Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 31st, 2018

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Okay, we will look and see whether or not that's, in fact, the case, because there are a lot of low-income people. When you have to pay an upfront fee of that amount, they can't afford it. Seniors on a fixed income cannot afford it. A family cannot afford it. It means that it's debilitating for them, and I hope that people can appreciate the impact of that.

On May 14, 2018, IRCC notified the B.C. government that the visa office in Manila, Philippines, suspended the processing of applications related to the inter-country adoption files from Japan. Apparently there were concerns around this.

I'd like to get some further elaboration on what those concerns are. When can we expect this issue to be resolved?

[Bruce Scoffield]

It's true that in May of this year, the federal government became aware, along with the Government of British Columbia, that a number of proposed adoptions that were being arranged by a particular intermediary in Japan may not be in compliance with Japanese law. At that point, working with British Columbia, we began to investigate the situation. We have been requesting clarification from the Government of Japan, and while this investigation is going on, we have suspended the processing of a small number of applications.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Thank you.

Mr. Tabbara.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you to all of you for being here today.

Immigrants now represent a significant portion of highly skilled labour, filling 50% of the STEM field—science, technology, engineering, and math. We're doing a good job there, but we still have a shortage in the skilled trades.

Is there any initiative to look at filling those types of jobs, with any estimates?

[Marta Morgan]

There are a variety of streams under which economic immigrants can enter Canada, including the federal express entry program, which does have the opportunity to do draws for skilled trades when there is sufficient demand.

Provincial nominee programs also provide significant opportunities for those in the trades. We see a lot of those kinds of workers coming to Canada permanently that way.

Also, for example, there is our new initiative, the Atlantic immigration pilot, where we're working closely with employers to bring in the employees who those employers need, and have them become settled as permanent residents.

Finally, I would just note the temporary streams where, if there are needs for skilled labour and trades on a temporary basis, there are a variety of ways for them to come in as temporary workers as well.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Just to add on that, the global skills strategy has brought in people very successfully. It's been a successful stream. Through the point system, however, those in skilled trades oftentimes may not meet the full point system because of the way it's structured. You get certain points if you have a certain degree, or a master's, etc.

If someone has been skilled in a trade for many years and is proficient in English or French, but may not have the educational background, do they not meet those requirements? Are we helping them out with the point system, or is it making it more difficult?

[Marta Morgan]

There are opportunities within the express entry system to do draws for skilled trades. Under the express entry system there is a skilled worker program, the Canadian experience class, and a federal skilled trade program. We do draws for skilled trades to come in through that program.

Also, as I noted, many of the provincial nominee programs do have a significant portion of their selections come in as skilled trades and others, particularly where there are existing jobs and connections to the labour force in the local community.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you.

For my final question, the main estimates indicate a $37-million decrease in the government's response to the Syrian crisis. Is this decrease due to the fact that Syrian refugees are now integrating into Canadian society, so there is no longer the cost there was when they first arrived in Canada?

[Marta Morgan]

Mr. Chair, as part of the resettlement assistance program, we provide significant upfront assistance in terms of income support and also services to resettle refugees. Then, as they have been here for a little while, they transition into regular settlement services. As the Syrian refugees have now been here for a number of years, that funding is decreasing. However, the overall level of funding for our settlement and integration services is increasing, and the Syrian refugees will be able to—and already are in fact—taking advantage of all of those services as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Thank you.

Mr. Maguire, you have five minutes.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I see in some of the information the minister left us that there is $112 million for the Canada-Québec Accord and $490 million this year to the Quebec government for service providers. Can you just outline, for a bit of clarity, if that's an accumulated amount?

And then I think there is close to $90 million for the interim federal health program. Can you just elaborate a bit more on that?

If you add all of that up, it's pretty close to $700 million, so I just wonder if I'm reading that correctly.

[Marta Morgan]

Mr. Chair, this year's main estimates include an increase of $112 million for the Canada-Québec Accord, and that makes a total of $490 million to be provided to the Government of Québec. It is provided for the settlement and integration services that the Government of Québec provides for new immigrants, similar to what the federal government provides throughout the country through service provider organizations.

Then, with respect to the IFH increase, I'll turn the question over to Chris Meyers to walk you through the numbers.

[Christopher Meyers]

The $89-million increase in the interim federal health program represents the department's assessments of net new need this year to address increased volumes and increased numbers of users in the program. It's what's termed a quasi-statutory program. There's a defined set of benefits based on the number of users, which drives the amount that is sought subsequently in the estimates documents—that $89.8 million.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Thank you.

Is part of this to catch up on some of the backlog? Just for clarity, is the $112 million in the Québec accord part of the $490 million, or is it added to it?

[Christopher Meyers]

The $112 million in the Canada-Québec Accord is the difference from last year to this year. The $490 million represents the baseline amount for this year. It's the total amount the government will pay, at least based on what we know as of today.

Each year there are subsequent adjustments to that amount based on the underlying formula in the accord, and they're driven by two factors. The first factor is the growth, year over year, in federal expenditures in percentage terms. The second factor is the growth in non-francophone immigration into Quebec. Combined, those drive the growth in the formula.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Can you provide me with a breakdown of the interim health program with respect to the health services it provides?

[Christopher Meyers]

I have some information here that I could table with the committee.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

It would be great if you could perhaps table it. Thank you.

I noticed as well that there's a biometrics increase here of $28.1 million. I know there are the eyes being examined as well, but this mainly must be to do with the number of fingerprints that are taken from illegal people crossing the border or immigrants coming into the country in total—or is this just for the illegal refugees?

[Marta Morgan]

This is for the overall immigration program, Mr. Chair. Biometrics is a key element of our identity management, and as we move forward to expand it more broadly, we've been working on both the IT and implementation around it.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Is there a storage bank that those fingerprints go into when people are crossing the border?

[Bruce Scoffield]

When either the CBSA or IRCC collects biometrics, we work very closely with the RCMP, which is the expert for the Government of Canada in the assessment of things such as fingerprints. It also holds the fingerprint records on behalf of the other agencies.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Would they have fingerprints from all regular immigrants coming into the country, then, or are these maintained mainly for illegal immigrants?

[Bruce Scoffield]

At present, the Government of Canada collects fingerprints from all refugee claimants and has been doing so since 1993. We also collect fingerprints from the citizens of some 30 countries, on a pilot basis, who have applied to us to come as temporary residents. We are in the midst of a project to expand the biometric program, as the deputy minister mentioned. It will eventually encompass all applicants who come to Canada as permanent residents as well as most who come as temporary residents.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Thank you.

Mr. Sarai, you have five minutes. This may be our last questioning before we have a vote on our estimates.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

My question is in respect to ETA, the electronic travel advisory. Maybe I missed it, but I don't see that there has been any increase of funding for those processing electronic travel advisories, particularly for an increase in officers for when one is flagged, for whatever reason. I have constituents who have friends or relatives coming from European countries, and whenever a name match or something happens, they are flagged and are held back for three, four, or five weeks.

I was hoping there would be some funding to process those name matches or mistaken queries.