Evidence of meeting #113 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was funding.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
On a point of clarification, Mr. Chair, I would note that the Honourable Bob Rae did table a report saying that Canada should increase its sponsorship of Rohingya refugees through the PSR program.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Thank you very much. Mr. Chair.
Along those lines, how many people are in the one-year window of opportunity backlog at the moment, or how many applications?
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
We would propose to come back to the chair with that information.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Could you also provide information on how long you expect for that backlog to be processed?
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Do you mean the backlog of one-year window?
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
We will provide that information to the committee.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Thank you.
Speaking of backlogs, can you confirm that recently there was a backlog reduction office established in Niagara for caregivers?
Bruce Scoffield Director General, Immigration Program Guidance Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I can say that, in fact, we have had for a number of years what we call a backlog reduction office in Niagara Falls, as well as others in Montreal and Vancouver. These do different lines of work, including processing humanitarian and compassionate applications. As for the office in Niagara Falls, I would have to confirm whether it's processing live-in caregivers at this point, but there is an office there.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
If you can provide that information, then perhaps you can provide to the committee what it's set up to do, which are the streams, and then for the caregiver stream, how many it is targeted to process in terms of the backlog and where the files are coming from, where they transferred from in terms of that processing.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I would like to note to the committee that the live-in caregiver inventory is now below 12,000, and we expect to meet our commitment of processing 80% of the existing inventory by December of 2018.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
I would still like that information about the Niagara office, if I may.
Along those lines, could I also get the detailed information, the breakdown of how many people in the backlog have been stuck in the system as a result of their spouse having served in the military or the correctional services or the police, or in some situation like that, and as a result of that, their case is delayed in processing?
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
If we have that breakdown, we will provide it to the committee. I'm not sure that we keep track of things in exactly that way, but we will do our best.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
I'd even like broad numbers, particularly those where their security checks are not being processed. I have cases in my office where it's more than 10 years, and they're still waiting. It's not reasonable to anticipate that a person's security measure is not somehow cleared after 10 years. I don't know what else can be done. I know CBSA, but still, I'd like to know how many people are stuck in the system.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
We'd be happy to provide that information. As I noted, we do expect to meet our commitment of processing 80% of the existing inventory by December 2018, which should take care of the vast majority of these cases, but certainly there are some cases that are more complicated than others.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Yes, thank you, but the outstanding cases are important, too. Always just saying you've done a lot is not acceptable when we have these ones, and it almost sounds like they don't matter.
On the issue around fees, we know that, with the passports, there's been over $1 billion collected in fees since 2013 that's sitting in an account right now. The minister just said that $250-some million will be allocated for this year's budget towards passports. Does the ministry have a projected plan on when that $1 billion will be spent?
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
When the 10-year passport was introduced, it was recognized that, in the first five years of that 10-year passport, the passport program would accrue surpluses, but that, in the last five years of those 10 years, as people had 10-year passports and therefore, the amount of renewals went down, those surpluses would be used to cover the cost of those last five years. This is the first year you see that happening, so that's why you see that increase against passport, but it really is a reduction of the net revenues of the program, because renewals have gone down now that we're in the second of those five years.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Yes, with the exception that the hike in the fee has resulted in a surplus, and that surplus has been accumulating year after year to the point now that the surplus is at $1 billion, which is a significant amount of money. It makes a person wonder whether IRCC should be re-evaluating the fee itself. Along those lines, I'm interested in this as well.
What is the actual cost to the government to process citizenship applications, work permit applications, study permit applications, permanent residence applications, and family reunification applications, and how much in fees are being collected for each of those streams?
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Our fees are published, and we would be happy to provide them to the committee.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Sorry, not the fee itself, but rather the total amount of fees that's being collected under each of those streams.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
The revenue. On an annual basis?
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
That information is available, and certainly we can provide it.
I would just note that the passport program is just entering the second half of its business cycle, so we are starting to see the drop in business demand and revenues that was expected, so while there is a surplus at the moment, we expect that surplus to be drawn down over the next five years.
