Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 19th, 2018

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I agree with the premise of your question, but I'll have Mr. MacKinnon respond to some of the details in terms of the numbers, the breakdown, and which agencies are getting what.

[Paul MacKinnon, Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic and Program Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

In response to the earlier question, to which your question is now referring, I just want to make clear that out of the $174 million for irregular migration that the minister mentioned, only $17 million of that is coming to IRCC. That's in the budget going forward. The $10 million is right. Those are the incremental costs that our department absorbed during this fiscal year, and those are the supplementaries we're asking Parliament to appropriate today.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

With respect, then, to the interim federal health program, which I believe we've restored, how much of this $10.8 million is then being spent within the department? It was my understanding that this would primarily be money that was being transferred to Quebec for the delivery of health care in the province. Maybe this is still for Mr. MacKinnon.

[Paul MacKinnon]

In terms of the incremental supplementaries cost, $1.6 million out of that $14 million is for the interim federal health program.That's to fill the space between when asylum seekers claim asylum and when they go on to the provincial system, which would provide health care. The IFH piece is $1.6 million.

Oh, sorry. Is that for Yazidis? Okay, jump in.

[Dawn Edlund, Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Operations, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

Just for the interim federal health program, under irregular migration and what's in the supplementary (C)s, it's $5.8 million. It's money that's appropriated for the department to then reimburse providers across the provinces and territories for their services.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Is this primarily in Quebec, with respect to this money?

[Dawn Edlund]

Yes.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

So they're not medical services that are provided by your department?

[Dawn Edlund]

No, they're medical services that are reimbursed by our department because it's a health insurance program.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Then in terms of the other, larger amount of money that Mr. O'Toole referred to for this area, and in trying to clarify your questions back in the fall, is the $112 million under the Canada–Quebec accord derived from service delivery or is it formulaic? How is that amount determined? It doesn't seem to me that it relates to the provision of any services per se; it's just a formula determined by an accord reached by a previous Conservative government.

[Paul MacKinnon]

That's right. There are two pieces that we look at: the percentage increase and total federal expenditures are the first piece, and the second is the percentage increase in non-francophone immigrants who settled in Quebec. When you put those two pieces together, the increase is just about 30% on the total of those two formulas.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

In terms of the irregular crossings, then, I'm wondering—and maybe this is following a little bit along those lines—when Haitian immigration happened across Quebec's border last summer, were those individuals predominantly considered non-francophone or were they considered francophone? How is that related to the increase, or is that a bit of a red herring and that number really didn't factor much into this amount?

[Paul MacKinnon]

The formula is based upon permanent residence, so we wouldn't take that into account for this.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

It's based on the folks who settle in Quebec who are non-francophone, who come through different streams of immigration, and who stay there. They need settlement and integration services. We have to compensate Quebec. We have to provide money for Quebec to do that because it has its own program under the Canada–Quebec accord. Some of the increase reflects that, and the rest is based on the overall increases we have for the rest of the country. They have to get their share as well.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Looking forward into this coming fiscal year and beyond, Minister, the new budget allocates $173 million for border security, of which $17 million is going towards your department.

Do you think that's a fair assessment of what's going to be required for the foreseeable future as an increase for border strengthening? Is there anything being done to consider how we can maybe pre-empt some of the things that happened last year in terms of communications to threatened groups in the United States that are seeking to regularly border-cross to prevent that?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

There are two questions there.

Some of the money is for border security and for more border integrity. Some of it is for IRCC's eligibility interviewing capacity, to make sure we're ready for any eventuality. Then there's some money for the Immigration and Refugee Board, so that they can do faster processing, because the faster they can process refugee claims, the better it is for everyone.

In terms of what happens next, we have a contingency plan in place that has been informed by our experiences last year. We have a very robust outreach program through social media, through advertising, and through outreach trips by members of Parliament and others. Our missions in the United States continuously monitor community media in those communities. We have been engaged with them, educating folks about the challenges related to irregular migration, and we've also been sending the positive message that there are regular ways to come to Canada. If you want to come to Canada to study or work, there are ways to do so, and you shouldn't cross our border irregularly.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

I'm afraid that's the end.

Mr. Tilson, go ahead for five minutes.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

The question is on the border crossing from the United States to Canada.

You've used the word “irregular” but almost everyone else uses the word “illegal”. Mr. Cormier, Ms. Alleslev, and others have used the word “illegal”.

Which is it and why?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I'm happy to use “illegal” if—

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Yes, because it is illegal.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

To answer your question quickly, I have used the word “illegal” and I have used the word “irregular” and I think both are accurate.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

I don't think “irregular” is. However, how many irregular border crossings have been heard by the IRB to date?

[Mike MacDonald, Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic and Program Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

The IRB set up a special task force that was in place for a few months at the end of the year, and they finalized 2,552 cases.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

How many remain to be heard?

[Mike MacDonald]

All of the irregular crossings—