Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 19th, 2012

[Les Linklater]

Essentially, that's correct. I think that in the United States it's valid for two years. In Australia, it's valid for one year.

We think that a longer period of time that corresponds with where we want to go and where we have been going on the temporary resident visa side—by issuing multiple-entry visas for a maximum validity of 10 years if the passport allows it—only makes sense in terms of client service and being facilitated for travel to Canada for legitimate travellers. A multiple-entry or long-term duration eTA makes sense to us, but it of course can be withdrawn if adverse information comes to light during that period.

[John Weston, Conservative, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Basically, what I understand is that there needs to be a good balance between the need for security and the need to attract tourists, which is really important for our economy.

[Les Linklater]

Yes, the goal is to strike a balance that allows us to assess the risks before these people arrive in Canada. We need to make sure our methods line up with the strategic directions of the United States in the context of the perimeter security strategy. This involves finding a way to facilitate everything and, at the same time, ensure there is some kind of risk assessment.

[John Weston, Conservative, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

If one were to sum up what we've heard, maybe I'd go right back to your first comment at the beginning of the meeting, where you said that we're effectively pushing the process offshore to make it more economically viable for us as a country to improve the security assessment, while encouraging people to come to the country who we want here.

[Les Linklater]

That's right, pushing the risks outside the perimeter, making sure that we can deal with them before they are present on Canadian territory, absolutely.

[John Weston, Conservative, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Mr. Chair, if I have any time left, I would like to share it with my colleague, Ms. James.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

You have 30 seconds left.

[Roxanne James, Conservative, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Very quickly, when we talk about an application being inadmissible or an individual being inadmissible, what would cause someone to be inadmissible to Canada?

[Les Linklater]

There are a number of inadmissibility provisions in the act. There are provisions for misrepresentation, if someone has lied on the application or through the process. If they have a criminal record—

[Roxanne James, Conservative, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Can I ask this question quickly, then? If I do not have a criminal record and I haven't lied on my application, and I show up at the airport, would I expect to get it approved?

[Les Linklater]

Yes.

[Roxanne James, Conservative, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you.

Ms. Sims.

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Thank you very much.

I was just going through the printed notes you gave us, and on page 6 in the English version—you said this when you spoke as well—you mentioned “eligible foreign nationals”, individuals who don't require a visa to enter Canada.

Will this apply to only non-visaed countries, or is the U.S. the only country exempted?

[Les Linklater]

It will apply to visa-exempt countries except the United States.

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Okay. So in other words, even—

[Les Linklater]

There are three regimes: visa regime, eTA regime, United States.

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

So the only country that will be exempted from the eTA is the U.S.

[Les Linklater]

Citizens of the U.S.

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Citizens of the U.S.—not people with a green card or anything like that.

[Les Linklater]

That's right.

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Okay.

Then you said, “Our system will then check the traveller's information against applicable databases.” Can you expand on that for me a little bit, please?

[Les Linklater]

As I said, we do rely on CSIS, CBSA, and the RCMP to help us with security screening, and they have databases that feed into an overall assessment and recommendation back to CIC.

Ms. Welbourne can provide more detail on that.

[Maia Welbourne]

The databases that would be screened against through the automatic system would essentially be the ones that are currently used to screen temporary resident visa applications—the information that's held in our field operations support system, in our global case management system, and in the lost and stolen and fraudulent documents database. We would have, as part of that, information regarding anybody who was inadmissible to Canada due to criminality. That would all be assessed.

That's what the application would be run against in the first instance. If anything else came up, adverse information of some kind, that's when the application would be referred to an in-Canada office for further assessment. It may then be referred on through our security partners for further review.

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

The more I listen, the more I think some alarm bells are going off for me—not the fact that we're going to be doing this, but how the data will be stored, and for how long, and with whom it will be shared.

I've heard a number of times that there is “no plan at this time” to share with other bodies. Whenever I hear “at this time”, it always sort of says that there will be sharing of it at some time, right?

For me, I suppose what I'm looking to is this: who will make the decision as to what will be shared with other states, and when? I don't just mean the United States; I mean all other nations.