Evidence of meeting #81 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 family.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
Roxanne James Conservative Scarborough Centre, ON
You mentioned swiping the smart card for biometrics and so on. I'm trying to visualize what this means. When I think of a smart card, I suppose the information for the biometrics on that person is already on the card.
How does this work?
10:35 a.m.
Immigration and Refugee Lawyer, As an Individual
Even the permanent resident card is not a smart card.
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
Roxanne James Conservative Scarborough Centre, ON
No, but I'm saying that you offered this as a suggestion.
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
Roxanne James Conservative Scarborough Centre, ON
I'm just wondering how you connect the person who is holding the card to the person who actually belongs with that card.
10:35 a.m.
Immigration and Refugee Lawyer, As an Individual
You do it the same way you do with a smart card when you go to the Ottawa Athletic Club: it is swiped, and your picture shows up on the screen, and it had better match you.
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
Roxanne James Conservative Scarborough Centre, ON
Thank you. I just wanted to clarify that. It was touched on, and then I think there were some comments that we thought it was possibly a good idea. I wanted to make sure there was still the same connection; that the swipe would bring up the information, so that the person has to be that person.
10:35 a.m.
Immigration and Refugee Lawyer, As an Individual
It would bring up the information: the date of birth or whatever information—biometrics, perhaps fingerprints. But the photo has to match the bearer of the passport. It has to be the same photo.
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
Roxanne James Conservative Scarborough Centre, ON
Thank you. I just wanted clarification.
Mr. Rekai, do you have anything to add with regard to that suggestion made by Ms. Taub?
10:35 a.m.
Partner, REKAI LLP, As an Individual
I think exit controls are absolutely fundamental. I know that CIC and CBSA have been working on the concept for some time.
The Americans have a system, as Julie pointed out. They are not happy with their own system. There's considerable discussion now about doing better. I think it's in the works. It has been a long time coming, but it's necessary.
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Tilson
Thank you. We're out of time; I'm sorry.
Ms. Freeman has five minutes.
10:35 a.m.
NDP
Mylène Freeman NDP Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC
I have five minutes?
Thank you very much, Chair. I'm very glad to take the time. I thought my time was withering away. I'm actually very glad to be able to speak.
As we've heard before....
My notes are in French, so bear with me on the translation.
As was mentioned on a number of occasions, there is really no appeal mechanism for visitor visa applications, which can create a lot of problems.
My riding receives a lot of tourists. Actually, many people who welcome their families to the Outaouais and Ottawa regions also take advantage of the opportunity to tour and show rural Canada to those who visit them. That is really important to us. I am not saying that people have a right to visit those regions, but it is in the interest of my constituents that people come to visit Canada's regions and to see what our region has to offer.
I think the lack of an appeal mechanism is a problem. People may not understand why a visa application was rejected. Was it an administrative error or was there a perception of a dual intent?
In my view, that can lead to two possibilities. First, the person may decide to apply again, which would represent additional costs for the applicant and a heavier workload for officials. Second, the person may simply forget about the visa application, which is understandable since we are basically saying that we do not want them here and we don't want them to visit the region.
That means a loss of tourism revenue for Canada. As I mentioned, this is a very important industry, especially for my riding. The municipalities in my riding are close to Montreal and Ottawa and a lot of people who visit those cities also want to discover the countryside. They want to see the forest and see how the leaves turn colour in the fall. That is important, because that is what keeps the economy going in my region.
Do you think an appeal mechanism would help? Do you have a better process in mind so that we don't discourage people? We must not constantly ask people to redo their applications simply because of a few small errors.
Ms. Long, you may go first. We could then give the floor to all the witnesses around the table. That would be great.
Thank you.
10:40 a.m.
Barrister and Solicitor, Long Mangalji LLP, As an Individual
It's not a matter of whether we respect visa officers or not. I have a lot of respect for visa officers. But people make wrong decisions, and when people make a wrong decision, you need to have a way to address that error fairly and quickly. It is in Canada's interest for tourists to come to Canada; it is in Canada's interest for Canadians to be able to have their families come to Canada; it is in Canada's interest for workers to come and work for businesses and for students to attend universities here and pay very high international student fees.
When we have an appeal system, it is important for the people who are responsible for the appeals to be able to look at this in a fair way and be able to instruct officers as to how they should be determining these applications.
10:40 a.m.
Partner, REKAI LLP, As an Individual
Slow justice is no justice, when it comes to visitor visas. I think we have to keep that in mind. Any appeal process has to move very quickly, and that's why it has to be an administrative process.
We talked about police clearances. You get police clearances for permanent residents. They take months to accumulate. You will destroy your tourism industry if you ask every tourist to obtain police clearances from everywhere they have lived. There is always a balance.
If you can't get your passport back for 60 days from the consulate in New York and you live as a legal resident in the U.S., even though you're not a U.S. citizen.... You're in a pretty low-risk area; why is it taking so long? You're not going to get to Quebec on time for your visit.
Speed, and not just the right decision but quick decisions, are very important to make this process work.
10:40 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Tilson
Thank you, the three of you, for coming and giving your views.
Ms. Taub, as I said, I think the smart card is a great idea. I hope the department considers it. Maybe they'll call it the Taub card. I'm sure it's an issue the committee will debate.
10:40 a.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
10:40 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Tilson
Thank you for all of your ideas.
The committee has some brief business to discuss. If all those who are not members of the committee, except the staff, would vacate, we would appreciate it.
We will suspend.
[Proceedings continue in camera]