Evidence of meeting #13 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was programs.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Natasha Parriag  Acting Director, Intergovernmental Relations, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
David Manicom  Director General, Immigration Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Sharon Chomyn  Director General, International Region, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

12:55 p.m.

Director General, Immigration Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

David Manicom

We're certainly making efforts to fulfill that commitment. It has certainly been a challenging one to date, given the nature of migratory flows globally, where we don't have that many large-source countries where there are a large number of francophones.

Certainly at events such as Destination Canada in Paris, in Brussels, and in north Africa—I don't know if Sharon wants to add something—which is going on right now or is just completed.... Today I saw very exciting numbers from British Columbia, stating that it looked like 7.2% of its provincial nominees would be francophones this year or in coming...and a lot of French media reports about the attractiveness of Canada as an international education destination.

So we do work with the provinces at the Destination Canada event. You have big halls—much larger than this—with many thousands of visitors, big lineups outside provincial booths, and quite large-scale hiring being done on the spot as well as future job offers. We're not there yet, but the provinces are a key part of the strategy to get there.

12:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative David Tilson

Madame Groguhé, very quickly.

12:55 p.m.

NDP

Sadia Groguhé NDP Saint-Lambert, QC

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

My question is about the Auditor General's report, wherein she recommends that evaluations be done on the economic settlement of the persons who come here. You referred to mechanisms and quality assurance. Since 2009, have any processes been designed to perform these assessments? If so, what are they and what will they be like? Do you have any information in this regard?

1 p.m.

Director General, Immigration Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

David Manicom

I don't have the knowledge to answer that question in detail. We are working on some quality assurance programs with some provinces.

Perhaps with regard to this question, I'd prefer it if we could provide a written response to the committee, Mr. Chair.

1 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative David Tilson

Good. We would appreciate that. Thank you, and again, please send it to the clerk at the appropriate time.

Our time has expired. I thank you, Ms. Chomyn, Ms. Parriag, and particularly you, Mr. Manicom. We worked you over very well, and you've been very helpful to the committee. We appreciate it.

1 p.m.

Director General, Immigration Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

David Manicom

Mr. Chair, is it possible for me to correct an error I made earlier?

1 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative David Tilson

Absolutely.

1 p.m.

Director General, Immigration Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

David Manicom

Very shortly, we had a question about the funding allocation in the Canada-Quebec accord, and I stated that it was linked to the number of arrivals.

My note here—and perhaps we can provide a more detailed response—is that the funding is not directly linked to the number of immigrants received. So it appears the formula is more complex than that, and perhaps we could provide clarification in writing.

1 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative David Tilson

Perhaps you could give us that as well.

Thank you.

1 p.m.

Director General, Immigration Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

David Manicom

Thank you.

1 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative David Tilson

Just to remind committee members, Tuesday is a subcommittee meeting. So only subcommittee members need to attend on Tuesday. The backlog report will be available on Monday sometime, and it will be e-mailed to you. I remind you that the report is confidential.

This meeting is adjourned.