Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Dec. 13th, 2010

[Rénald Gilbert]

That is correct. Chinese authorities require that at least one parent remain in the country to complete the process. In some countries, that is not necessary, while in others, they insist that the parents to live there for a few months or even a few years in some cases.

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

I am not talking about Chinese requirements, but rather what Canada requires. Even if the parent goes there to complete the process, he or she cannot return to Canada with the Chinese child if that child does not have Canadian citizenship. Or the parent could return—

[Rénald Gilbert]

Either citizenship or permanent residence is needed, one or the other.

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

So it would be permanent residence, first.

[Rénald Gilbert]

Let's say that the adoption took place last week and the parent goes to the embassy today to apply. First of all, the child must have a passport. It takes a two-part process to get a passport. First of all, they must apply for a Canadian passport. Second, the Chinese government will not allow a child to leave on a foreign passport. In this case, even if the child is Canadian, he or she must travel on a Chinese passport. So the parents must apply for a Chinese passport. After applying for it, it takes a least a few days to get a passport in China, where the process is very strictly controlled. That is not the case everywhere, however.

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

If the parents decide to follow the traditional route, through naturalization, they will apply for permanent residence status for the child, and they could immediately bring the child back without waiting for the citizenship to come through.

[Rénald Gilbert]

They must apply for permanent residence status. This will be assessed based on the same criteria as for citizenship. Anyone who wishes to immigrate to Canada must satisfy one additional criterion: a medical exam. Otherwise, the same criteria apply. Thus, two people who apply at the same time will arrive at more or less the same time.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you.

Go ahead, Mr. Young.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

With regard to adoption requirements, your presentation says that the adoption must conform to the laws of the province or country where the adoptive parents live.

Can you give me an example, obviously without mentioning any names, in which an adoption might be proposed and wouldn't comply with the laws of the country?

[Rénald Gilbert]

I'm not sure I can give an example, because normally the country's own law would determine, first of all, whether parents from abroad can adopt. Some countries don't allow it. Then, once this is done, there is a different type of requirement. Residency is one of them, for instance: do the parents live in the country or not? Are they within a certain age group? There are a number of variants, and from one country to another the situation might differ considerably. Some countries ask for the parents to live three years in the country before they can adopt, so very few Canadians adopt there.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

What are the age requirements, by the way, for adoption—the maximum age, for example?

[Rénald Gilbert]

For citizenship it's 18 years old, and for immigration it's the definition of “dependent”, for which 22 is the minimum. If the child is still studying, it can go longer than that.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

So if a 50-year-old man wanted to adopt a 21-year-old young woman, it would be stopped because there must be a genuine parent-child relationship. How is that examined?

[Rénald Gilbert]

Whatever country it was would examine it first. After that, CIC would look at it to see whether there is a genuine parent-child relationship or whether it's an adoption of convenience.

Without knowing the details of the specific case, I wouldn't bet on the person coming to Canada.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

I saw a presentation recently on human trafficking in children from Bangkok, and it occurred to me that there are people who will do anything for money. How big an issue is the trafficking of children in proposed adoptions into Canada?

[Rénald Gilbert]

It is a concern in a number of places. We have to look at every individual application with that concern in mind.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Do you have any idea how many have been turned away because that was the assumption?

[Rénald Gilbert]

I am not sure. We could provide the number of cases that were refused, but it's not necessarily for trafficking. In many of the cases it would be because we consider it's an adoption of convenience.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Can you give me an example in which the officials might determine that the adoption was just for the purpose of acquiring Canadian immigration or citizenship status?

[Rénald Gilbert]

That could be a situation in which, for instance, when we interview the applicant--who is, let's say, 15 years old--we find that the child doesn't know that he or she is being adopted. When we interview the biological parents, they don't know. They know their kid is going to live with their uncle in Canada, but they don't know the details of what happened. That would be a typical case.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

How do you communicate to prospective adoptive parents the impact of going the direct citizenship route versus the immigration route? You said you were improving your website. You hear a lot around Ottawa about ministries improving their websites and stuff, but how does it actually work in practice right now?

[Rénald Gilbert]

The vast majority of adoptions are taking place through adoption agencies. They are very familiar with the details of the requirements on both sides, because it's their bread and butter.

It's more difficult when it's individual parents. An example might be a private adoption through an aunt who is a nun in some country and works in an orphanage, or that type of thing. In this case it would be largely through our website or when we interview one of the individuals, such as the relative who helps with the adoption.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

So it's done by an official by way of an interview.

[Rénald Gilbert]

There is not always an interview. It depends largely on whether there is any type of concern.

With regard to parents, sometimes it's not an interview per se; it's more to see whether all the information is entered correctly or not. In the case of China, with which I'm more familiar, we would spend, let's say, the morning with a group of parents reviewing all the applications and making sure all the paperwork is fine. It's not an interview per se, but it's an opportunity to provide information.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you, Mr. Young.

Are there other questions?

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