Citizenship and Immigration Committee on July 24th, 2018

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Sure.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

When the convention was negotiated, France actually insisted on clarity in that article, because it limits its application to persons coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom is threatened in the sense of article 1.

My colleague mentioned 2001 as being a year when a large number of people entered the country. Are you aware of the year that the safe third country agreement was executed?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Oh, it was almost 20 to 25 years ago.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

It was in 2002 and it was directly in response to that, so part of the reason why Canada's asylum system was able to recover from this was that a former Liberal government agreed to apply that interpretation of article 31 and execute the safe third country agreement.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Yes.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

My question is for Minister Blair.

Subsection 159.4(1) of the immigration and refugee protection regulations states the following in regard to IRPA:

Paragraph 101(1)(e) of the Act does not apply to a claimant who seeks to enter Canada at (a) a location that is not a port of entry;

Will you direct your officials to examine the possibility of gazetting a change to remove this section from the immigration and refugee protection regulations, thereby allowing the safe third country agreement to be enforced along the entire Canada-U.S. border?

[Bill Blair]

In response to that, it is an issue, quite frankly, that I've had an opportunity to discuss very briefly with officials. They explained the impact of doing that, which would be very problematic in many ways.

The nature of the border in certain parts of the country, particularly across that area of the Eastern Townships and Quebec south of Montreal—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Thank you, Minister Blair.

Just in the interest of time, I'll take that as a no.

[Bill Blair]

Well, actually, you can take it any way you want, but the answer to that question is that there has been discussion, and the impact of doing that would be more problematic than not.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

You just said that you would not direct your officials to look at that as a legislative option. Thank you.

Can you, Minister Blair, please tell me how many people you project will illegally enter Canada from the United States and subsequently claim asylum in our country for the remainder of this year and in 2019?

[Bill Blair]

I would refer to the officials. There are estimates that are available, based on what we have seen. We have seen a reduction in the last few months, and I can tell you that they are prepared for any contingency that may present itself, but I am not in possession of an actual projection.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

The Parliamentary Budget Officer has requested that you provide him by Thursday with projected numbers for the next five years of people in this category. Do you plan to provide him with this data?

[Bill Blair]

I am advised by the official, yes.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

And will you make that publicly available to this committee at the same time?

[Bill Blair]

Yes.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Thank you.

Minister Blair, besides your ministerial office staff, who actually reports to you?

[Bill Blair]

I have not yet received my mandate letter from the Prime Minister, so right now I am working in co-operation with Minister Goodale and Minister Hussen on this issue. There are other issues related to the job that I have been given, and I am working, again, across ministries.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Just to clarify this, will Minister Goodale report to you?

[Bill Blair]

Absolutely not. No.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Will the CBSA report to you?

[Bill Blair]

No.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Will the RCMP report to you?

[Bill Blair]

And again, I am not in receipt of my mandate letter and until I am in receipt of it and receive that direction from the Prime Minister, I wouldn't want to speculate for this committee.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Wow. Great.

Minister Blair, clearly the Prime Minister has put you in this position for a reason. One could surmise that it's because your colleagues have perhaps not gotten the job done.

What would you have done differently from Ministers Goodale and Hussen to reduce the number of people illegally entering Canada from the United States, and subsequently claiming asylum?

[Bill Blair]

Respectfully, I disagree with the suggestion that the job has not been done. My observation is that they have been working very diligently and effectively on this issue.

I believe that my responsibilities, and the reason I've been asked to provide assistance, is that this is a complex issue that affects multiple ministries and departments, and—