Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Dec. 1st, 2011

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Good morning, everyone.

This is the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, meeting number 13, on Thursday, December 1, 2011, and today we are televised. The orders of the day, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), are that we will have a briefing on the provincial nominee program.

We have three guests with us today from the Department of Citizenship and Immigration. Mr. Manicom is the director general of the immigration branch.

I seem to recall you on a televised program. I can't remember what it was for, but I remember you.

We also have Natasha Parriag, who is the acting director of intergovernmental relations.

This is your first time here?

[Natasha Parriag, Acting Director, Intergovernmental Relations, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

Yes, it is, with pleasure.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

It's a piece of cake, this committee. You'll have no trouble with us.

[Natasha Parriag]

That's what everyone said.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Yes, it's just a very relaxing place.

We also have Sharon Chomyn, director general of the international region, who of course was here when we had the missions.

Welcome to the committee.

Mr. Manicom and Ms. Parriag, I understand you are jointly making a presentation. You have the floor. Thank you for coming.

[David Manicom, Director General, Immigration Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today about the provincial nominee program, and more specifically about how the program has developed in recent years.

Immigration is a shared responsibility and provincial and territorial governments are primary partners of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Our shared goal is to make immigration programs responsive to the unique economic, demographic and labour market needs of each province and territory.

Introduced in 1998, the Provincial Nominee Program is one tool to encourage the spread of immigration through the country while providing provinces and territories with a mechanism to meet their specific economic development needs.

Each province and territory is responsible for the design and management of its Provincial Nominee Program. Provinces and territories establish the nomination criteria for their programs, including requirements and policies relating to business investments. These criteria must respect the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, and bilateral immigration agreements. Applicants are nominated on their ability to become economically established and on their intention to settle in the nominating jurisdiction.

Roles and responsibilities for the Provincial Nominee Program are defined through bilateral agreements between CIC and provincial and territorial governments. All provinces and territories, with the exception of Quebec and Nunavut, have Provincial Nominee Program agreements.

After being nominated by a province or a territory, applicants must make a separate application to CIC for permanent residence. A CIC officer will then assess the application based on Canadian immigration regulations. The visa officer must be satisfied that the nominee has the ability to become economically established in the nominating province. In the case of nominees under a business stream, they must also demonstrate that they will be actively engaged in the day-to-day management of the business.

Passive investment, or the provision of capital in a business or organization without active involvement in its management, is prohibited in Provincial Nominee Programs by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.

Lastly, CIC is also responsible for ensuring that applicants are not inadmissible on medical, security and criminality grounds.

In just over 10 years the provincial nominee program has grown from being a niche program to becoming a key component of provincial and territorial demographic and economic strategies, increasing sixfold since 2004. Provincial nominee programs had over 36,000 admissions last year. Almost one out of every five economic class admissions is now a provincial nominee. In 2010 the provincial nominee program represented the primary source of economic immigration for several provinces, such as Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Yukon, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

In addition to growing in size, Mr. Chair, provincial nominee programs have also become increasingly complex in scope, now accounting for over 50 provincial and territorial subcategories, each with its own nomination criteria.

The 2011 levels plan established an admission range for provincial nominees of 42,000 to 45,000, making the provincial nominee program the second-largest source of economic immigration to Canada, after the federal skilled worker program. This range is being maintained for 2012. From these numbers, it's evident that the provincial nominee program is a very significant source of economic immigration for Canada.

Eighty per cent of provincial nominee cases are processed by CIC in 14 months or less. This time does not include processing times for provincial or territorial candidate processes. Under ministerial instructions, new federal skilled worker files are now processed in about 12 months. At the federal level, the approval rate for provincial nominees is 97%.

In addition, the provincial nominee program has helped spread the benefits of immigration across Canada by promoting immigration to areas that were not traditional immigrant destinations. Twenty-six per cent of economic immigrants are now destined for locations outside Ontario, B.C., and Quebec, compared with only 11% in 1997.

About 55% of applicants nominated by provinces and territories in 2010 either had a job offer or indeed were already working in Canada as temporary foreign workers. As well, in recent years there has been an increase in semi- and low-skilled provincial nominees, who now account for over one quarter of all admissions.

Although the provincial nominee program has had proven successes, there remain outstanding concerns that CIC is committed to addressing.

Four provincial audit reports, from 2008 to 2010, from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick have highlighted a number of significant program integrity concerns. Among them were concerns regarding the absence of information on retention in the nominating province and the lack of adequate monitoring of nominees after landing, particularly for individuals who were nominated based on intent to establish businesses. The reports also noted that performance management and evaluation measures were not adequate.

Similar to the findings of provincial reports, the 2009 federal Auditor General report pointed out that although provinces and territories are required to conduct due diligence to ensure applicants have the ability to economically establish, CIC is unable to assess the extent to which provinces and territories have carried this out. The report recommended that CIC work with provinces and territories to put quality assurance mechanisms in place in order to ensure that nomination decisions are consistent and compliant with the act, regulations, and provincial nominee program criteria.

In the fall of 2010 CIC launched a national evaluation of the nominee program to assess its performance, with a focus on economic outcomes and mobility of provincial nominees. We expect the results to be published in early 2012, and we will work with provincial and territorial governments to implement recommendations flowing out of the evaluation.

In the interim, CIC is addressing issues arising out of the auditors' general reports both bilaterally, through an ongoing review of agreements, and multilaterally. In terms of multilateral work, CIC is working with provinces and territories to improve program design, management and accountability, and integrity. We are also working together to conduct a comprehensive review of economic immigration programs and to identify areas of overlap. These initiatives will lead to stronger economic benefits and a better response to labour market needs.

I will now give the floor to my colleague Natasha Parriag, Acting Director of Intergovernmental Relations; she will speak to you in detail about collaboration with the provinces and territories.

[Natasha Parriag]

Merci, David.

Good morning again, Mr. Chair.

Jurisdictions across Canada have recognized the significance of increased federal-provincial-territorial collaboration and partnership in immigration. In June 2010 federal, provincial, and territorial ministers agreed that the future of immigration would embrace welcoming and supporting newcomers to join in building inclusive, diverse, and welcoming communities and a prosperous Canada.

This discussion recognizes the increased involvement of provinces and territories in jointly managing the immigration system, as well as Quebec's responsibilities under the Canada-Quebec Accord.

CIC is working with the provinces and territories on several fronts. For example, the development of a multi-year levels planning process. Multi-year levels planning sets the stage for transforming the immigration system so that it is focused on the economic role of immigration and supported by a common evidence base while remaining responsive and flexible.

CIC and the provinces and territories are working to ensure that newcomers continue to choose Canada as their desired destination; that we build the communities across the country that will welcome them and help them achieve positive social and economic outcomes, and that we share the benefits of immigration across the country. We know that we need to do this collaboratively, working together in new ways to achieve improved outcomes.

Clearly, the provincial nominee program is critical to this work. It provides an effective tool that allows provinces and territories to design programs that meet their individual needs and address local labour market and economic development challenges. The program also serves to promote regionalization and spreads the benefits of immigration across Canada. Moving forward, CIC will continue to work with all jurisdictions to ensure the overall integrity and accountability of all provincial nominee programs.

Thank you for your attention. We would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you for your presentations. You're a little bit over time, but that was good enough.

Mr. Menegakis is first, and he'll ask you some questions.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much for your very informative presentation. I appreciated getting all the detail.

We've heard a lot about the provincial nominee program and how it is a shared responsibility with the provinces. I have a few specific questions related to that.

First, who is responsible for the design and management of the provincial nomination programs, including the criteria for nomination?

[David Manicom]

Provinces and territories are responsible for the design, management, and evaluation of their own provincial nominee programs. That said, provincial nominee programs have to respect federal immigration law and regulations.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Is it the same for all provinces? Can you share that with us?

[David Manicom]

The same principle applies to all provinces. The province has responsibility for the design, management, and evaluation of their own provincial nominee programs. The bilateral agreements are not identical, but they're very similar with regard to that principle.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Do the criteria for nomination differ from province to province?

[David Manicom]

Oh yes.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Could you give us some examples, perhaps?

[David Manicom]

In effect, I guess that's the reason for provincial nominee programs, since they're designed to enable provinces to work on specific local needs, whether they be demographic or labour market oriented. There's a wide variety of different programs; there are about 50.

For example, British Columbia has programs that are focused on trying to encourage immigrants, especially business persons, outside of the Lower Mainland area. In Manitoba, there are programs that focus quite a bit on community ties, to ensure that immigrants coming in have community and/or employer support. Alberta uses its provincial nominee programs quite a lot to ensure that they're getting skilled tradespersons; it's quite directly labour market oriented, with a high proportion of nominees already working in the province as temporary foreign workers.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you.

Could you elaborate a little bit for us the difference in the responsibilities the provincial governments have in comparison with the federal government?

[David Manicom]

Basically, in general terms, the provinces' nomination authorities are a substitute for the selection processes that the immigration act and regulations lay out in categories like skilled workers, or the Canadian experience class, or our business programs. They are an alternative economic program. They nominate a candidate and effectively move them into the final selection process.

As the 97% approval rate demonstrates, the federal official will normally simply be accepting the applicant as having met the selection criteria as long as they are assured that the applicant intends to reside in the province of destination and that they are capable of economically establishing. That is normally presumed from a provincial nominee certificate, and it's only in fairly exceptional cases that this would be looked at. They have to be sure in the case of business programs that it's not a passive investment. According to regulation, the provincial nominee business person must intend to be actively engaged in the functioning of the business.

At that point, the applicant has now been selected and they move to the final stages of process, which is a federal role to ensure that the individual is not inadmissible to Canada for health, safety, security, or criminality issues. Then the federal government issues the immigration visa and they are landed at port of entry in the normal way by our colleagues at CBSA.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you.

I know the provinces and some others have asked for an even further increase in the provincial nominee program. What, in your opinion, would be the implications of that happening?

[David Manicom]

It's probably best not to express my opinion but to outline the policy of the federal government in that regard.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Fair enough. Sure.

[David Manicom]

At the current time, and over recent years, the levels of the planning ranges have remained constant, although at a very high level, as you know—at historically high levels.

Should the provincial nominee program continue to increase in size within a stable overall levels framework, and assuming that we continue to do family reunification, refugee resettlement, and those other programs, which are very high priorities for us, the increasing numbers of provincial nominees would have to be offset by decreasing numbers in a federal economic program. That would effectively be the trade-off, unless we were to look at limiting family reunification or humanitarian programs.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

So you're saying that this would mean decreasing admissions in other streams, basically. Is that fair to say?

[David Manicom]

Yes, the pattern over recent years has been for the provincial nominee programs to increase dramatically as a share of the overall economic program component. At this time, the federal government has felt that it is important to maintain the space for the federal skilled worker program, which works on broad national needs in of course a very mobile labour market.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

If you were to recommend an improvement to the current system, could you quickly tell us what your top three recommendations would be? What would you like to see done?