Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 3rd, 2011

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Do you find, in your experience, that they learn from some of the cases that get sent back to them because the appeal has been successful? Then maybe their practice or their format... Maybe they would do more field interviews and therefore have fewer problems and less backlog. Do you find that?

[Deanna Okun-Nachoff]

I don't think I could say that I've seen a real change.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

On the medical inadmissibility issue, your suggestion is that since they've been approved to come to Canada, and while they're waiting to come or the sponsorship application is being processed three years later, during that period--since they have already been approved to come to Canada and are arriving in Canada already, you don't need to....

They don't have germs, because they're clean, so to speak, or are cleared when they arrive in Canada. Do we now still ask them to do another medical, even though they're already in Canada and have a visitor visa? Do we still ask them for a medical clearance?

[Deanna Okun-Nachoff]

Absolutely.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Why?

[Deanna Okun-Nachoff]

I suppose it's because new issues could have arisen during that time period.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

But that person is already in Canada.

[Deanna Okun-Nachoff]

Yes.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

I see.

[Chantal Arsenault]

At this point, what we're suggesting is that we ask for a medical exam right from the start. That is not currently the case; it's not mandatory for everybody to have a medical exam to obtain a visitor record to come here. What we're saying is to get the visitor record under those criteria that we're suggesting, saying that we have verified a number of things and that as of today you don't have a medical issue and that your sponsor can actually pay for your stay here, and then later not revisit that.

The reason for what happens now is that we don't ask for the medical up front. The person could be here for six years, back and forth, and then a medical issue could arise after that long period of time, at which point they are denied.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

So you're saying that since they are receiving a visitor visa, a temporary visa, to come to Canada anyway, we should have them do the examination and get it done; then you don't have to do it back and forth and just waste time. That's what your suggestion is.

[Chantal Arsenault]

Then they're not penalized for waiting six years and having their health status change over that long period of time.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you.

I'm sorry, but your time has expired, Ms. Chow.

Go ahead, Mr. Uppal.

[Tim Uppal, Conservative, Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you all for coming.

I want to touch on something Ms. Chow was talking about: having parents or grandparents for whom the application is in process. The process takes a number of years, and so they would be able to come to visit their children or grandchildren here in Canada.

I agree with you in principle. It would be nice for them to come and visit with their children.

In my office, we've dealt with a couple of situations in which these people sometimes are older and their health situation can change in weeks or months. If they're on a three-month or six-month visa, their health situation can deteriorate.

You mentioned getting health insurance, and we've looked into situations involving health insurance. Sometimes with health insurance, it's the lawyer's job, or somebody's job, to make sure that what somebody thought was covered is in fact fully covered. It may not be completely comprehensive, or health insurance can actually be cancelled, many times, if you're here and you're not expecting any health problems.

We have dealt with a few cases of families in which the mother has had some health concerns and has gone to a hospital; they now owe $30,000 or $40,000 to the hospital, or to the Alberta or Ontario health system, and they don't want to pay, because it's difficult for them to pay this much money.

Do you have a suggestion for something like that? If we're going to give visas for parents to come, which I agree would be nice, there is this problem, this concern, about quickly changing health situations.

[Chantal Arsenault]

I think that what we're suggesting would answer your concern, mainly because right now it is not a requirement for people to have health insurance when they come to Canada as a parent or grandparent just to visit their children or grandchildren.

[Tim Uppal, Conservative, Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB]

Health insurance that is available, from my understanding, sometimes is refused because they will say it was a pre-existing condition. There are other ways for health insurers to get out of paying. Also, health insurance can be cancelled.

[Chantal Arsenault]

I do understand that, and maybe we should get an insurance company to come and have that discussion at this point. I think that if you at least have a larger portion of people covered by insurance, it is likely that fewer issues would arise. That's why we're looking at that period when they're not covered by local insurance.

[Tim Uppal, Conservative, Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB]

I want to ask you to expand on something. You commended the government for a pilot project for processing the applications, those IAD appeals, at national headquarters. Could you expand on that and what the benefits would be?

[Deanna Okun-Nachoff]

I think part of the issue that arises when they go back for redetermination at the visa office is actually transporting the physical file from the IAD back to the visa office. Sometimes there is a determination made at the visa office that another interview is required.

Again there are these delays if renewed police clearances or renewed medicals are required. All of these things really increase the processing delays that are experienced when a redetermination decision is made. We're looking for ways to streamline that. We think that centralizing the decision-making in Canada would be beneficial.

[Tim Uppal, Conservative, Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB]

I can share my time with Mr. Shory.

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Thank you.

Let me go back to the medical insurance health coverage. I have seen in my riding quite a few people who have insurance for up to $50,000, for example. It sometimes happens that the treatment is more costly than that. In that case, the sponsor goes into default. Once the sponsor is in default, it will affect his sponsorship as well. We need more clarification on this coverage issue and how we should handle it.

Of course, we all love our parents and grandparents to visit our families. Maybe you're going to give it a thought. In the meantime, I have another question on the same FC4.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Why don't we just stick to that question? You've got 30 seconds.

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

That is why I wanted to put other questions.

[Chantal Arsenault]

In terms of the first question, we are willing to have a look at it and continue reflecting on that issue, but there's not much more that we can bring to the table right now.

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Thank you.

Could I have another quick comment? You mentioned making both parents principal applicants. I have come across some cases in which both parents unfortunately passed away during this time. In that scenario, does CBA have any recommendations with regard to dependents in the meantime who are older than 22 years of age but are still dependent in the legal sense?