Foreign Affairs Committee on Aug. 26th, 2009

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

It's a practice, but it's not something that's codified.

[Leonard Edwards]

It is not codified.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Do you think it would be a good idea to codify that? Would it hurt the official to have that...?

[Leonard Edwards]

Mr. Chair, in terms of answering the question--I suppose it has to do with your recent proposal, of today in fact--I can't answer whether it would make a difference or not.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

That's fair.

[Leonard Edwards]

I know it's being done already. Whether codifying it would make a difference, I'm not sure. It might provide some assurances to Canadians that it in fact is happening, but I can assure Canadians that it is happening.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

And I've seen that. We'll get to that when we look at Mr. Abdelrazik. Obviously I'll wait until we get to that to discuss that particular case.

Perhaps I can ask you about a particular case that is not to do with the courts. If you can't immediately brief us, perhaps you can at least tell us the status as soon as you can. I'm referring to Abdihakim Mohamed. Do you, any of the officials here, have any news on that, on what the status is?

This of course is a case that has been outstanding. It has been prominent in the press and, in fact, is a concern to many. I would like to know if there's any update on his case.

[Leonard Edwards]

Mr. Chair, perhaps I could ask Mr. Cossette to respond to that one.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Mr. Edwards.

Mr. Cossette.

[Gerald Cossette, Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade]

In fact, we are in the process of facilitating his return to Canada.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

So he'll be home...?

[Gerald Cossette]

We need to confirm the flights and all the other arrangements that are necessary.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

So the necessary documents have been provided so that he can return back to Canada, back to Ottawa in fact.

[Gerald Cossette]

We are in the process of bringing him back. We're looking at flights and everything else.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Okay. Thank you very much for that. I didn't have that information. I appreciate it.

Right now every Canadian pays a stipend of, I believe, $25 on every passport for consular services. Can you give us a rough estimation of what that amount of money would be right now, based on how many passports have been issued and how much revenue has been generated from that $25 stipend for every passport issued?

[Gerald Cossette]

We do have these numbers. Of course, the annual revenue related to the consular fee is based on the number of passports issued, obviously. Last year, in fact, we collected $96.7 million in consular fees.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Thank you for that.

My understanding is that the fee was put in place quite a while ago. Or when was that put in place?

[Gerald Cossette]

In the mid-nineties.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Yes. It was in 1996, I believe.

[Gerald Cossette]

In 1996 or 1995.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

So the idea was that those revenues would be there for consular services.

[Gerald Cossette]

Basically, the revenues from the consular fee go straight to the CRF and come back to the department in the form of an appropriation. So it's not segregated in terms of saying, this is your share, etc.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Right.

If I could put this into “plainspeak” for people—and take no offence at this—the $25 goes into general revenue and then there are other revenues that come back to help you do your job.

[Gerald Cossette]

Yes.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

So in fact the $25 doesn't go directly to consular services, but that's a decision made at the budget level. Would that be correct?