Thank you, Chair.
Thanks to all of you for being with us today.
We're in the early stages of this study, but we have heard from a number of witnesses that there seem to be some gaps and some interdepartmental dysfunction or non-connection.
With regard to admissibility, on the first day of our study, I raised the case of Vitaly Malkin, who I'm sure you are familiar with, and his 20-year attempt to get into Canada and to gain Canadian citizenship, despite evidence of quite a history of criminal activity and ill-gotten gains.
We heard from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions that it's up to banks, basically, to police the funds that come in and out, through FINTRAC, I suppose. We heard from the RCMP that in setting their priorities they're focused these days on anti-terrorism, not necessarily on notorious individuals who might be on another tier of priorities.
We also heard that in the case of Mr. Malkin, for example, Foreign Affairs deferred to CIC, to Immigration, and there were separate CSIS secret files, which have not been opened, with immigration officers regularly denied admission. In the end, an immigration judge disagreed with the immigration officer on the interpretation of the word “entrepreneur”, and allowed Mr. Malkin and millions of dollars into the country.
I'm wondering if you could comment on the interconnection—or not—of the various agencies that have a role in deciding who gets into Canada with what.