Good afternoon, Ms. Fraser. It is always a pleasure to have you here with us. I would have liked to see you last year so that I could elucidate a number of things.
You say that the Act has been implemented in full. I believe that is not quite correct. The Department in conjunction with the IRB, has established a plan and is conducting studies to implement an appeal structure for refugees, but this never came about. It is an issue you could look at, because the legislation is the legislation, even for the government. In my view, delaying the establishment of the appeal structure by six years is too much. I am waiting for your recommendations on this.
In managing a department as large as Citizenship and Immigration Canada, people work with data that reflect reality as closely as possible. The problem — there was a writ of mandamus regarding this matter several years ago — is that the figures as presented do not exactly reflect the situation in operations abroad, at the Mississauga centre or in Vegreville. The 2003 and 2000 reports seem to express that concern. During a future meeting, I would like you to provide us with an outline of your concerns on this matter.
In the work I have done recently, I have come to understand that in achieving targets we were including people who had withdrawn. People who withdraw their applications are counted in the figures when we try to determine whether targets have been reached. We include withdrawn applications when compiling figures for the business class and skilled-workers class, as well as applications for landed-immigrant status. So someone who withdraws his or her application still contributes to the Department's success.
For applications by skilled workers, we include dependents in the statistics. So these statistics do not necessarily reflect the real number of skilled workers entering Canada. It is very difficult to determine whether there are needs in the construction sector by looking at the labour statistics, for example. So what do we do? What is the real picture?
I would also like to talk about Immigration Canada's sites. We use historical data when preparing statistics on backlog, but we don't mention targets. We do not tell people how long it will take to process their applications. That concerns me. If some people had known how long it would take to process their applications, they might never have applied for immigration to Canada and would have applied elsewhere instead. This way, they have been had. They realize that processing their application might take a very long time.
This is an issue I raise regularly at this committee because I find it troubling. We have a backlog in a number of classes, including parents and grandparents. This is something you should look at.
The other issue that concerns me are the ongoing infringements of the Financial Administration Act. A number of class action suits are before the courts. I would like you to audit the resources allocated to opening files that are currently at the Mississauga centre and in foreign offices, particularly those pertaining to the parents and grandparents classes, but also those pertaining to other immigrant classes.
I did not really have a specific question. Your reports always contain information that is relevant today. As you say, your observations must be brought up to date. The annual report we receive shows that a profit is made. I find it disturbing that the Department makes a profit.
When we see the fees required by the department, and when we see what it costs to process an application, it looks like the department always generates a profit. I would like to know where that money goes.
Lastly, I would like you to explain the issue of the appeal structure. What has the department done? Is it true that this flows from a policy decision? What is the Immigration and Refugee Board currently doing about the appeal structure? A number of people are being prejudiced by the way in which the department and the IRB supervise their employees to ensure that decisions are uniform. How do they ensure that the best decisions are actually arrived at? I would like you to tell me something about the way in which the department ensures that selection decisions and IRB decisions are appropriate.