Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 10th, 2016

[Anita Biguzs]

If I can clarify, I think this item is basically related to the support required for staff. In overall staffing for visas in terms of our department, we actually make sure that we look at missions across the network internationally. We locate our resources where we know the volumes are.

We also send out temporary duty officers, certainly in terms of key missions, to where we know the volumes may be increasing, to help us in terms of managing the workflow, as we've already mentioned. As Mr. Orr has mentioned, with the centralized network, we actually also move work across the network electronically. We are able to do processing in Canada in addition to the work that may take place at our missions abroad.

It's the role of visa officers to ensure that we are fulfilling the requirements of legislation under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. That means our visa officers assess applications based on the admissibility criteria that have been identified in that legislation in terms of whether they actually deem a visa should be approved or not. That's the role of the visa officer in terms of fulfilling their functions. I think it may be less an issue in terms of staffing, but that's the role of the visa officer in terms of making determinations whether to approve or not to approve a visitor visa to Canada.

[Shaun Chen, Liberal, Scarborough North, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I'll be sharing the rest of my time with Mr. Ehsassi.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Chen.

I want to focus my questions on changes to the estimates relating to the refugee determination system. I notice there was a decrease of $6.7 million, and I was wondering if you could explain what accounts for that decrease in funding. As a follow-up, the reason I'm concerned is that the IRCC had a report on plans and priorities that suggested there was a need to spend more money in introducing reforms. How would one reconcile what one finds in the report on plans and priorities with the decrease in funding?

[Anita Biguzs]

Mr. Chair, I think there have been some variations in our main estimates, in terms of the funding that had been received as part of the changes to the refugee asylum system back in 2012-13. Among the items that had been included as part of the asylum system was funding for what we call the reviews and interventions pilot project, which would allow immigration officers to intervene at hearings before the refugee protection division.

That funding, I think, has sunset, which is why you see a decrease in the estimates. The issue of whether that pilot project would be continued was to be taken into account as part of an overall assessment of how effective the changes to the asylum system have been. That work is now taking place in the department. We are assessing those changes and deciding whether we need to make further changes or continue the program.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

That concludes the first round of questioning.

Ms. Biguzs, before we start the second round, there were a number of undertakings you were going to give. Were you planning on giving us those in writing or orally? Do the members want them orally, or do you want them in writing?

[An hon. member]

In writing.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

It sounds like we'd prefer to have them in writing, sometime before the meeting concludes. I don't expect the members want to interrupt their questions.

Are you okay with that?

[Anita Biguzs]

Mr. Chair, yes, we were prepared to provide this information. One question we've already responded to was about computers for schools. I know there were other questions. There was one on the staffing issue in the Middle East, which we've responded to. We had a question on biometrics, which we are prepared to respond to.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Are you able to give us those in writing today?

[Anita Biguzs]

Yes, we can.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you.

Ms. Rempel, you have five minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My questions will reference resources available to offices of members of Parliament for dealing with immigration casework. It's my opinion that members' offices, whenever possible, should be referring constituents to the public service and making sure we're sticking to the rules. Every once in a while, however, our offices get something that requires our attention.

We've heard conflicting reports about what has happened to access to the ministerial enquiries division versus a general hotline in the central operating unit. When we call this general hotline, do we still have direct access to the ministerial enquiries division?

[Anita Biguzs]

Mr. Chair, I'll start and then turn the floor over to Mr. Orr.

We made a number of changes to try to provide better services to members of Parliament. The intention was to have one line to go through to simplify the kinds of inquiries we are receiving.

We also had a process for more complex cases—cases that the call centre might not be able to respond to—to have them addressed through the ministerial enquiries division. Our overall objective was to try to improve service and make it more facilitative for the offices of members of Parliament. Your input is invaluable in that.

I'll now turn to Mr. Orr to explain how we're trying to deal with some of the issues that members of Parliament have been experiencing with our MP call centre.

[Robert Orr]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, we've set this up recently with the new information line for members of Parliament. We are currently receiving about 3,500 inquiries per week, about 1,800 of those by phone and the rest by email. We are responding to the phone calls immediately, and the emails are being responded to within about 48 hours.

Specifically in response to the ministerial enquiries division, the unit is making a determination. If it is something that they can deal with rapidly, they are doing so. If it is a more complex issue, then it is automatically referred to the ministerial enquiries division, who will respond to that inquiry and get back to the constituency office or the MP directly.

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

Mr. Orr, do you have a sense of what the turnaround time is now for inquiries to the ministerial enquiries division through this new process?

[Robert Orr]

I believe they are respecting the 48-hour turnaround, at least for initial contact.

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

What's happened in my office is that, where we used to get a decision within a day when we were able to contact the ministerial enquiries division immediately, it's now taking 10 days. This has significantly increased the workload on my very few constituent staff. I'm wondering why you've removed the access directly to the ministerial enquiries division and put a middleman in as opposed to simply training members of Parliament who might not be aware of the capacity or the purpose of the ministerial enquiries division.

[Robert Orr]

Mr. Chair, I think the issue here is that the agents in the information centre for members of Parliament are able to answer the vast majority of cases immediately. The vast majority of cases are being responded to there. We made changes yet again yesterday to increase the types of cases that the call centre can respond to immediately.

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

But to be clear, Mr. Orr, it's my understanding that members of Parliament do not have direct access to the ministerial enquiries division any longer. Is that correct?

[Robert Orr]

We have not closed down the phone line to ministerial enquiries.

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

Will that change? Can my office still now pick up the phone and bypass the central call unit for complex cases and directly call the ministerial enquiries division?

[Robert Orr]

Our experience thus far is that offices are getting excellent client service through the centre, and the vast majority of those cases are being responded to immediately. Where there are systemic or more complex issues, then, yes, it goes back to the ministerial enquiries unit.

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

But to be clear, it's my understanding that my office can no longer directly contact the ministerial enquiries division with a complex case. Is that correct?

[Robert Orr]

The phone line is still there, Mr. Chair, and access is possible.