Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 19th, 2018

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Yes, I'm fully cognizant that the federal government does not provide for primary health care. However, the federal government does provide for the interim federal health dollars. Working in collaboration with the provincial government would make ample sense, it seems to me. There might be some way where the federal government can collaborate, whether through this ministry or through another ministry. At the end of the day, what we want to be sure of is that resettlement services are delivered in such a way that meets the needs in the most cost-effective and efficient way possible. I will also endeavour to align that.

Will there be opportunities where staff could travel to the different locations to meet with these providers, or do they have to come here?

[Paul MacKinnon]

We have staff across the country, so to the extent that it matches up, we're happy to do it.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Excellent. Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Mr. Sarai, you have seven minutes.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Thank you, panellists.

Canada prides itself in the ability to act or give homage to refugees. The ability to provide health care to the most vulnerable population is within Canada's values. The supplementary estimates include about $10.4 million to address irregular migration at the Canada-U.S. border and the interim federal health program. How much of the $10.4 million is for the interim federal health program?

[Dawn Edlund]

It's $5.8 million.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Can you elaborate on the details of the remainder of the funds, what those will be used for?

[Paul MacKinnon]

Of the remaining funds, $3.2 is for processing and $1.2 for corporate and operational support. On top of the $5.8 Dawn mentioned, hopefully that gets us to $10.4.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

On the topic of refugee intake, the supplementary estimates include about $14 million for resettled Yazidi women and girls. How many families would that benefit, and what types of services would that be?

[Paul MacKinnon]

Do you want to jump in there, Dawn?

[Dawn Edlund]

Mr. Chair, we would have to get back to you in terms of the number of families because I actually have the numbers for the survivors of Daesh by individual persons as opposed to the family groups.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Those are 1,200, in my understanding.

[Dawn Edlund]

There are 1,200, soon to be 1,298.

[Paul MacKinnon]

We can break out those numbers for you if it's helpful.

[Dawn Edlund]

We could break out the numbers as well, in relation to the communities where these individuals have settled. There were primary sites that the refugees were destined to—Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, London—but I think there are 16 communities, all in, where people have been settled.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Are any of these fundings going toward language training? We understand the language they speak is a unique language, and Canada doesn't have too many interpreters for that. That was a problem we noticed in our own translation services. I'm wondering if we're addressing those with these fundings as well.

[David Manicom]

Language training is provided with the overall settlement envelope. We look at the additional settlement dollars provided in budget 2018 because language training is available to all newcomers, not simply resettled refugees, but they do have access to it.

You're also asking about the issue of interpretation. During their immediate arrival period, the resettlement agency is responsible for navigating them through the social, housing, and school systems. We have engaged a number Kermanji interpreters. One of our challenges is providing interpreters for them as they, for example, access health services, given the relatively small number of Kermanji speakers in Canada. This is why we put them into several communities rather than dispersing them all across the country. We continue to work to improve their access to Kermanji interpreters.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

In particular, where is this money being used over and above the normal settlement agency funding for services that are available to them? Where is this $14 million specifically being utilized for the victims of Daesh?

[Paul MacKinnon]

I can give you the breakdown of the $14 million: in terms of processing costs, it's about $1.6 million; interim federal health, $1.6 million; income support, $8.3 million; and then resettlement services, $2.5 million. That's the global breakout.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

The reason you've added these is that this was a special measure to bring these almost 1,300 people, and therefore you felt there's additional funding required to settle them.

[Paul MacKinnon]

That's right.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

On the $10.4 million that's going toward irregular border crossings, of which the balance minus $5.8 million is to help with the processing time, how will these funds be deployed in order to quicken processing times for those who are genuine refugees and eliminate false claims for those who are false claimants or need to be sent back?

[Paul MacKinnon]

I might ask my colleague to give a sense of what we're doing in Montreal.

[Mike MacDonald]

In a nutshell, the additional processing costs have been put toward the efforts that we used to tackle that large backlog of more than 6,000 that we had in July and August. The cost, for example, went to not just additional people showing up to help us process, but also to develop some new, innovative ways of what's called “leaning out” our processes. That actually enabled us—at Complexe Guy-Favreau, which is a temporary processing site in downtown Montreal—to at one point get up to several hundred, if not 300 or more, decisions a day. That's how we worked through that large backlog. I'm happy to report that large backlog is actually six people now, six decisions to be made. It's been an extremely successful endeavour, doing that.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Have you tracked the claimants, who mostly come through Quebec, from these irregular border crossings? How many actually stay after their initial entry and do their processes within Quebec? How many are moving elsewhere?