Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Jan. 30th, 2007

[Michel Simard]

Mr. Chairman, I'll start by answering the question about the presence of MPs, our elected officials, at citizenship ceremonies. All elected officials are welcomed to attend these ceremonies, if they wish. Their presence is noted, except during election campaigns. Municipal, provincial and federal representatives are always welcomed, as the citizenship ceremony is open to the public. However, once an election writ is dropped, we ask them to keep their participation discreet. Obviously, they will not be asked to come up and make a brief presentation, as would normally be the case.

Citizenship ceremonies are substantially similar across the country. The essential message delivered focuses on the values of citizenship, and on rights and obligations. This message, regardless of the language in which it is delivered, contains more or less the same components. Do all judges read from the same prepared text? Absolutely not. My colleague, Mr. Springate, some of the other judges and yours truly are absolutely incapable of reading from a prepared text. However, the same basic message is conveyed everywhere.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Thank you, Judge Simard.

Mr. Jaffer.

[Rahim Jaffer, Conservative, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to all of you for being here today. It's nice to meet some of you at along last and be able to hear your stories.

There seems to be some interest on the political experience, but I think there's one thing, especially in the case of Mr. Springate and Mr. Gill, we didn't get a chance to hear.

Mr. Springate, I don't even know your political affiliation, and I don't quite care, actually. But I just want to know how the both of you believe that process of your lives, the political experience you gained, is helping you in the work you're doing today. It might be interesting to hear your thoughts on that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Provided of course you don't get into party politics or anything like that--

[Rahim Jaffer, Conservative, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

No. I'm talking strictly about experience.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Whether it's municipal, federal, or provincial, how has your political affiliation helped you over the years?

[Rahim Jaffer, Conservative, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I'm asking about experience, not affiliation.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

I should have said “experience”.

[George Springate]

I've learned that in the last hour and a half.

Being an elected member--and I was a provincial elected member--allows you to meet, greet, teach, and let others experience what our province, the city they are living in, and the country are about. It's much more than simply staying here in Ottawa, and that's it.

As you know, your busiest times of the week are Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday, where you basically are in their house, their organization or association's house, church, synagogue, mosque, whatever it is. You represent not simply a strict political point of view, but you represent your province, your city, or your country.

As Mr. Devolin said, he was a little ill at ease the first time he said he was representing Canada. I understand that, but that's what the people want to see.

I am very fortunate. I live on the west island of Montreal. Right beside me is an exceptional member of Parliament, and she is like me. She is a community member. I wasn't a House member; I was a community member. There's a tremendous difference, and every one of you knows what that difference is. That experience allowed me, along with the experience I earned in the police force and on television....

I'll put modesty aside. There are very few people who do not know me in my province from the past I've had. No one talks politics to me; they all talk football. I did politics for eleven years; I did five years of pro football. They talk about football because that's what interests them. But that allows me to come close. Yes, politics gets you into that and helps you make other people become better citizens. That's my view of the job.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Thank you, Mr. Springate.

You have some time left, Mr. Jaffer. You're on 3:22.

[Rahim Jaffer, Conservative, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I think it's Mr. Gill, on the other question.

[Raminder Gill]

Mr. Chair, through you to Mr. Jaffer, one of the stories I did mention in my maiden speech in the provincial parliament was that when I used to go the University of Toronto, which is right next door to Queen's Park, I used to work in a restaurant as a dishwasher. I would actually be taking the sidewalk that is right behind Queen's Park. One of the stories, as I said, was that as an 18-year-old travelling by Queen's Park, I never imagined that a first-generation immigrant would actually get the opportunity or the honour to sit in that assembly one day and perhaps try to make a difference.

You know, I tell these stories to the candidates who come in--we call them candidates--for citizenship, and I say, “Folks, get involved. Get involved politically. It does not matter which party you want to get involved with, and if you don't like any of them, put your name forward. It can be done. You can actually put your name forward, and if you work hard and people believe in you, one day you can get elected.”

Without getting into political partisanship, I always ask them to get involved in every political level. You know, we also say everything is politics. There's politics at home, there's politics at school, there's politics at work, and there's politics in Parliament.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Thank you, Mr. Jaffer.

I will now go to Mr. Siksay, and he needs some power.

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Power--that's a good idea. Yes, I need it. As the single New Democrat here, I could use some.

Judge Simard, I want to come back to the screening process again. The briefing note that the analysts provided for us talks about the process of screening that people go through. There's the initial screening using the application and information form; there's a written exam, reference checks, and then the interview process.

Can you tell me how many people have gone through that process successfully? I'm getting at what kind of pool you have of successfully screened applicants to fill those vacancies.

[Michel Simard]

Yes, I have these numbers. Before I get to the numbers, let me just tell you that since you are basically dealing with a prerogative of the governor in council, which is the prerogative to appoint, the screening process basically has to be reassessed from government to government.

I want to tell you that right now this process on my website is under review, and I am not yet in a position to tell you what the state of the art will be in my office tomorrow as far as screening goes.

I am expecting to, and am scheduled to, discuss that with the minister. There is a firm intention on our part to discuss it. I've been informed of that recently. It has to basically go to PCO and to the Prime Minister's Office for approval. This is where we are now.

In terms of the process that has been in place, the result is that I now have for the region of Ontario--and it's fairly small here--28 qualified candidates, plus 20 that are in the process. These are people who placed applications and need to be processed one way or the other, and I still have yet to know what the determination of that discussion will be.

In the Atlantic region we have two persons, two candidates, who have been passing through the various steps, plus two who are in process. In the Montreal region we have three who have passed all the steps, plus two in process, and in the region of western Canada, we currently have five who have gone through the process, plus 20 who are currently within the process.

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

Okay. Judge Simard, can somebody be appointed as a citizenship judge and not have gone through that screening process?

[Michel Simard]

Well, I mean, in theory the Governor in Council could appoint whoever they want to appoint. I can provide all the recommendations. I make my recommendations to the minister, who in turn makes a recommendation to cabinet. Cabinet is sovereign and could decide whatever it wants to decide.

Now, how we are going to line up and tune our violins to that effect might be the work of Mr. Harrison. We had discussion about it. It seems to me that there's a desire to straighten that up and to make it coherent from boards and from tribunals, and to basically get the same type of thing. How we are going to end up is a matter that has yet to be determined.

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

How long is it taking to go through the screening process?

[Michel Simard]

I'm talking of the past again. Now, as I said, we are expecting direction on it. But from the date of application to the date when you are in a position to make a recommendation and references are checked, it takes about three months to do a decent job, about 90 days.

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

It is a 90-day screening process.

[Michel Simard]

It is 90 days, including the interview.

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

You said that the screening process is under review. But it is on the department's website. How long was it in place, and how long was it used before the review?

[Michel Simard]

It all started in 2004, when I basically inherited the responsibility of MAC. And where I was, basically, was that I had to fill the void. I had the additional responsibility of suggesting to the then-minister a process for pre-qualification, and again, all aspects of it, because I would like it to be a little bit like what my IRB counterpart is doing.

It has been a work in progress since 2004, and that work in progress is now under review.

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

Did all four appointees here today go through that screening process?

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

We have time for a brief answer, then we'll go to Ms. Grewal.

Judge Simard.