Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 8th, 2011

[Malcolm Allen, NDP, Welland, ON]

I see you nodding your head, Mr. Kurland. From your experience, do we have the potential of losing some of the best and the brightest who want to come here because of this situation? Families don't always reunite—and mine's a prime example. We never had anyone come to reunite with us. There is that split.

Would we lose some of the folks we want to come here, folks who would become some of our leaders in our society, if the family-class reunion was unable to be established in a reasonable time? Obviously it can't be immediate, but it has to be reasonable.

[Richard Kurland]

Absolutely. That's the experience of several countries, not just Canada. If you want the brightest and best to build a strong country, you have to put the family at the front of the line, and you can't cherry-pick. A human being comes with family values, including a family unit, and the economics are crystal clear. When you bring in parents, you free up one of the Canadian spouses to enter the workforce, pay taxes, and do the child care duties.

It is a key concern for the brightest and best globally to know that their parents can come, not in ten years. Five years is normal. We got into the situation exactly because Immigration Canada hid the stats.

It's as predictable as rain that there are going to be 20,000 parents or grandparents applying to come to this country every year. When you lowball the quota, you inevitably build up an inventory. The way out today—and I canvassed external stakeholders—is to have parents who want to come here pony up the cost of entering medicare up front, lump sum. The families are willing to finance 15 years of premiums, lump sum, paid in advance. So there's a way to reduce the numbers and alleviate the tragedy of keeping parents in a position where they're going to see a coffin before they see a visa.

[Malcolm Allen, NDP, Welland, ON]

Mr. Kurland, you talked earlier about the investor class and the continual raising of that fee. Do you see any ceiling to that fee, or do you simply see that as an incremental raise until, as you described it, the pipe's no longer clogged?

[Richard Kurland]

The investment in Canada, the foreign capital entering this country, is the measure. Right now it's $800,000 cash that's given up front to a Canadian financial institution and then passed through to the governments. That level of investment should continue to be raised. At the same time, if it turns out processing times are too fast, lower the investment to attract more intake. It's double-edged, and you have to jig it annually to signal to the marketplace whether we have enough or we need more. It's that simple.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Mrs. Grewal.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My question is to Mr. Kurland as well as Sponsor our Parents. Last week, officials from Hong Kong, Taipei, and Nairobi discussed the challenges their missions experience and the impact these challenges have on application processing times. The main challenge appeared to be fraud, specifically the integrity of the documents. In order to tackle this issue, the missions increased their interview rates, site visits, and documentation verification.

These strategies use a high level of mission resources while negatively affecting processing times. How do you suggest the missions should address this serious problem?

[Felix Zhang]

Thank you for the question.

We are aware that many countries are having challenges in verifying application documentation. The current challenge for us is mostly the wait time.The file has not even been opened, and once the file is opened, it will probably take 12 months to finalize. Our challenge is that the file will be sitting on the shelf for four, five, or even ten years before it can be opened.

We believe the real processing time to process a file is reasonable to us, but it is the waiting time for the file to be opened that is not practical. As Mr. Kurland said, right now there is no prediction about how long it's going to take. Our best guesstimate is that it is about 10 to 15 years, based on the current inventory and any quotas.

[Richard Kurland]

It's an excellent question, and there is a potential solution. For example, in Surrey, British Columbia, what's absent is a Canada Border Services Agency vouch-for unit.

What can be done is to have a CBSA person on the ground in Vancouver who is capable of receiving a vouch-for form—for example, marriage, funeral, that sort of thing. The family applies to the CBSA officer, explaining the situation. The CBSA officer contacts the religious institution, vouches for the existence of that religious event, for example, and e-mails the visa post overseas that they have verified the event. The visa officer, in reliance of that, can then apply the usual enforcement factors to determine whether or not to issue a TRV, a temporary resident visa.

This comes from the visa officers themselves, from overseas. The reason they have problems is they do not have the resources and the time to check whether there really is a marriage, a funeral. That missing link of time and resources to vouch for is a cure. It would alleviate the strain on the overseas post.

It's a novel solution that can do a lot of good for a lot of people.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Mr. Chair, I'll pass the rest of my time to Mr. Uppal.

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

Thank you very much.

I'll continue with Sponsor our Parents. Thank you for coming.

You suggested that the Government of Canada should increase the parent and grandparent intake levels. As you know, the levels themselves are set, and for various reasons only a certain number of people can come through in a given category.

In order to bring in more parents and grandparents, should we be cutting the number of spouses? From the people I talk to, spouses and dependent children are definitely a priority. In order to bring in parents and grandparents, is it the number of spouses who should be cut?

[Felix Zhang]

It's a very tough question for us to answer. In comparing, spouses and parents in different cultures have different priorities. In Canadian values we believe parents are closer to their children, and the spouses are as well.

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

It does become a very difficult decision to make: do you cut spouses in favour of more parents?

I agree with you that it's important for children to be able to see their parents and grandparents, especially in their ailing years when they're not feeling well.

Is there anything stopping Canadians from visiting their parents or grandparents in other countries? I know thousands of Canadians go every year, whether it's to India, China, the Philippines, to visit their families. Is there anything stopping them from visiting parents who may have filled in their applications and are waiting to be sponsored?

[Felix Zhang]

Obviously parents can't come to Canada to visit our sponsors. Our sponsors can go home to visit their parents, but the problem is we all have jobs to do. We are working families and we cannot stay with our parents for a long time.

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

You're right, but there is time during Christmas and summer holidays when people do that. But I agree, I think it's important to visit your parents.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you, Mr. Uppal.

Unfortunately, our time has expired.

Mr. Kurland, I want to apologize again for the technical problems we've had, but we appreciate Lexbase appearing before us this morning, as well as Sponsor our Parents.

We thank both groups, in Toronto and in Vancouver. Thank you very much.

We will suspend.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

We will continue with our study of wait times.

Just to advise the committee, this meeting will end at 10:35. Then we will go in camera to have some committee business.

Mr. Leckey, you will have up to seven minutes to make a presentation, and each caucus will have up to five minutes to ask questions or make a statement.

We have with us this morning representatives from the Canada Border Services Agency: Geoffrey Leckey, who is the director general, intelligence and targeting operations, and Arianne Reza, who is the director general of international operations. Welcome to both of you.

Mr. Leckey, you are making the presentation. Thank you, sir, for coming.

[Geoffrey Leckey, Director General, Intelligence and Targeting Operations, Canada Border Services Agency]

I am. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you to the committee for the opportunity to be here today.

My name is Geoff Leckey. I'm the director general of the intelligence and targeting operations directorate at the Canada Border Services Agency. I'm accompanied today by my colleague Arianne Reza, director general of international operations.

As this committee is aware, the CBSA is mandated to provide integrated border services that support national security and safety priorities while facilitating the free flow of legitimate persons and goods.

This responsibility is complex and wide-ranging. Our border services officers are designated peace officers, primarily enforcing customs and immigration-related legislation, in particular the Customs Act, and the Immigration and Refugees Protection Act, the IRPA, as well as over 90 other acts of Parliament.

Since 2003 the CBSA has played a key role in immigration to Canada, as it has assumed the port of entry and enforcement mandates formerly held by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

The agency works closely with its partners at Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Immigration and Refugee Board to administer and enforce the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, IRPA, with the objective of ensuring that persons receive their due process under the law and that the Government of Canada's immigration priorities are met.

CBSA officers work on the front lines, screening persons entering the country and removing those who are unlawfully in Canada. The agency also has a network of officers stationed overseas to protect Canada's borders and the integrity of the Canadian immigration system by working to effectively screen travellers at the earliest opportunity and intercepting inadmissible persons as far from Canadian territory as possible.

As the agency's work pertains to the study on immigration application processing wait times that's being undertaken by this committee, I would like to clarify where the agency fits in the immigration process.

Integrated border services means that the agency must balance the facilitation of travellers and goods at the border while safeguarding the country's safety and security priorities.

The CBSA's role is very specific. We're responsible under IRPA to admit individuals into Canada who meet the requirements under the law, to refer refugee claims made at ports of entry to the Immigration and Refugee Board, to detain people who pose a security risk or a danger to the public, and to remove people who are inadmissible to Canada once they have exhausted all legal avenues available to them and a removal order is in effect.

In order to make admissibility determinations, the agency relies on its intelligence and information gathering to support the screening process, and to help in identifying individuals who may be involved in such activities as terrorism, espionage, war crimes, crimes against humanity, organized criminality, trafficking in persons, and money laundering.

The responsibility for processing immigration cases rests with CIC, Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Where CIC feels that an application may be of interest or concern based on security indicators, it is referred to the CBSA for a more detailed review. Once it is received, the agency is able to make recommendations based on its security assessments to CIC, with which the decision to accept or refuse a case rests.

The overarching goal is to ensure that persons who are authorized to enter Canada can do so, and to ensure that inadmissible persons who pose a threat to the security of Canada are not granted entry or are removed as expeditiously as possible.

As mentioned, the CBSA also maintains a network of migration integrity officers to support its work abroad. Currently, the agency has 57 MIOs in 47 key locations around the globe.

MIOs work closely with other Canadian government departments, foreign mission representatives, airlines, and host country officials. They're involved in a range of activities including interdiction, airline liaison, anti-fraud, intelligence gathering, training, and removals.

In performing their duties, officers are in regular contact with CIC program managers, visa officers, and consular staff. MIOs also work closely with airlines to ensure documentary requirements for travellers are satisfied. This results in reduced costs for airlines, which are responsible for the return of inadmissible persons, and alleviates potential pressures on the Canadian refugee system.

The MIO program, Migration Integrity Officers program, is successful from both a risk mitigation and service perspective. There are approximately 20 million passengers arriving in Canada each year. On an annual basis, MIOs intercept approximately 5,000 improperly documented individuals, while at the same time facilitating 3,000 legitimate travellers, the majority of whom are Canadians returning home.

Internationally, the CBSA's MIO network is looked to as a leader, with other countries, such as the Netherlands, modelling their own networks on the Canadian model.

I'd like to conclude by highlighting the relationship between CIC and the CBSA. In order to achieve the objectives of Canada's immigration system, CIC and the CBSA are committed to working together to provide a seamless continuum of service in the delivery of our programs to Canadians, newcomers, and visitors.

I would like to thank you again for the opportunity to tell you more about the agency. My colleagues and I look forward to answering any questions you may have.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

That was perfect timing, Mr. Leckey. Thank you very much.

Mr. Trudeau has up to five minutes.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you very much, Mr. Leckey, for being here. The CBSA has an extremely important role, and it's always wonderful to see how hard and diligently you are working at it.

I'd like to first ask about the budget for the CBSA. Has it increased recently, or has it remained more or less stable?

[Geoffrey Leckey]

I don't think a lot of government departments have had major increases in their budgets recently, given the current context. I'm not the comptroller or the expert on that, but to the best of my knowledge our budget has remained relatively stable over the last couple of years.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

I remember seeing an announcement by the government that 100 new CBSA agents were to be hired, and there was a new budget for that. Did that actually happen?

[Geoffrey Leckey]

I think you're referring to the refugee reform funding. We got a major addition to our budget under refugee reform. I think the bulk of those 100 are going to be inland enforcement officers, whose job is to speed up the removal of persons who are not authorized to remain in Canada.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Okay, so they're not actually in service yet?

[Geoffrey Leckey]

Those 100 are not in service yet.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

How long does it take from the time you receive funding to train a standard officer?