Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 9th, 2009

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Mr. Karygiannis, every time you interrupt a witness I'm going to interrupt you. This is your time. You let him finish.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

We're doing our best, Mr. Chairman, on all streams of immigration and in all source countries. I can report, for instance, that given recent developments in Sri Lanka, our department has added some additional temporary staff to help to accelerate processing times out of that mission in Colombo.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Minister, you're saying that you're going to spend something like $12.1 million on biometrics for temporary visitor programs. Will that be for everybody coming into the country, or for certain countries?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

The biometrics program will eventually roll out to include biometrics for people coming to Canada from all countries. It will be phased in starting in 2011, at which time I believe about 15% of visitors to Canada will be obtaining visas with biometric data. By 2013 we hope and anticipate that the coverage will be 100%. This will be bringing us up to the international standard. The United Kingdom already has 100% coverage, as does Australia, I believe, and other like-minded democracies are moving in the same direction to help ensure the safety and security of our citizens. Obviously there is increasingly sophisticated documentary fraud and counterfeit documents, and this is an important tool for dealing with that problem.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you, Minister and Mr. Karygiannis.

Mr. Calandra, you have five minutes.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, I also want to take a moment, because I haven't had a chance to congratulate you personally on being elected parliamentarian of the year. I suspect one of the reasons you were selected parliamentarian of the year by your colleagues on both sides of the House was the tremendous amount of work you do in actually responding. I know I've given you a number of notes in the House, and you have always been quick to respond. So congratulations and thank you.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Thank you.

I don't think Mr. Karygiannis voted for me, but it can never be unanimous.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

I wonder how many minister's visas you gave them, Minister, in order to get that.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Mr. Chair, last week was admittedly a very difficult week for me in the House. There was Bill C-302, which on the surface appeared to be a bill that talked about the redress to Italian Canadians for their being classified as enemy aliens by a Liberal government in World War II. I was so disappointed. I voted against this bill, and as I mentioned in my remarks, one of the reasons I voted against the bill was that I believe it sought to divide the Italian-Canadian community, not to bring it together. I don't believe it focused on all the good things Italian Canadians have accomplished in their time in Canada.

I noted in my speech that there were five Liberal administrations, and at no time was redress ever contemplated. And one of the things that really solidified my belief in Conservative ideology was after the then-Conservative Prime Minister in 1991, I believe, made that apology to Italian Canadians.

I wonder if you might comment on how our approach to this issue is different--and, I believe, superior.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Chairman, I'm looking forward to appearing before the heritage committee when it reviews Bill C-302 to discuss this at greater length.

Mr. Calandra is right that in November of 1990 Prime Minister Mulroney said, at an event of the National Congress of Italian Canadians:

On behalf of the government and people of Canada, I offer a full and unqualified apology for the wrongs done to our fellow Canadians of Italian origin during World War II.

In my capacity as Secretary of State for Multiculturalism, I was pleased to work with representatives of Italian-Canadian organizations in trying to find a resolution to their outstanding requests for some form of symbolic redress for the injustices done to Canadians of Italian origin during the Second World War with respect to internment, when I believe some 680 Canadians of Italian origin were interned for a certain period of time.

We discussed various possibilities for funding, commemorative projects within the context of the community and national historical recognition programs. I do recall their request was to have an endowment established. We had officials look at the possibility of that, and the platform the organizations were suggesting as the basis for an endowment didn't have a sufficient financial track record to qualify for endowment status, based on the terms and conditions the government has had in place for a very long time.

As an alternative, what we came up with was to offer $5 million of project funding, to be administered through the community historical recognition program, out of the multiculturalism program of our ministry. We have appointed a distinguished expert panel of three highly recognized Canadians of Italian descent to help review the applications that come in for commemorative educational and research projects. That's because what we want to do isn't to forever dwell on the sins of the past; we want to learn from them. We want to ensure they are not repeated.

That's why the program we've introduced is in a sense, yes, focused on the events as they happened, but also on teaching current and future generations. What motivated these events? How can we avoid these things happening in the future? I think it's a very sound approach, and I think it's one that the vast majority of people think strikes the right balance between acknowledgement and focusing on the future.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you.

Monsieur St-Cyr, I'm sorry. Somehow the order got out of whack. It's your turn now.

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I would simply like to conclude the discussion that we had on multiculturalism earlier today. You said that you didn't want to get too caught up in words, labels. Yet words are important for the immigrant and for the host society. The concepts we articulate with respect to the integration of newcomers have a value. This is so important that in a recent study on reasonable accommodation in Quebec, the Bouchard-Taylor Commission concluded that Canadian multiculturalism should not apply to Quebec. This opinion was shared by all those involved and was expressed in the majority of the briefs tabled before the Commission.

Lastly, you say to Quebeckers on the one hand that they can do what they want within their jurisdiction but that the federal government applies its legislation from one ocean to the other, regardless of any Quebec consensus.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

We offer the multiculturalism program to all Canadians. We don't make Quebeckers benefit from it. It is the community organizations in Quebec that choose to participate in this program. We impose nothing on Quebec nor on Quebeckers. The purpose of our program is to assist cultural communities, especially those that are experiencing difficulties and that are located in underprivileged areas.

In Quebec, we offer youth training about racism and we assist individuals in having their foreign credentials recognized. We take very concrete action. We're not asking Quebec to convert to the Canadian religion of diversity, we are not imposing a federalist ideology. On the contrary, our program is rather modest and is aimed at community organizations that wish to benefit from it.

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

Minister, several of those programs would probably be provided if those funds were transferred to the Government of Quebec. Everyone supports the fight against racism, but it could be done based on the Government of Quebec's perspective.

Parliament acknowledged that Quebeckers form a nation. It seems contradictory to me that Parliament would vote against Quebec having its own immigrant integration policy when that is such an integral part of building a nation.

I won't pursue this any further because I also want to talk to you about acknowledging credentials. The Bloc did not agree to establishing an office for approving credentials because that falls under Quebec's jurisdiction and the jurisdiction of the provinces. We believe that the 7 million supplementary dollars that are going to be provided this year would be much better invested if they were invested directly in the provinces that have the jurisdiction to approve credentials.

The Conservatives promised a more open federalism—which strikes me as being rather similar to that of the Liberals—in which the federal government would establish national standards and attempt to encroach on the jurisdiction of Quebec and the provinces. But it can't even do its own work right now with respect to admissions.

Would this money be better invested in the authorities that have the jurisdiction to approve credentials?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Chairman, Premier Charest said he supported a Canada-wide approach to credential recognition. We are working with all the provincial governments including Quebec. Some things happen at the federal level, including the advice that our department provides to newcomers, before they come to Canada, on how to apply for credential recognition. Our department can do some things in its foreign missions to assist newcomers before they come to Canada.

We are trying to create a more helpful space for individuals, whether that be in Quebec, Ontario or other provinces, and to establish a process for recognizing credentials that will be easier and healthier. Even if Quebec weren't part of Canada it would make eminent sense. The European Union has a framework for recognizing diplomas from all countries. It just makes sense.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

That's time. Thank you.

Ms. Wong is next.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

First of all, I'd like to thank the panel for coming over. You've given us a lot of information that clarifies some of the concerns our community and the other multicultural communities have.

This question is for the deputy minister. Your department has announced that in response to the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka, your Colombo visa mission is expediting immigration applications. This has led to protests outside the Colombo mission from Sri Lankans who are concerned that Canada is letting in more Tamil Tigers and isn't doing proper vetting and screening. In fact, a sign was put on the Colombo visa mission saying it was “LTTE HQ”.

What is your ministry doing to keep Tamil Tigers out of Canada?

[Richard Fadden]

First of all, we are insisting that all applications that have any possibility of involvement with the LTTE be referred for secondary review by either CBSA or by CSIS. Over the course of the last several months, we've made special arrangements with CSIS to have officers based in New Delhi travel to Sri Lanka to conduct secondary and in some cases tertiary interviews, third-level interviews.

We've also made it very clear that while we want to do everything we can to expedite the handling of files, the one aspect that can slow down these files is a security concern.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond, BC]

Thank you very much for your answer.

Just now we also mentioned some of the measures our government has taken regarding how we deal with past tragic events relating to certain communities. Just now the Italian community has been addressed. I would like the minister to comment further about the commemoration events relating to other communities. Examples might include Jewish, Ukrainian, South Asian, and Chinese communities.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

These particular projects are all encompassed within both the community historic and national historic recognition programs. As Mrs. Wong will be aware, we're quite advanced with respect to the redress project for the Chinese head tax and exclusion act. We all know about the Prime Minister's apology three years ago. In addition to that, outside the CHRP there were $20,000 ex gratia payments offered to surviving head tax payers and their surviving spouses. Also, we have launched a $5 million commemorative fund, overseen by an advisory board of eminent members of the Chinese-Canadian community, to help educate future generations about that experience.

Similarly, we have created, as I already mentioned, the $5 million education fund with respect to the internment of Canadians of Italian origin during the Second World War. We have worked out a special arrangement for all communities of people whose predecessors were affected by internment during the First World War. These are principally Canadians who were immigrants from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. They are from many different countries and are principally but not exclusively of Ukrainian origin. This arrangement is being implemented through the transfer of $10 million to an endowment fund operated by the Taras Shevchenko foundation through a special board that includes members of other affected communities, such as the Croatian and Serbian communities.

With respect to the Jewish experience, Jewish refugees were turned away from Canada or were not accepted by Canada before and during the Second World War, so we have set aside, within the context of CHRP, $2.5 million to better understand the experience of immigration restrictions with respect to Jewish refugees. We are most notably focused on the St. Louis incident in 1938. At this time there were over 800,000 European Jewish refugees, and this ship carrying European Jewish refugees was not permitted to enter Halifax harbour. In Toronto we recently sponsored a conference of leading scholars from around the world, and as I mentioned, there's a $1 million project being headed by B'nai Brith to help do research and educate future generations about this incident.

I apologize if I'm forgetting any other projects.

Oh, yes, there's one last one, the Komogatu Maru. We have set aside $2.5 million through the CHRP for educational projects in this respect. Then we'll shortly be announcing an advisory committee of eminent Canadians of Indian origin to assist us in disbursing those funds.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you, Mr. Minister.

Ms. Mendes, you have five minutes.

[Alexandra Mendes, Liberal, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Good morning, Minister. Thank you for coming today.

My first question is about the funds allocated under the supplementary estimates to a program whose purpose is to enhance driver's licences in order to provide easier access to the United States. Eight hundred and twenty thousand dollars has been allocated under the estimates to improving this program. Three provinces have already taken measures to improve their driver's licences, including Quebec.

I would like to know if the $820,000 includes transfers to Quebec, Ontario and Alberta, the three provinces that have already begun providing enhanced driver's licences. If not, why will there be no compensation for those provinces that have already taken the initiative in preparation for these changes?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Chairman, I thank the member for her question. In general, I'll say that the $820,000 being spent by Citizenship and Immigration Canada is not being given to the provinces to help them improve their driver's licences. However, we are working with the provinces that have adopted that policy, in order to assist them.

I'll ask my deputy minister to expand on this.

[Richard Fadden]

Thank you Mr. Chairman.

I would simply add that CIC is not the one taking the lead on this file. The department taking the lead is the Department of Public Safety. The funds being discussed here are only for the department. If my memory serves me well, the overall program did actually include federal funds to be transferred to the provinces but that was the responsibility of the Department of Public Safety.

[Alexandra Mendes, Liberal, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Thank you very much.

My other question is on the program for biometric systems. I would like you to explain what that means and how it will be done. The description seems rather general. What added value will that program acquire?