Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 28th, 2013

[Anita Biguzs]

The commitment that the government made to parents and grandparents was to admit 50,000 over a two-year period. At this point in time, our indications on where we are to date are that we are on track to meeting 50,000 over that two-year period.

As I say, you have to look at it in terms of what the numbers may have been one year over the other year, but the total over two years will be 50,000. We are confident that we are on track to meet that commitment.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

But that's the high end of the range, 25,000 a year, and the actual number for 2012 is not 25,000 but 21,815. Would you agree that the number is less than the number in 2002?

[Anita Biguzs]

As I responded earlier, the commitment is to 50,000 over two years, and we are confident that certainly the number of admissions in 2013 will lead to a 50,000 commitment over that two-year period.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

But can you answer the specific question? The actual number in 2012, $21,815, is less than the actual number in 2002 of $22,502.

[Anita Biguzs]

We'll have to get back to you, Mr. Chair, with the 2002 numbers. We don't have that information with us, but we'd be happy to provide that feedback to the committee after we leave the meeting.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Once again, Deputy Minister, provide that to the clerk, please.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Thank you.

With regard to the Philippines and the additional assistance provided to expedite Filipinos who were adversely affected by the tragedy there, I'm wondering what form that help will take. For example, there must be parents and grandparents who would like to come from the Philippines to Canada, but applications are not now allowed until January 1, I understand, when 5,000 will be allowed.

Is there any move to make an exception for Filipino parents and grandparents, given the gravity of their situation?

[Robert Orr]

Thank you very much for the question.

We have a variety of measures in place to try to respond to the tragedy in the Philippines. Certainly we are providing priority processing to clients, which is already underway, and we are trying to contact applicants in a proactive manner, people who have an address in any of the affected areas, and we are trying to move them to the front of the queue.

We have a dedicated phone line, electronic mailbox, and so on to try to respond to that through the Foreign Affairs watch line. We have also 24/7 coverage on that.

We've issued a number of passports to people in the affected area, and we are trying to respond in a compassionate and flexible manner.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Again, that's not really my question. For parents and grandparents who are not yet in the queue, would there be a possibility of admitting them to apply in view of the situation in the Philippines?

[Robert Orr]

There are means for them to make themselves known to us, and we will deal with them on a case-by-case basis.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

So are you saying that they might be allowed to apply, even though generally such people are not allowed to apply at this time?

[Anita Biguzs]

Maybe I'll just jump in here as well. They do have access to super visas that would actually allow them to come into Canada. We are prepared and ready to facilitate super visas for family members to come to Canada. We're also prepared for extensions to the visas of people who are already in Canada whose period of time may be running out. We are looking for various means to facilitate this and to make sure that we can have family members reunited.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you, Deputy Minister.

Mr. Brown, go ahead.

[Patrick Brown, Conservative, Barrie, ON]

Thank you.

I want to follow up on a point that Mr. McCallum was talking about in terms of the Philippines. I have a large population of Filipino Canadians in Barrie. I was at a function on Saturday night, and obviously a lot of the talk relates to the tragedy there.

I know your department is doing lots of incredible work in dealing with this very difficult situation, but I guess there's a dual challenge: trying to process as many as possible to help as many of the connected families as we can, but also balancing the need for security, which is obviously very important as well.

In the midst of this challenge, how is your department dealing with that?

[Robert Orr]

There are ways that we are able to expedite applications and put them to the front of the queues so we are able to get through them, but certainly our concerns about the safety, security, and health of Canadians remains paramount, and we will only be issuing visas when we are satisfied that those measures are in place and that we have done appropriate processing.

[Patrick Brown, Conservative, Barrie, ON]

We had an immigration committee on Tuesday, and there was a variety of academic witnesses. There was one from the University of Waterloo. I made a note of some of the comments he made.

First of all he commended the government for getting all the international students to school on time despite the challenge of the strike. But he talked about and discussed the need to bring the brightest international students to Canadian universities while at the same time expanding the numbers. He sort of probed the discussion of getting the best possible students being the number one goal while the secondary goal was numbers.

I know the colleges and universities in Canada tremendously appreciate the emphasis we have put on the recruitment of international students. I think of my own college in Barrie, Georgian College, that has seen its numbers triple. Obviously that helps build bricks and mortar, and it enhances the fabric of the college.

Could you talk a little bit about what Citizenship and Immigration is doing towards the goal of more international students and attracting the best?

[Anita Biguzs]

Perhaps I can begin by saying that our department is processing more international students than ever before. From the period of 2006 to 2012, the number of applications increased from 155,000 to almost 228,000. In 2012, over 145,000 study permit applications were processed overseas. That represents a 37% increase over 2008. Certainly, the department made great efforts this summer at the time of the withdrawal of service to make sure that we were giving priority attention to student applications. In fact, we processed more student applications this summer than we did in the year previous, and again met our service times in terms of our turnaround times.

We are also actively engaged. In terms of the international student strategy, the government certainly has been engaged and will continue to be engaged in ensuring that we are attracting the best and brightest to come to Canada. We are actually ensuring as well that we are working with provinces and territories, in terms of the linkages, in terms of how we can encourage students to come to Canada to study in our educational institutions.

So we actually do have many measures under way in terms of encouraging students to come to Canada.

I don't know if you want to add to that, Mr. Orr or Mr. Linklater.

[Robert Orr]

I think you've essentially covered it, but one of the various things that we at Citizenship and Immigration can do in particular is to maintain good service standards for our students, and we are doing that.

[Patrick Brown, Conservative, Barrie, ON]

Georgian College is twinned with campuses in Chandigarh and Ahmedabad, India. I've talked to some of the staff members of Georgian College on their recruitment efforts. They have told me that some of their primary competition is with schools in the U.S. and Australia.

How do you feel we stand in comparison with the U.S. and Australia in processing times? Obviously, they get a huge number of foreign students, and sometimes the climate is a little better in those countries when trying to get students from India or Asia. But obviously, Canada is a very welcoming place. The students I've spoken to in Barrie feel they fit in very well and are welcomed in a very friendly Canadian way.

How do we stand versus our international competitors for foreign students?

[Robert Orr]

Thank you for the question.

Obviously, if someone is considering which country they're going to go to, there will be a number of different factors, processing being only one of those. Frankly, I do not have the specifics of processing, particularly in Chandigarh, for instance. I do know that Canada is the only country that does processing in Chandigarh, but I do not have the comparison of timing with other countries. I know Canada is fairly competitive on that score, but I don't have the specifics. We could track those down—

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you, Mr. Brown. I'm sorry, but I have to cut you off short because we have to vote.

I want to thank you, Deputy Minister Biguzs, and your colleagues, for coming and answering the questions of the committee. You are excused. Thank you.

Members of the committee, we have to report on the supplementary estimates. I have a number of votes to requests of you.

CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION

Department

Vote 1b—Operating expenditures..........$8,963,563

Vote 5b—Grants and contributions..........$3,000,000

Vote 7b—Passport Canada Revolving Fund..........$1

(Votes 1b, 5b, and 7b agreed to on division)

Shall I report the supplementary estimates to the House?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

And that, too, is on division.

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.

This meeting is adjourned.