Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 5th, 2014

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.

This is meeting number 16 of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. This meeting is televised.

We have two items today. For the first hour, we have Minister Alexander as our guest to talk about the supplementary estimates. In the second hour, we are continuing our study on the report on the protection of women in our immigration system.

We will proceed.

Mr. Alexander, thank you very much for coming before us today with your guests.

We have with us Mr. Robert Orr, who was just here recently, and Mr. Linklater, of course, the assistant deputy minister, strategic and program policy, who has been here many times as well, as has Mr. Tony Matson, assistant deputy minister and chief financial officer. We also have with us the deputy minister, Ms. Biguzs.

The Honourable Chris Alexander is here.

You have the floor, sir, for up to 10 minutes. Thank you for coming.

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, colleagues, thank you for inviting us.

Good afternoon everyone.

I'm delighted to be here with so many from the senior leadership of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration to present our department's supplementary estimates (C) for fiscal year 2013-14.

The most significant allocation of $35.5 million in additional funding will allow us to meet our obligations under the requirements of the Canada-Quebec accord on immigration. As you know, this accord gives the Government of Quebec the exclusive responsibility for immigrant and integration services in return for financial compensation from the Government of Canada.

Our supplementary estimates also include an allocation of $3.9 million to support immigration for official language minority communities as part of the “Roadmap for Canada's Official Languages”.

Overall, under the Official Languages Roadmap for Linguistic Duality 2013 to 2018, our government has invested $149.5 million over five years in initiatives related to official languages and immigration. That is a significant sum.

Most of this $3.9 million in funding—in other words $2.3 million—will be invested in promotion and recruitment activities in Canada and abroad, primarily through expanding the frequency and the number of locations of existing events such as the Destination Canada job fair, a very successful event that many of you probably know. Through these successful job fairs, we help to connect French-speaking or bilingual skilled workers with employers across Canada.

We are always struck by the number of francophones outside of Quebec who are not born in Canada, who are immigrants. I will give you a statistic that you may not know. The population of the Yukon is now 14% francophone, and that number is completely unheard of in the Canadian territories. It says a lot about the strength of our francophone immigration policy outside of Quebec.

Mr. Chair, francophone immigration under our government is on the rise. We want it to increase even further.

We have seen a consistent annual increase in the number of francophone minority immigrants since 2006, and we will continue to promote initiatives to strengthen Canada's francophonie in all the provinces and territories.

This past November, I had the opportunity to launch the first ever National Francophone Immigration Week. I think the event was greatly appreciated in Ontario, which has a significant francophone population of course, but also in New Brunswick, Manitoba and all the provinces.

Through these initiatives we are helping our francophone and other immigrant populations successfully integrate into Canadian society.

Unfortunately, the previous government ignored this issue for 13 years. We are committed to strengthening francophone immigration.

We also want to continue to strengthen immigration outside of the big cities. Under the Liberal government, I believe that nearly 92% of our immigrants went to the three big cities or metropolitan areas. Today, immigration is much more spread out. Small cities and rural areas are receiving more and more immigrants. And this is what our demographics and our economy require.

Our government is committed to ensuring the successful integration of newcomers across Canada, both into the labour market and into their new communities, wherever they settle.

Let me give you a couple more of the highlights from the supplementary estimates, so that we're all clear on how the numbers change the outlook for our department and reflect the priorities and program reforms we continue to make.

I mentioned funding the Canada-Quebec Accord, which is an obligation and which continues to grow in accordance with the terms of that accord. The funding to promote official languages is there, a needed adjustment to reflect the strength of our commitment under the road map.

Item 3 is the funding for debt writeoff from uncollectable immigration loans. This is the standard procedure that we have. We give loans to large numbers of refugees, and some other categories of immigrants. The collection rate is something like 91%, but there are some loans that are not collected, and we are adjusting the amount to reflect that.

Under item 6, you see several available authorities that we have had to take advantage of this year in order to fund other priorities because we weren't fully using those authorities this year. This is a standard procedure, and I can give you more details about which appropriations are there. One of them is the biometrics initiative. Another is reductions in an initiative to fund workplace technology devices. There was $.9 million savings for the entry/exit perimeter initiative. There were some savings in the federal skilled workers return of fees. These are all authorities that we had that weren't fully used, so the money is reallocated through these available authorities to help us meet the adjustments in these supplementary estimates (B).

The same goes for statutory appropriations. We have basically decided not to refund as large a number of the federal skilled worker backlog. We will complete the refunding of that program, I believe next year. Again, that money allows us to meet the requirements for this year.

Then, on transfers, there are essentially five different transfers. These are standard procedures that reflect our intense and complicated relationships with sister departments. We are receiving some money back from Foreign Affairs Trade and Development Canada. We are receiving some money back from Shared Services Canada, and we are transferring some money to the Canada Border Services Agency. There are two transfers that reflect the fact that we have assumed responsibility, as of this past summer, for International Experience Canada. This is a very successful program that used to be delivered by Foreign Affairs and is now delivered by us.

Those are the highlights, and that is the substance of the supplementary estimates (C) for this year.

If I have a couple of more minutes, Mr. Chair—

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

You have one.

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

Let me just underline that our government's number one priority remains jobs, economic growth, and opportunity for Canadians, and we see our immigration programs as absolutely essential to achieving these goals. Many sectors of our economy now have large growing demands for skilled workers, and we need to work hard to implement our expression of interest system and implement all the reforms we've announced in recent months to make sure we are serving those economic needs properly.

As the member for Markham—Unionville knows, Mr. McCallum, there is very high growth in his community, in his growing city, in information technology and communications.

I recently met with representatives of the Entertainment Software Association of Canada. I don't know if the committee members are aware of this, but Canada is the world's third largest producer of video games, films and animated films in this industry, behind only the United States and Japan. But this industry cannot continue to grow without flexible responsive immigration programs that meet the needs of our dynamic 21st century economy.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Mr. Minister, I'm going to have to stop you because I know my friends have a lot of exciting questions to ask of you.

We'll start with Mr. Menegakis.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

And thank you, Minister and all the senior officials from CIC, for joining us today.

Minister, back in 2008 when our government introduced the road map for linguistic duality, a $1.1 billion program that was very successful and that was renewed in 2013 going to 2018, we heard from many witnesses at the committee for official languages where that was studied. There are a lot of advantages and benefits of investing in linguistic duality across this country in all the different communities. I'm delighted to see $149.5 million in your presentation today for official languages with respect to immigration. I wonder if you can elaborate, please, on the many benefits of this program with respect to immigration.

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Menegakis.

We know we have to invest in this program, and we want more than ever to invest in this program, this road map, because we've always had francophones, French Canadians, in all parts of this country. But even more so, we know it is part of who we are.

It's part of our Canadian identity. It is a part of our immigration programs themselves. It's something that all Canadians across the country want.

Never before has there been such a keen interest in immersion programs. For example, in my riding, Ajax—Pickering, the only new schools being built are francophone schools. This is because French-language education has become so popular among anglophones.

We also know, though, that to have successful francophone immigration to all parts of the country, we need settlement services, support, language training, a whole network that wasn't there in the past. We've tripled— in some provinces, quadrupled—the support for settlement services. In every case there is a francophone component, and that is making it more and more attractive for francophones from France, Haiti, and Cameroon to go to places like Vancouver or Yukon. They're not always there in large numbers, but they go because they find the services they need, and that is absolutely the right thing for Canada. That reflects our history, it reflects our identity today, and it certainly reflects our future.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Is there a program that francophone immigrants typically use more than others as a stream to come into Canada?

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

I would have to get back to you on that. I think they use all of our streams quite reliably. I mean I have to be honest with you: our target is 4% of francophone immigration to Canada per year—economic immigration—out of our total immigration. And I assume that's 4% out of the number not including Quebec immigration, which is roughly 75,000. So you're talking here about 4% out of 195,000 or 200,000, depending on where we're going; so let's say 190,000. We're not there yet in terms of reaching that goal, but we are on our way. The resources we have ensure we can get there, and we're not going to concentrate on one stream. We're going to make sure that francophones feel comfortable using all our streams.

Many are coming as students, which means Canadian experience class, but you see some francophone countries—still very prominent in federal skilled workers, and not necessarily going to Quebec—using the federal skilled worker program as opposed to the Quebec skilled worker program. The provincial nominee program obviously is available and strongly used especially in those provinces that have a higher level of provincial service in French, which would include New Brunswick, obviously officially bilingual, but also Ontario, Manitoba, and others.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Stop the clock for a minute.

Ms. Biguzs, Mr. Alexander just gave us an undertaking. Perhaps you could give it to the clerk.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

How much time is left on this?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

We've frozen the clock at 4:43, so you have enough time.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Minister, is it fair to say with respect to the $149.5 million in the immigration budget for official languages that most, if not all, of that money is spent outside Quebec? It's to integrate francophone immigrants into communities that are not French-speaking.

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

That is fair to say, although obviously under the feuille de route we provide support for English-language minorities in Quebec as well.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Do you feel that French-speaking people can also avail themselves of the new EOI program? We are a bilingual country.

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

Absolutely.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Wouldn't the EOI program give an additional benefit to people who can speak that language?

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

Absolutely. Everyone is going to like EOI because it will be faster than ever. It will be a closer match between their skills, whether they are English-speaking or French-speaking, and Canadian needs, and it will show that Canada is once again at the forefront of modernizing its immigration programs.

Yes, Australia and New Zealand have had a system similar to EOI before, but we're doing it on a larger scale and I have every confidence we're going to do it better than any other country that has implemented such a program, and that will be exciting for talented people around the world.

French remains a highly international language, widely used in all parts of the world.

This is a strength for Canada, to be able to attract francophone immigrants from around the world, to deploy them in Canada and make use of them in our trade relationships and academic investments worldwide as a springboard for our growth and the growth of our exports.

Our bilingual advantage is a very important asset for Canada, and we want our immigration programs to magnify that asset.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you, Mr. Menegakis.

Ms. Blanchette-Lamothe.

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you.

I would like to thank the minister and his colleagues for being here with us today. It is a pleasure to have them.

My question is on the Institute for Canadian Citizenship and the funding it has been granted.

In supplementary estimates (C), it shows a "reallocation of resources from contributions to grants" of about $1 million "to provide funding to the institute to encourage national dialogue around and build awareness of Canadian citizenship".

I would like you to briefly explain exactly what you intend, what you mean by "to encourage national dialogue".

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

We have had an agreement with the Institute for Canadian Citizenship since 2006. The amount you see in the documents before us today takes into account the last year of funding within the context of this agreement.

We greatly appreciate the work done by the institute, which is basically to promote citizenship in Canada. As far as I know, it is the only institution in Canada dedicated to promoting Canadian citizenship. The institute fulfils its mandate by assembling people to reflect on the significance of Canadian citizenship in the modern era, on how to communicate a feeling of belonging and citizenship to immigrants, to people who have recently arrived in Canada. The institute seems to have accumulated highly valuable expertise, and we are proud to have granted it this funding.

As for the future, I can tell you that I would remain very interested in funding Canadian institutions that promote Canadian citizenship. It seems important to me to do so, certainly within our financial limits and across our country.

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you.

I would like to know why CIC has not taken on this task. Could the fact that the institute is doing it diminish the requirement to be accountable to Canadians? Does it have to tell us exactly what it is doing or what it is accomplishing?

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

Under the agreement between us, the institute is accountable to us for everything that it does. We are well aware of what it is doing, as we are for all of the settlement agencies that we fund. We earmark between $500 million and $600 million per year for this type of funding. We follow the activities of these agencies very closely and demand that they respect very high standards of accountability.

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Would it be possible to see a report on the institute's activities or its accomplishments over the last few years?

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

The institute publishes an annual report, which we can certainly share with you.