be subjected to humiliating and degrading treatment, including sexual exploitation, in Canada.

This legislation will help ensure that Canada's immigration system is not used by criminals to victimize people.

For those people applying to enter our country, Canada represents hope, safety and a new start. This is one more measure that helps ensure that this hope is not shattered through exploitation, and that the expectation of safety within Canada is preserved.

Without this legislation, immigration officers cannot deny a work permit to someone who meets all the requirements to enter Canada, even if the officers believe there is a strong possibility of exploitation or abuse. Strengthening the minister's authority would provide the Government of Canada with a tool to respond to situations in which a permanent applicant could be at risk. Essentially, the current rules allow officers to refuse work permits based principally on present status or past record—for example, cases in which the applicant has a communicable disease or criminal convictions.

The proposed amendments will allow an officer, according to instructions issued by the minister, to refuse a work permit based on reasonable concern for what will happen, namely, that the person could be in danger of being trafficked, exploited, or degraded once in Canada. Immigration officers would make their decisions on a case-by-case basis, and each application for a permit would be assessed on its own merit.

The proposed changes could be used to prevent abuse in a number of possible scenarios, which could include low-skilled labourers and exotic dancers as well as other potential victims of human trafficking. For example, some applicants for work permits may be inexperienced, without a support network, or overly dependent upon their employer. In many situations, this would not be a problem. In some situations, however, this could lead to humiliating and degrading treatment, including sexual exploitation. Where there's evidence that these concerns are serious and well founded, ministerial instructions would provide the government with a mechanism to protect applicants from the abuse and exploitation they might otherwise experience.

In short, Bill C-17 would give us another tool to help stop trafficking at our borders and prevent foreign nationals from becoming victims of this heinous crime. It would seem to me that in Bill C-17 we have a real opportunity to ensure that additional protections are provided for vulnerable women and children subject to sexual exploitation and abuse. I urge all individuals and stakeholders concerned with fighting human trafficking to encourage the opposition to support the swift passage of Bill C-17.

As I mentioned in my opening remarks, our government is committed to taking real action to combat human trafficking, while assisting its victims.

While we're working hard to continue our efforts to combat human trafficking, we recognize that more can, and indeed must, be done. In this regard, I look forward to hearing from stakeholders and concerned citizens about how best to proceed.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Thank you very much for that impassioned plea. There is no question that this legislation is long overdue. I can tell you that before the committee left they said Bill C-17 would be the first order of business, and that's why it was there.

With respect to this particular bill, I would ask particularly the Liberal members and the critic there to get their members to support the bill as it is. In fact--

Citizenship and Immigration

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the subcommittee, which is opposition dominated, met and mysteriously, for no apparent reason, Bill C-17 is no longer on Monday's agenda.

I think the opposition members on that committee should explain to these stakeholders, and indeed to all Canadians, why the protection of vulnerable women and children is not a priority for them. I can assure members that it is a priority for our government.