Evidence of meeting #27 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was rad.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:30 a.m.
NDP
9:30 a.m.
Director General, Refugees Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Yes, and there are also some costs to the CBSA, because they would also participate in some of the diversion of these to the RAD.
9:30 a.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
So those extra costs added a 50% increase to the $8 million figure we were quoted before?
9:30 a.m.
Director General, Refugees Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
That adds up, yes.
9:30 a.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
It adds up to the $12 million; okay.
Have any of the provinces expressed concern about the increase in social assistance costs?
9:30 a.m.
Director General, Refugees Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I don't think they have done so publicly. Provinces have approached us about the asylum system generally. They would like a much speedier process for the asylum system because of the cost of social assistance.
9:30 a.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Have any of them that you're aware of expressed that concern specifically with regard to implementing the RAD?
9:30 a.m.
Director General, Refugees Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
No.
9:30 a.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Is there a plan within the department to implement the RAD? Does an implementation plan developed for the RAD exist in the department?
9:35 a.m.
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Operations, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I think, again, that's a policy question. When the minister appeared before this committee last month, I believe he said deliberations on the implementation of the RAD should be taken within the context of the overall review of the immigration asylum system.
We're not able to respond to that question; I'm sorry.
9:35 a.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Curiosity, though, leads me to ask this question: when new legislation comes through any department, do you not work on a plan for implementing that legislation? Would that not have been done when IRPA was passed by Parliament back in 2001? In that case, wouldn't there be an implementation plan for those sections of IRPA that deal with the RAD?
9:35 a.m.
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Operations, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
That would make sense to me. I wasn't around at the time; I'd have to go back and actually take a look--but yes, of course we prepare for the implementation of new legislation.
9:35 a.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
So that plan may exist somewhere in the department--you might just not be aware of it.
9:35 a.m.
Director General, Refugees Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
It may also be at the IRB.
9:35 a.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
I'm glad my question made sense.
I want to go to the private sponsorship program. In the fact sheet you distributed, you talked about the sponsorship agreement holders who have voluntarily reduced the number of applications this year. Can you tell me a bit about that agreement and how it was reached?
9:35 a.m.
Director General, Refugees Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
We had, for example, a full day of discussion with some of the representatives of the sponsorship agreement holder community. We discussed the challenges facing the program and how we could collectively work together to address some of these challenges. Certainly in terms of addressing the inventories, we thought that it would be helpful if, for a couple of years, CIC would commit to process more applications abroad, and the sponsorship agreement holders would reduce the number of undertakings they present to the program so that collectively, then, we could reduce the inventories and be able to start fresh and have a program that is more responsible and flexible.
9:35 a.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Often ministers and the department have said that the private sponsorship program is in jeopardy because there are too many non-eligible people applying, with the implication that somehow people are using it as a back door for family sponsorship. In fact, there's a discussion document that I think the refugee branch of the department produced that identifies what the department thinks are some of the problems, such as sponsors not being aligned to comprehensive solutions of the international community; attempts to use the private sponsorship for refugee programs to address non-refugee humanitarian issues like poverty, lack of economic or educational opportunities; that sponsors lack expertise in refugee identification.
Are any of those three issues addressed in training or meetings with the sponsorship agreement holders? If so, and we still get this increasing number of ineligible people, does that indicate a lack of training, a lack of comprehension of the program, or is it just wilful on the part of sponsors to flood the system?
9:35 a.m.
Director General, Refugees Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Certainly not, I think that the sponsors want to participate in a program that is focused on protection. Certainly the vast majority of them are trying to screen their application and so on. Obviously our visa officers are abroad and are on the spot, and really, it's only at the interview stage that they can determine whether the application is a genuine application or not. So it is difficult for--
9:35 a.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Has the department done any analysis of the 48% of the applications that were rejected, and can you share that with us?
9:35 a.m.
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Operations, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I'm not aware of anything like a report that we could share, but we do have the comprehensive report. Our missions abroad do report on their selection interviews and the types of cases they are seeing. There could be some punctual, if you will, reporting that comes in from time to time. I'm not aware that we've done--
9:40 a.m.
Director General, Refugees Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
This is shared also with the sponsorship agreement holder.
9:40 a.m.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
But there's no actual report. So how can you be aware of the issues if there's no actual report?
9:40 a.m.
Director General, Refugees Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
There are certain issues that certain missions--
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle
The chair will have to intervene, because I have a number of people who wish to get a question in, and we only have about 20 minutes left.
I have to go to Mr. Komarnicki.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have a few questions with respect to RAD. One of the witnesses earlier had indicated that there used to be two-member panels and now they're one-member panels in the IRB, and somehow the decisions might be inferior or might be affected.
Have you any research or study to see the impact of one-member or two-member panels, or can you comment on the difference between the results or decisions or the numbers, in effect, of those one-member or two-member panels?