Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 30th, 2010

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

I am talking about security, fraud and those types of things.

[Claudette Deschênes]

We still have a number of challenges with regard to clients who try to submit fraudulent documents.

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Is the staff faring well?

[Claudette Deschênes]

Yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you.

Monsieur St-Cyr.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to better understand the consequences of an increase in the number of applications. Obviously, the processing time is lengthier, but at the same time there are more resources because applicants have to pay to have their cases examined.

Whether for the family reunification or investor immigration categories, I would like to know if, on average, the amounts paid by those applicants cover the costs of processing their files.

[Claudette Deschênes]

In terms of cost recovery, the amount is set to cover the costs of the department and partners to process an average application.

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

Very well. I may therefore presume that, if the number of applications was to increase significantly in a region, there would be enough financial resources to deal with that. The funds might not be raised in the region, but the department would make them available to eventually hire new employees or obtain other resources.

[Claudette Deschênes]

The funds are not available within the department. The request, therefore, is sent to the government's revolving fund, within the Department of Finance.

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

In other words, you have a funding envelope that comes directly from the department, but not all revenues collected are returned to you. They return to the fund, and it is up to the government to allocate them as it so pleases. But in terms of cost recovery for taxpayers, the impact is basically neutral. An increased number of applications does not amount to an additional financial burden for taxpayers.

I have often reflected on the issue of wait times and, unfortunately, it is often my impression that, as regards immigration, but in other sectors as well, they are not only a consequence of a lack of resources, but also, to a certain extent, of the way inventories of applications are managed. For example, if we take the overall quota of 240,000 applicants a year, if my memory serves me correctly, and reduce the wait times to under 12 months across the board, we would completely shatter the 240,000 figure, because the only way we can actually affect the number of applications is by using the resources that are made available. Is that correct?

[Claudette Deschênes]

I believe that it is very important for people to realize that the number we say will be processed each year and which is tabled in Parliament, is the number we want to achieve. In a certain sense, it is true that we do not want to exceed that number because it is based on the money that is available to help those people settle in Canada.

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

If we are to keep the same quota, with the same objective and criteria, there is no point in speeding up the processing times indefinitely because, in any event, if we were to do that, we would exceed the quota.

[Claudette Deschênes]

Did you want to explain the levels?

[Heidi Smith, Director, Permanent Resident Policy and Programs, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

As Madame Deschênes was saying, the levels are set each year. They're based partially on inventory and they're based on consultations with the provinces and other stakeholders. They're based on what we're resourced to do, and they also have to include some kind of absorptive capacity and settlement funding. So it's not a simple--

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

I understand where you're getting at. I am not asking you to make a policy statement on the levels or resources, I simply want to check something with you. If Parliament were to allocate more resources to process all applications within six months and keep the same criteria, we would completely exceed the quotas.

[Claudette Deschênes]

Yes, and that is one of the reasons why we are very satisfied with the minister's guidelines and the decisional leeway within the new system, which allows us to reject some applications and not have to process them.

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

Right. Just as there is no official regional quota, when Parliament determined the number of people that can enter the country each year, it did not determine how many would come from Africa, Asia, etc. In fact, it is accurate to say that the allocation of resources to the various missions will mean that more or fewer people will be able to come in from the different regions.

[Claudette Deschênes]

The operational figure is determined by operations and takes into consideration not only immigration but also temporary movement. This also takes officers into account, as well as the space we have in our missions.

Now, if we displace one resource from one office to another, we also try to look, long term, at how many people will come. For example, at one time, operations in India grew because we were looking for people who had IT skills.

We try to determine where to send our officers, not just now, since we try to anticipate how the labour market demand will change, and we also take temporary workers and students into account.

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

Ultimately, the waiting time depends on the management choices that are made, meaning which areas will get priority for immigration and those that are given less priority.

[Claudette Deschênes]

No, rather it is based on the location of our resources. We try to have resources throughout the world. For example, people might ask why do we have resources in Buenos Aires? Perhaps it is not effective to have that. However, our strategy ensures that we have international immigration. There are small offices that are not as efficient as an office where we can achieve economies of scale.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Merci.

Ms. Chow.

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

On the same point, I know you have targets for the visa offices--right?

[Claudette Deschênes]

We have operational levels.

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

Absolutely, and they're public.

[Claudette Deschênes]

Yes.