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

[Dr. Nicole Giles]

When the admissibility screening is done, decisions are made based on evidence of past behaviour. Predicting future behaviour is obviously a little more difficult.

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

Thank you very much.

Thank you to the officials.

Over to MP Chong.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Thank you, Ms. Dancho. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First, I have a comment that I don't expect any response to.

Based on the testimony we've heard today, the announcement last week by Minister Mendicino doesn't seem commensurate to the deteriorating situation in Hong Kong, nor does it seem commensurate to the response of our allies. For example, the United Kingdom provided a pathway for residency and citizenship for anyone in Hong Kong holding a British national overseas passport. The U.K. Home Office estimates that there are 2.9 million people, almost half of Hong Kong's population, who would be eligible for this pathway to residency and citizenship. I want to put that on the record as a commentary on last week's announcement.

I'd like to move on to the issue of granting visas by the IRCC. We all know that China is conducting covert and subversive operations in Canada. According to The Globe and Mail, agents from China's security services have travelled to Canada on tourist visas to engage in activities that are a threat to Canada's national security.

In addition, last March, the Government of Canada's National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians said that China is “target[ing] ethnocultural communities, seek[ing] to corrupt the political process, manipulat[ing] the media” here in this country, and that it “poses a significant [threat] to the rights and freedoms of Canadians”. It also said that the Canadian National Security and Intelligence Committee, including the IRCC, is insufficiently coordinated in its response to the threats.

My question is simple. Has the IRCC made any changes since last March in how it is coordinating with other entities in Canada's national security and intelligence community?

[Dr. Nicole Giles]

Thank you very much for the question.

As you might imagine, we are continually looking for opportunities to strengthen our coordination with our partners across government, including our partners in the security and intelligence community. We are also always looking for ways to strengthen admissibility and security screening, and program integrity screening is ongoing.

It's certainly not something that's static. It's something that's dynamic and something that we're always seeking to improve across all of our lines of business.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chong and Ms. Dancho.

Now we'll go to Ms. Yip for the last set of questions, for five minutes.

[Jean Yip, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

With respect to the capacity, we've already heard about whether Canada is able to withstand the 300,000 Canadians moving back.

Does IRCC have the technological resources to keep up with the increased applications and the general support needed?

[Natasha Kim]

I can start, Mr. Chair, and then my colleague may wish to add.

In terms of capacity—and I believe the consul general confirmed this when he appeared—we currently have the capacity for the demand we are seeing with the existing travel restrictions. Canadian citizens and permanent residents, of course, have a right of entry. There would be a flow there that would be enabled in the current context.

I'll see if my colleague wishes—

[Jean Yip, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

My question has more to do with the technological resources. Do you have the technology to process...and quickly?

[Natasha Kim]

In terms of the processing of applications, I'll turn it over to my colleague with regard to some of the innovations in that regard.

[Dr. Nicole Giles]

We have been putting in place a number of innovations in order to increase our ability to process applications. Most of our permanent resident applications are paper-based, which, as you can imagine, poses certain limitations in terms of how quickly processing can take place.

One of the public policies put in place as a response to COVID is that temporary resident applications, including for student permits, for example, are now being submitted online—with exceptions, of course, for those who have disabilities or who might not be able to do online applications. That is certainly speeding up our ability to process these temporary resident visas and permits.

[Jean Yip, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Are there any programs that will be provided in the near future to help modernize this paper-processing aspect? It seems kind of antiquated, especially since we're very much supposed to be using technology for quicker processing.

[Dr. Nicole Giles]

This is something that is a very significant focus and priority for IRCC—undergoing a digital transformation of our systems. It is something that is capturing a lot of our attention and our energy right now as we're certainly looking for ways to speed up our digital transformation.

[Jean Yip, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

What measures is the IRCC taking to ensure that the information systems it uses to process the immigration applications aren't vulnerable to compromise, including insider threats and cyber security in general? Is it robust?

[Dr. Nicole Giles]

A number of systems are put in place in multiple layers to ensure that the Privacy Act is respected, as well as to ensure that we're able to protect against both insider and outsider threats to the system. There is close co-operation that happens with partners across government on this.

This is not my area of expertise, however, so I would defer to my colleague who is in charge of digital transformation.

[Jean Yip, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

What are some of the resettlement pathways that Canada works on with other countries? I believe, Ms. Kim, you mentioned that in answering another question. Could you provide some specific examples?

[Natasha Kim]

Primarily, there is the government-assisted refugees resettlement stream. For that stream, we work with the UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to receive referrals. That stream really does focus on the most vulnerable and those at risk. As part of it, those who arrive as permanent residents receive one year of income support to enhance their integration while they adapt to a new life in Canada.

Another stream would be our privately sponsored refugees stream. That's where private sponsors here in Canada can sponsor refugees. They arrive with the support of those private sponsors in Canada to help their integration pathway but also to provide income support.

I see the chair is saying that we're out of time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Thank you very much for recognizing the time signal.

Thank you, Ms. Yip.

I want to thank Ms. Kim and Dr. Giles. I also want to remind you that there were a number of questions or items that members asked for. If you could provide those answers at your earliest convenience, it would be most appreciated.

With that, we thank you for your virtual appearance before the committee today. It is much appreciated.

This ends our meeting. Be well. See you tomorrow.

The meeting is adjourned.