Health Committee on Feb. 3rd, 2020

[Denis Vinette]

Not as of now, no.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you.

We'll go now to Ms. Kwan for two and a half minutes.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much.

I'm wondering about this. With respect to people who have permanent resident status here in Canada, as it stands right now, they would not be evacuated. Is that correct?

[Heather Jeffrey]

Based on the policy of the Government of China, what they have said is that they are facilitating the departure of foreign nationals, foreign citizens. Citizens of Canada are definitely approved and are able to depart.

We have been working with the Government of China to try to maintain family units being placed together. Where there are direct connections, the Government of China has informed us that they will facilitate that. Where a permanent resident has a direct family member who is a Canadian citizen, they are going to be facilitating departure.

That's the basis on which we're working with them, but it's being done on a case-by-case basis with local authorities.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I have a situation where a constituent is in China, a husband and wife. The husband is Canadian; the wife is a permanent resident. As far as I understand, he is in the process of being evacuated, but his wife is not. I flag that in those kinds of situations.

I don't think we should be treating permanent residents with status here in Canada differently. I think that's really important and I want to flag that. What I'm understanding from you, then, is that people are able to leave if they have relations here in Canada, from that perspective.

[Heather Jeffrey]

What I would say is that the policies we're working with in terms of the differentiation are not the Government of Canada's policies but rather the Government of China's policies. We are working very hard, and Minister Champagne has been engaged directly with his counterpart to underline the fact that we want all Canadian families to be kept together, irrespective of their status, and we're working towards that end.

There are a lot of things that are still in motion, but that would certainly be our intent, to allow that to happen.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Can you make sure that the committee and the public are actually provided an update? As it stands right now, I know this husband and wife team are separated, so that is a major concern.

Second, in terms of evacuation, right now this is taking place for people who are in Wuhan. In other parts of China where many flights are being cancelled and so on, they may well have difficulty leaving China. Are there any plans for the Canadian government to do that evacuation outside of Wuhan?

[Heather Jeffrey]

We currently don't have plans to evacuate areas outside of Wuhan. Hubei province is currently the only location where there is such a comprehensive quarantine that there is absolutely no travel in or out by any citizens.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

If Canadians who are abroad in different parts of China are having a difficult time exiting, what should they do? Should they be contacting GAC for assistance?

[Heather Jeffrey]

Yes. Any Canadian who requires assistance or who is experiencing difficulty in travel should contact our consular hotline—we have a 1-800 number and mailbox—or our missions on the ground, and we will work with them to help them facilitate travel outside if, indeed, there are no commercial means that exist. We'll work with them to identify the problem to see what solution might be possible on a case-by-case basis.

For example, in the case of passengers in Hubei province, there are local transport restrictions, so we're working with each individual case to help facilitate their travel. It's a big area, and they need to move through different checkpoints and roadblocks. They require permission to do that, and we're working directly with local authorities to facilitate that kind of travel. That's just an example of the type of thing we can do, but we need to look at it for each individual situation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Ms. Kwan.

We go now to our third round. We'll start with Mr. Webber for five minutes.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm going along the same lines as Ms. Kwan on questioning regarding permanent residence individuals who are stuck in Wuhan.

I have four constituents over there. Two are permanent residents, and their children are Canadian citizens. The children have passports, of course, but the parents do not. Will they be able to come home with their children, Ms. Jeffrey?

[Heather Jeffrey]

Based on our current conversations with the Government of China, they have committed to facilitating the travel of permanent residents with Canadian citizen children.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Excellent.

Are permanent residents without children allowed to get on that plane or planes?

[Heather Jeffrey]

This is part of the conversations that are still ongoing. If a Chinese citizen with permanent residence status in Canada has direct family links, the Government of China has agreed to help us facilitate that on a humanitarian basis, but we need to look at each family situation and engage with local authorities on each case, so that's part of the work that's ongoing right now.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Okay. Thank you.

I'll pass it on to Tamara.

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

I have four constituents, including a father, Alex, who has a two-year-old son who travelled out there with his grandmother, who is Chinese. His son is Canadian.

How exactly are we going to get someone like an unaccompanied minor, like Gavin, home? Exactly how do we get them to the airport? Who is going to act as their guardian?

[Heather Jeffrey]

We have a complex case unit with officers who work specifically on these family cases. We're aware of a lot of different family configurations for children right now. When I last checked with the team, there were solutions in place for all of them. There are a number of different possibilities. It's obviously very difficult for a very young, unaccompanied child to transit through a province that is under quarantine and to reach an airport, so there needs to be facilitation. We're working on each individual case on a case-by-case basis to find solutions for them.

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

Okay.

I have another quick question. The number of cases is not decreasing but increasing, obviously. It looks as though it went up very sharply between Saturday and Sunday. At what point do we consider this an emergency and step things up?

[Heather Jeffrey]

We've been treating this as an emergency since January 26. We stood up our emergency response team. We stood up our call centre, and we've been working on a 24-7 basis in shifts that have been supplemented with extra personnel since that time.

These issues take a long time to work out with local authorities. They are very complex, and there are municipal authorities, provincial authorities and national authorities in China, all of which require different permissions. Each individual family situation is specific and different, so it requires a lot of intensive work.

I would like to assure the committee that our team is working very hard on behalf of Canadians and we want to find solutions for all of these situations.

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

Pierre, go ahead if you have one.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

You can have two minutes.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

I see. Thank you.

Mr. Tanguay, have you had time to find the answer to my question about when the Government Operations Centre began operating?

[Patrick Tanguy]

Yes, it was on January 23.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Very good.

I'm trying to get a sense of how efforts are coordinated. Since the beginning, every aspect has involved the coordination of measures among the various agencies. When the issue relates to health, the Minister of Health is in charge, but when it pertains to public safety, you automatically have jurisdiction to oversee efforts in co-operation with the Canada Border Services Agency.

I'd like to know which minister is currently responsible for the Government Operations Centre.