Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 11th, 2014

[Chungsen Leung, Conservative, Willowdale, ON]

I'm leading into how we strengthen and how these budgets relate to that.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Okay.

[Chungsen Leung, Conservative, Willowdale, ON]

Minister, can you tell this committee how strengthening Canadian citizenship will complement the investments the government has already made to the strengthening of citizenship so that those who deserve it get it, and those who lie and hide their heinous crimes and who do not deserve Canadian citizenship, do not get it? How do we back this up with money?

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

Thank you so much, Mr. Leung, and thank you for your work on this committee, on its reports, and on Bill C-24.

The simple answer to your question is twofold. First, we are getting faster processing already, thanks to budgetary commitments and money in these estimates. We did have some years, last year and the previous years, when residency concerns were widespread, when residency questionnaires were distributed in relatively large numbers. That scrutiny was required, as you said, because there was abuse. But we've overcome many of those obstacles. We've put in place new resources to process more, and in the first five months of this year, over 100,000 permanent residents became citizens of Canada, which is a record number.

I hope that all members of this committee have had the opportunity to participate in a citizenship ceremony recently.

The bill will give us even more tools to press ahead with this faster processing. It simplifies the decision-making model and will allow us to use the resources you are voting on today in these main estimates, and which we are discussing today, to greater effect. It will literally help us make tens of thousands more permanent residents citizens this year than we would be able to do were the bill not passed, or passed much later.

In addition to faster processing, in addition to reinforcing the value of citizenship and lengthening the residency requirement slightly, we will have new tools to maintain program integrity and combat fraud, which should prevent us from having the kinds of doubts hanging over this program that we've had in the past.

[Chungsen Leung, Conservative, Willowdale, ON]

In the pre-1977 era when I came to Canada, the average dwelling time, the time you were required to spend in Canada, was five years for citizenship. Perhaps you can share with us how the new move to lengthen the dwelling time in Canada fits into the overall strengthening of Canadian citizenship.

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

Thanks for mentioning that.

The residency requirement was five years, until 1977. The five-year requirement was put in place back in 1914—one hundred years ago this month, actually—by another Conservative government, and it served us well over that long period.

My view is that the reduction to three years, and then this inattention to abuse, really did cheapen Canadian citizenship. It really did fail to fully express the value that it has, and that's why we're moving back to four years out of six to ensure that the attachment, that sense of belonging, that experience of Canada that only physical presence here can provide, is really there.

The other sad chapter, as you know, Mr. Leung, from the decades after 1977, was that there was little done under Liberal governments to deal with people who were present here only through a post office box, who literally dissimulated their residency in Canada. I'm not talking here about small numbers. We're talking about thousands of people confirmed to have done so, perhaps tens of thousands over the decades. That will no longer be possible and that's what Canadians expect, because across all our immigration and citizenship programs there is zero tolerance for abuse from Canadians or from any of us.

[Chungsen Leung, Conservative, Willowdale, ON]

Perhaps you can also clarify what this physical presence means versus, as you indicate, just a post office presence.

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

It means two things, and the first is having the intention to reside here. That's where we're going to confirm, through an expression of that declaration of intent, that those who are seeking to meet the requirements for citizenship actually intend to reside here. We didn't do that before. We're going to confirm to one and all that it is physical presence that is required, not virtual presence, not picking up mail every six months from a post office box, and not staying in touch by Skype. It is physical presence within the borders of this country that counts as residence.

In fact it always has been the requirement. We weren't able to enforce it, and under Liberal governments we failed to enforce it in rather dramatic fashion.

[Chungsen Leung, Conservative, Willowdale, ON]

In building the country, we need skilled workers and academians. We need people from a wide range of backgrounds in the country in many ways. Perhaps you could also share with us how express entry facilitates bringing them in.

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

Thanks for that.

To finish on the previous subject, just to be explicit here, residence is not defined in the current Citizenship Act. It is vague. It doesn't say physical presence, and hence the scope for the abuse that we're now trying to overcome.

Express entry is also a major focus of investment in these main estimates. It's the top priority of our department. It's the new system for delivering all of our economic programs starting on January 1, 2015, building on the reduced backlogs and faster processing times that we already have.

But what will it allow us to do? Instead of just mechanically processing applications as they come in, we will have a much larger group of people, interested in Canada, who've submitted their profiles. We will sort and rank those profiles based on the criteria, the point systems for economic immigration that we already have, and we will invite the ones who are best qualified, who best meet the needs of the Canadian economy today, to come here. That means the skill levels, the educational attainment, the suitability for the job market here of immigrants will be better than ever.

So it's very exciting. The Australians and New Zealanders have shown us the way on this. They have been pioneers, and we are emulating and improving on their experience. We—

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you, sir.

Ms. Blanchette-Lamothe.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank you for your presence here, Minister.

I will ask you a few questions, and will then pass the floor to my colleague.

Let us talk about the Interim Federal Health Program for refugees. Can you tell me how much money you have saved thanks to the reforms you've brought to the health program?

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

I cannot tell you exactly how much money we've saved solely with this program, but we estimate that Canadian taxpayers have saved upwards of $600 million, both at the provincial and federal levels, thanks to reforms to the asylum system we have put in place. Indeed, we do not have the great burden of asylum seekers seeing their request denied because they come from safe countries.

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

I thank you.

It is interesting that you also spoke of the costs for provinces, because there are studies that have been recently published on the matter. For example, the latest one I have read was published May 8, 2014, by the Public Library of Science. It is entitled:

“The Cost and Impact of the Interim Federal Health Program Cuts on Child Refugees in Canada”.

Could you explain how exactly you calculate these savings? A year after the reforms to the program, more and more studies are showing, for example, that parents are increasingly worried about the bills they will have to pay if they no longer have a right to free care. They thus delay their hospital visits more and more. As a consequence, more and more children, who are as you call them illegitimate refugees—though they aren't so necessarily—go to the emergency room or increase the costs for provinces and hospitals in another way.

You really do not use the same methodology to calculate these costs as the one used by these researchers and by the hospitals participating in the study or even that of the provinces who complain that their costs are increasing, precisely because of the reform made to the Interim Federal Health Program.

I took note of the $600 million number. I thank you for your reply.

As for the Express Entry program, you say that the applications will be processed in six months or less. Has that period of time been calculated starting from the moment the applicant has submitted their application and gets a positive answer and an invitation to come to Canada? Do you calculate the time during which a person must wait before receiving an invitation from a business or a province?

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

The six-month period starts when the completed application is submitted, and ends when that application is approved or rejected.

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

So, starting from the moment when the completed application is submitted to the pool. Is that correct?

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

Yes.

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

Will everyone get an answer within six months or less, even those who haven't received an invitation by a province or a business?

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

There will be two steps.

The application of the people in the pool will be evaluated in a hierarchical manner, according to the criteria and the point systems of the various economic immigration programs. We will only invite those people who meet the requisite criteria during a particular year. These people will receive an invitation and will begin filling out their application. The six-month period will start the day they submit their application. We promise to process at least 80%, if not more, within six months.

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

All right.

From what I gather, however, there will nevertheless be a period during which people will wait for the six months to become officially calculated.

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

Exactly, but we will begin inviting people during the first months of 2015.

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

Thank you.

Ms. Sitsabaiesan, the floor is yours.

[Rathika Sitsabaiesan, NDP, Scarborough—Rouge River, ON]

Thank you, Ms. Blanchette-Lamothe.

Mr. Minister, you mentioned in your opening remarks that the previous Liberal government had left a broken immigration system, with people waiting over eight years.

I agree with you that it was a broken immigration system that needed to be fixed, sure, so my question to you is pretty simple. You also talked about Bill C-24 and thanked the committee. With respect to Bill C-24 making it harder for people to get citizenship in Canada, and with the previous Liberal government's backlogs, delays, and whatever—the broken immigration system, as you mentioned—why has it taken your government so long to actually do anything about it? It's been over three years now that this Parliament has been in session. Why has it taken you so long to actually do something about it?

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

We first mentioned this reform in a Speech from the Throne in 2010. It's very clear, from the opposition of both the NDP and the Liberals, that we wouldn't have had support for these measures in a minority government. We've studied it and worked on it very carefully in this majority government, so the time is now.

On the previous question of refugee health, it's $100 million that we will save over five years, I am reminded. In our federal budget, we estimated $600 million when you take all levels of government—

[Rathika Sitsabaiesan, NDP, Scarborough—Rouge River, ON]

Thank you, sir.

I'll go back to the decreasing funding in immigrant aid. You were talking about refugees and settlement, so I'll talk about that. In decreasing funding from immigrant aid, such as the settlement and resettlement assistance, how will these new measures actually affect the children of families separated by the new immigration regulations?