Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 17th, 2006

[Janet Siddall]

Perhaps I could address that a little bit, Mr. Telegdi. You have to understand the relationship between speeding up processing and increased landings. If I could wave my magic wand—since I'm responsible for delivering on some of these numbers—and say that everybody who is waiting in our skilled worker inventory, all 500,000 of them, won't have to wait for more than a year to get into Canada, that would be 400,000 more landings in Canada in one year. So instead of having 255,000, we're going to have 655,000.

What we're talking about is that balance between bringing people in and making sure they're successful. And that's done in consultation; the provinces certainly have a lot to say about how many people are coming into their provinces and cities. Of the funding to support those kinds of levels, only 15% is actually required for the processing abroad; the rest of it is required for our partners who do the security clearances, etc. But most of it goes to provinces and service providers who provide the settlement support, to the tune of about $5,000 per immigrant for settlement services and supports such as language training, housing, infrastructure, and all of the programs we spoke about.

So it's not as much about speeding it up as having to look at that balance between the plan, the numbers, and Canada's capacity to absorb immigrants. We want more successful immigrants; we don't want more immigrants that aren't being successful.

[Andrew Telegdi, Liberal, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

What you're telling me is that if I'm a skilled business worker, a skilled worker immigrant looking at places to go, the chances are I could go and pick Australia, given that we're in a competitive situation and their processing time is a lot faster.

But just to close this off, can you give me the actual time for parents and grandparents? You said it does not include processing time at the CPC.

[Daniel Jean]

The number, I think, is in the inventory. Right now, the parents' and grandparents' applications we're processing date back to May 2004. Those are the ones we're processing right now; the people who applied in May 2004 are the ones we are processing.

[Andrew Telegdi, Liberal, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

So you're talking about a further 24 months, or two more years?

[Daniel Jean]

Of course, we continue to receive more applications per year than are set in the level plans, so that's going to go up, unless—

[Andrew Telegdi, Liberal, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

So it would be good for the committee if we had the figure of five years, essentially. Is that what you're talking about--over five years, as 37 months plus 24 months is over five years?

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Thank you, Andrew

Madame Faille.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

I would like to ask you a few brief questions on some figures and statistics.

This issue was brought to my attention by people from Eastern Europe, and elsewhere. I would like to know from which countries you require claimants to fill out additional forms. I can point out Croatia as an example. Croatians are asked to fill out an additional form on war crimes. Aside from Croatian nationals, other nationals from this same region also have to fill out a similar type of form. Therefore, I would like to know when you last reviewed the necessity of imposing this form. You can simply send us this information.

Moreover, I find it appalling to ask everyone from the age of 21 to 65 to fill out this form. Given the period when the war took place, some of these applicants were only 7 or 8 years old. Is it appropriate to ask somebody who is 21 years old to fill out this form? It is appalling. I would like an explanation, because I get a lot of questions on this subject.

For each one of these countries, how many visas are requested? What is the acceptance rate? What are the reasons given when an application is refused? In our riding offices, we receive an increasing number of requests to intervene from people who come from certain countries. In some cases, some of the grounds for refusal are not necessarily justified. When we intervene in a case, we usually wind up resolving issues regarding suspicions. However, it is very time-consuming. I always mention this when you talk about the department's resources, because you forget about the 308 people who work in our riding offices. You appreciate what they do, and all the better. I hope the department will transfer part of its budget to us! I would like an answer in writing soon. You do not have to answer immediately.

We adopted certain guidelines concerning temporary workers. I know that Canada is a signatory of an international agreement on immigrants' rights. However, that agreement has not yet been ratified. Given the minister's announcements and interviews with different newspapers, it would seem that this path will be taken in the future.

What are the main obstacles to Canada's ratifying the agreement on immigrants' rights? Why are there delays? Nonetheless, Canada is a signatory, and several countries have already ratified it.

[Daniel Jean]

I am not sure that I understood your question, Madam Faille. If you are referring to the Convention on the Rights of Migrants, we have not signed it. Over the years, Canada has given its reasons for not ratifying that convention.

However, I believe that the minister's statements you are referring to allude to the work he is doing with his colleague from the Department of Human Resources and Social Development to make sure that our program does more to meet the needs of the labour market as well as other issues that have been raised earlier by this committee.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

There have been a few meetings with Mr. Fox in the past, and we have talked about increasing the number of agricultural workers, and therefore increasing the number of programs. Several countries are asking us if we are going to include them. We have not noticed any opposition, or people who do not want Canada to welcome agricultural workers, who are in fact temporary workers.

There is also the domestic worker program. This program is somewhat different, as it allows people to obtain permanent resident status after three years.

There are different classes of temporary workers. What does the department intend to do when they arrive? What rights will they have here?

[Daniel Jean]

The policy for agricultural workers and for seasonal workers is established by the Department of Human Resources and Social Development. As I mentioned earlier, there are programs which allow the agricultural sector to hire approximately 10,000 workers. I might add that those workers help meet the need for this type of labour.

There has also been, over the last number of years, a very high demand for what is called “semi-skilled” labour. The needs are more acute in this sector. There is a need in the meat industry and construction industry. The Department of Human Resources and Social Development has established a program for workers who are here for a limited time.

There are a few programs like this, but currently, the crying need for labour is more obvious in certain professions. There is a shortage of tradespersons, especially.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

I have a short question. I would like to know if you intend to...

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Well, that's six minutes.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

I have one minute from the last time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Okay. There will be one brief question, and then we'll have to go to Bill, because we need a couple of minutes' break in between.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Could there be the same type of conditions when people's permits are renewed several times, for example after three years? Could these people be granted permanent resident status so that their claim could be processed in Canada?

[Daniel Jean]

At the time, under the Live-in Caregiver Program, that was taken into consideration so that those people could stay until they obtained permanent residency.

Currently, for this type of worker, the Department of Human Resources and Social Development has a policy of keeping workers during the entire duration of their employment, because they work in seasonal industries.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Mr. Siksay.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Continuing on the temporary worker issue, I know the department was undertaking a consultation process, a study process, of the live-in caregiver program. Can you tell me the status of that study at the current time?

[Daniel Jean]

We had a process of about a year of consultations. It was the first time we had all the stakeholders in the same room. It was a forum in which we had all the various stakeholders in one room for discussions over about two days about improvements that could be brought to the program. A report on these consultations--a summary of what came out of these consultations--has come up. What we need to do now is examine the improvements we may wish to consider and bring them to the attention of the minister.

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

Is that an active process? Is there a timetable on it?

[Daniel Jean]

We have not attached a timetable to it, Mr. Siksay, because we were preoccupied with things that had been identified as higher priorities. We can't pull the work we did on in-Canada spouses and other social policy issues.

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

With regard to agricultural workers, does the department's interest end once they arrive in Canada? Who does inspections of the workplaces? There have been lots of reports of difficulties in workplaces for agricultural workers. There have been some recent ones in British Columbia. What is the department's responsibility once these folks arrive in Canada?

[Daniel Jean]

There are processes in place between the human resources and skills development department, the provinces, the employers, and the unions, who are involved as well, to make sure there is someone there to ensure that if people are in difficult situations, they can raise their hands and be helped. There will never be a perfect situation, but there certainly are mechanisms in place to try to help people if they fall into a vulnerable situation.