Canada-China Relations Committee on Nov. 16th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Be very brief, please. You have only a few seconds left.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

What is the vetting process like?

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Give a very brief answer, please.

[Dr. Nicole Giles]

The security vetting process for admissibility is done by our public safety partners in consultation with us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mr. Fragiskatos.

Mr. Bergeron, you have two and a half minutes.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

Mr. Chair, I must say that I'm sometimes a little perplexed by agreed-upon answers that are provided to us by public servants and that anger parliamentarians. When I ask if we're looking at anything other than the existing mechanisms, I'm told that the existing mechanisms are in place and that they should be able to do the job.

According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada's Departmental Plan 2020-21, in 2020—that's this year—a new refugee stream will be launched to provide refuge for human rights advocates, journalists and humanitarian workers at risk of persecution. This comes from your department.

When I asked the question earlier, I chose my words well. I've repeated word for word what your department said. Can you tell us very clearly what you are working on to go beyond existing mechanisms to provide safe haven for human rights advocates, journalists and humanitarian workers at risk of persecution?

[Natasha Kim]

To clarify—and my apologies if answers are sometimes puzzling—first I would say that we do have our existing resettlement programs, which really focus on the most vulnerable and those who are facing persecution. That can include persecution based on political opinion. If there is a referral on that basis, which could include a human rights defender, we can accept those claims already. I would note that we don't currently track those in a systematic way.

With regard to the minister's mandate commitment around creating a new stream for human rights defenders, as he noted, we are hoping that this can be announced soon. Implementation is under way, and the design is as well. This would be a way to advance that specific commitment for this population.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

Do I have a bit of time left, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

You have 15 seconds.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

I won't insult our witnesses by asking them to respond in five seconds.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Thank you, Mr. Bergeron.

Ms. Kwan, you have two and a half minutes, please.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Am I up, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Yes, please, for two and a half minutes.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much.

For individuals who have fled to another jurisdiction, can they go to the Canadian embassy to seek refugee support? For example, if they fled to Japan or Taiwan—since the Five Eyes countries...they would not be eligible—would they be able to go to the Canadian embassy for help? How would they be able to submit their applications?

[Dr. Nicole Giles]

Canadian embassies and consulates are not able to accept refugee claims. If refugees have fled their home jurisdictions and do not have a durable solution in another country, they can be referred to us by the UN for resettlement under our government-assisted refugees program. They can also receive private sponsorship to come to Canada through the private refugees sponsorship stream.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Well, even with the private sponsorship stream, they will still need refugee determination from UNHCR, so they have to contact the UNHCR first.

[Dr. Nicole Giles]

There are other mechanisms for referral, as well as those primarily through the UNHCR.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

What are the other mechanisms?

[Dr. Nicole Giles]

There are some specific cases where we can work with other agencies to identify that they are indeed refugees who require urgent protection.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I wonder if I could have the officials table that detailed information to the committee so that we actually can have access to that information, please.

I'm going to move on to the next question.

The only change that has been announced for the refugee asylum seekers is that the one-year wait period would be waived for Hong Kongers whose asylum claim was denied by the IRB between November 13, 2019 and November 12, 2020.

Why would the deadline be November 12, 2020? Let's say, for example, that someone was denied today. They would not be eligible for the one-year waiver of the asylum claim. Why is that?

[Natasha Kim]

The PRRA bar exemption, as we call it, is reflective of changed circumstances in the country of alleged persecution. It's really backward-looking to waive that 12-month period that someone would have to wait. If we're looking at November 12, 2020 and onward, then that would already take into account the changed circumstances in the country in terms of the IRB decision.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms. Kwan.

Now we'll go on to Ms. Dancho for five minutes, please.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm going to be splitting my time with MP Chong.

I wanted to follow up on what a couple of my other colleagues asked. They mentioned that there was no reporting mechanism if the immigrants are in Canada and do happen to engage in these intimidation tactics. Another one of our colleagues got to the next question that I was going to ask and didn't quite get an answer, so I just want to reiterate it.

What is the mechanism to screen out these folks from getting those immigration visas to come to Canada? I just wanted to give you an opportunity to answer that more fulsomely.

[Dr. Nicole Giles]

Thank you very much for the questions.

First, in terms of the screening before arriving in Canada, there is quite a robust security screening procedure in place that is conducted by our public safety partners, and that includes, as you would imagine, ensuring that...and looking for evidence of criminality and of human rights abuses in other countries that these individuals might have committed.

If there are crimes that people are committing while they are visitors in Canada—whether they're temporary residents or otherwise—there is a reporting mechanism whereby if people are found to have evidence of criminality, at that point there is a loop back to IRCC and to the immigration services, and then there are certain procedures that are followed at that point.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

That's quite a high threshold if they are here. I'm just wondering, given that we know this intimidation is widespread in Canada, can we, from your perspective and your expertise, do anything to tighten the ability to prohibit these folks from getting into Canada? Folks are slipping through the cracks, clearly, is what I'm saying. Is there anything further that can be done?

We're almost out of time.