Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 20th, 2012

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

I have another concern, and Mylène brought this up in her questioning, and Mr. Lamoureux alluded to it. I don't know how much time we spent talking about this yesterday, but it was a question that was asked of the witnesses, and I think it's a fair question to ask you as officials today.

What sorts of parameters are you thinking about leaning towards, understanding, in terms of someone being able to use someone else's identity while filling out the application, or attempting to hurt someone else's chances of travel by trying to interfere with their personal information?

[Maia Welbourne]

It's a risk. We will identify the information that's being requested as part of the application to minimize those kinds of risks. For instance, a person has to submit not just their name but also other personal information and their passport number. The moment that discrepancy has been discovered, that would end.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

It wouldn't be able to proceed any further.

[Maia Welbourne]

Yes.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

Thank you.

Just to conclude, Ms. Sims may be shocked to hear me say this, but I will agree with her motion, her direction. I think it's very consistent with what other committees have done.

The only other piece, Chair, you may want to add to it, is the ministry's acknowledgement in the letter that they will indeed be responding to and working with the Privacy Commissioner's office as we move through this process.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Ms. Sims.

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

Thank you very much. I just want to say as a final point that we appreciated this process.

We would have liked it if there had not been an omnibus budget bill that's the size of a phone book with all kinds of legislation in it, but I do appreciate that this committee got to take a look at it. However, I still want to put on the record that in Parliament, as an MP, I will not get an opportunity to vote on it as a separate entity. It will be buried in with many other things.

With that and the fact that nobody has amendments, I would like to move adjournment, Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Mr. Lamoureux first.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Just a very quick comment and then I am quite happy with that.

Did the department consider incorporating it into the User Fees Act at all, and if not, why not?

[Maia Welbourne]

As Mr. Linklater stated yesterday, really the driver for seeking an exemption from the User Fees Act was based on the fact that the User Fees Act was intended to promote transparency for fees set that affect Canadians. This is not the case in this instance. It is a fee that will apply to foreign nationals.

We also have the ability already in our act to set fees for foreign nationals through regulation, so we have an authority that exists. More importantly, as Mr. Linklater stated, it's about flexibility. The ability to establish and then adjust a fee in a responsive manner is very important so that we can adjust to any changes over time.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Seeing no requests to speak further, this meeting is adjourned.