Evidence of meeting #37 for Foreign Affairs and International Development in the 40th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was consular.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
In the second round, we have five-minute rounds, so they have to be very—
Liberal
Bob Rae Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
So if you could keep your answers as concise as possible, it would perhaps allow us to get at it.
Thank you very much.
Director General, Emergency Management Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Actually, the situation in Sri Lanka, sir, was managed by another division within our department, and it really did not affect our emergency management bureau.
Liberal
Bob Rae Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
If a Tamil Canadian wanted to get access to information with respect to what was happening to one of his or her relatives in the part of Sri Lanka that was a war zone, what division would they have gone to?
Director General, Emergency Management Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
They could call our operations centre and we would contact the mission to find out if there was information available. That would be the system to be used.
Director General, Emergency Management Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
That's right, but managing the humanitarian relief efforts in Sri Lanka—
Liberal
Bob Rae Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
No, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking specifically about people wanting to have access to information about what's happening to their cousin, brother, or sister.
Director General, Emergency Management Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
There's a 1-800 number they can use to contact our operations officers and give them the information. If the Canadian citizen is registered, we would try to contact them through that means, or if the family had contact numbers, we would provide that information to our mission in Colombo, which would then try to contact the Canadian citizen on behalf of the family.
Liberal
Bob Rae Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
Could you give me in writing later on the number of calls and cases that were handled by the ops centre in that two- or three-month period earlier this year?
Director General, Emergency Management Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Directly related to Sri Lanka, yes.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
Could I get some clarity, because I may be misunderstanding?
You're speaking of a Canadian here in Canada who has a question about a cousin, brother, or sister in Sri Lanka who is Canadian and who perhaps has a dual citizenship?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
If you could get that information back to us in writing, we would very much appreciate it.
You still have two minutes.
Liberal
Director General, Consular Operations Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
I would comment that if these are not Canadian citizens, then what we can provide to Canadian citizens in Canada is information about the general situation. Quite frankly, they're sometimes better informed than we are and we can get the information from them. If they're not Canadian citizens, that would go through the International Committee of the Red Cross.
You'll have your information from Mr. Roué's shop, but I would also suggest that sometimes, when they aren't Canadian citizens, we can direct them to where they might get information.
Liberal
Bob Rae Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
There's a big network, but I'm just trying to find out what level of service we were able to provide. I've had some comments from people saying that the ops centre wasn't that responsive. I just want to find out, so I can say what happened. In the case of the ICRC, the websites, and everybody communicating in a million different ways these days, as Ms. Thomsen referred to, I think that's natural.
What about now? Does anybody know whether we're getting access to the camps?
Director General, Consular Operations Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
I think we'd have to get back to you exactly on what sort of access we are getting in terms of consular access in particular. In terms of the humanitarian, as Mr. Roué pointed out, that's something that falls under other people within the department.
Liberal
Bob Rae Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
It's whether there are dual citizens who are still in the camps, whether there are Canadian citizens.
Director General, Consular Operations Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
I think that's something we'd have to get back to you on.
Liberal
Bob Rae Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
Okay. Perhaps Mr. Pearson had a question with respect to hiring. Do you want to...?
Liberal
Bob Rae Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
They've said that to me many times over the last 40 years, Mr. Chairman, and they were wrong. It's not done yet.