Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Sept. 27th, 2018

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

With the increase—and you mentioned the intake of immigrants was rising from 310,000 to 330,000, eventually getting to 340,000—what was determined, based on that increase?

[Matt de Vlieger]

What went into the determination?

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

Yes.

[Matt de Vlieger]

I think the government would have been looking at several factors, and I mentioned some of them. They would have been looking at the long-term contributions that immigrants will make, based on historical track record of outcomes, so looking at things like population.

We certainly work with Stats Canada. They do a lot of modelling about the aging population of the country, and worker-to-retiree ratios, so looking at some of those long-term impacts in terms of the overall number. There's also looking at some of the short-term needs. There is always a long consultation process, quite comprehensive, with the provinces and territories, with stakeholders across the country, where the—

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

Where there are shortages?

[Matt de Vlieger]

Government would have heard about sectors that are in shortage, employer groups that are looking to access high human capital talent, and not always high human capital, but often of intermediate skill as well. Then the government would have looked at the various pathways in the immigration levels plan and determined which categories would need to grow.

The other aspect that a government would look at is things like processing times and trying to balance where the demand is in terms of applications, whether it's in the family reunification categories, or in the private sponsorship categories that we spoke about earlier, and trying to balance the demand there with the output through the levels plan.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Mr. Tilson.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Some of the media have reported recently that the number of visas granted, the percentage of the number of visas, is down. Is that correct?

[Matt de Vlieger]

I might turn to my colleague in the international network on that one.

[Mark Giralt, Director General, International Network, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

If I understand the question, you're talking about acceptance rates and refusal rates.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Yes, and I can tell you, in my riding the number of people who come to my office asking for letters of recommendation—and I review them—has substantially increased. Yet, they come back and tell me that they are being rejected. Quite frankly, the reasons are questionable. Then I read in one of the media outlets—I can't remember which one—that the number of visas that have been denied, the percentage has increased.

[Mark Giralt]

To answer your question, Mr. Chair, I would comment as follows. In the initial presentation we talked about the substantial growth we've had over a number of years. This year will be no different in terms of the volume. The percentage of cases that we see and are refused hasn't changed very much. It's fairly constant, but obviously, the number of real cases, because the volumes have gone up significantly—about a half million more cases this year over last year—represents more clients that don't have their applications approved. They will generate more transactions or more contacts.

The criteria have remained constant. We look at, in different categories, different criteria. Certainly, in the temporary entry or visitor category, we're looking to make sure that people meet our security and health requirements before entering Canada, what we would refer to as admissibility and criminality screenings. We also look at factors such as—

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Yes, I'm aware of what you look at.

Have you put out directives, because there are too many visas, because the volume has increased, that perhaps we should be more vigilant?

I'm only speaking from my personal experience in my office. People bring in letters, and I, quite frankly, don't really understand why they've been rejected. There's no way of pursuing that, or very rarely is there a way of pursuing that. The thought occurred to me as to whether the department has been giving instructions around the planet to be a bit more challenging for all those seeking visas.

[Mark Giralt]

That's a fair question. Certainly, it's one that we receive often.

We don't have new instructions to refuse cases. Refusal of applications creates, actually, more work for us. Generally speaking, I think people—

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Well, not really. The people reviewing an application, in whatever state it is, just reject them—

[Mark Giralt]

From our standpoint that's not—

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

—because they haven't travelled or they don't have sufficient assets or whatever.

Even when they do meet those core requirements—and I'm just speaking personally from observations that I've made. I'm not even in a city. I'm partially out of a city, and I get a lot of these applications.

[Mark Giralt]

I would just reiterate that for us, when people are refused, they do generate more effort on the parts of officers. Officers will document the reasons they feel the applicant doesn't meet the requirements.

Again, our rates have not significantly changed in terms of refusals. The volumes of applications we are seeing in temporary categories have gone up significantly, and that would generate more individuals who have been refused. Canada continues to receive more visitors through these categories, and more people are issued visas now than ever.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Returning to your comment, you indicated there's a higher volume with everything, visas, internally displaced persons, everything. Is the funding being increased, or are you prioritizing certain categories?

[Matt de Vlieger]

I give the example of the immigration levels plan that we spoke about. That's the plan that grows to 310,000 permanent resident admissions this year. That was accompanied at the time—I think it was in the fall economic statement, or budget 2018—with the accompanying resources that relate to immigration levels, resources for the department and its partners to process those applications, and also resources for settlement after those permanent residents have come to Canada.

There's a formula-driven basis for the funding. When there's an increase, the department is resourced to deliver that.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Part of what the committee has seen in recent times is the problem of internally displaced persons who are not generally covered by refugee mechanisms, but who are, nonetheless, deserving of our assistance. What should Canada's policy be with respect to internally displaced persons?

[Jean-Marc Gionet, Senior Director, International Network, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

Thank you for the question.

With respect to Canada's resettlement program, as you heard from the previous witness, the primary focus in the structure is on refugees. That said, there are mechanisms in the legislation that allow for special measures to be taken. We saw that implemented for survivors of Daesh. Again, with the number of refugees in need of resettlement at 1.4 million, we see that there's a great need and we work very closely with partners such as the UNHCR and private sponsors to provide solutions to those persons.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

I'm afraid that's the end of the seven minutes.

I'll just follow up with Mr. Tilson so that he doesn't think he's the only member facing this issue. Members on the government side are having some of the experiences and anecdotal....

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

I'm sure you are.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

I'm not quite sure I'm going to ask for it today, but just to put you on notice, I think that for this study, the committee will need data on both the numbers of applications by category and by region, rates of acceptance and rejection, and any appeal process that happens after that, because sometimes there's a second consideration. If we could have a comparative between...I don't know exactly what year I'd like to pick, but I believe that what Mr. Tilson is saying is occurring more than in Orangeville.