Evidence of meeting #125 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 migration.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair (Mr. Robert Oliphant (Don Valley West, Lib.)) Liberal Rob Oliphant
I call the meeting to order.
Good afternoon, and welcome.
This is the 125th meeting of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we are continuing our study of migration challenges and opportunities for Canada in the 21st century.
I notice a number of substituting members today. That's great. Welcome.
I thought Bill Casey was here, but he's gone.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
To bring the substituting members on board so you know what is going on, this is a longer study than we've normally done on this committee. It's looking at migration in the 21st century. It's looking at the challenges, the reasons people are on the move, and where they're on the move from and to. That's both forced migration in terms of refugees, and planned or voluntary migration by economic migrants and those related to that, such as students or temporary migrants, etc.
This is a big picture study to look at what Canada's response should be to a world that is on the move more than it's ever been in the history of humanity. We're doing that study. We've had a number of meetings.
Today we're going to welcome His Excellency Peteris Ustubs, who is a representative of the European Union here in Ottawa; and with him is Brice de Schietere.
They have very graciously accepted our invitation to come and give us a European perspective.
In the second hour of the meeting, we'll be following up on some of this in an in camera meeting. That's just to give you a heads-up that what we ask about in this first hour could inform our discussion in the in camera meeting as well.
It's over to you, Your Excellency. Thank you for accepting our request to come to us.
His Excellency Peteris Ustubs Ambassador, Delegation of the European Union to Canada
Thank you very much for the invitation. Thank you very much for the opportunity to come and be a witness.
Thinking about what I am going to say about migration and your ongoing preparation of the reports, I can definitely assure you that there is quite a lot the European Union and Europe can say about the current developments and current undertakings related to migration. I hope today's conversations will help you in drafting the report in different ways and from different perspectives.
Migration is not a local phenomenon, nor can it be reduced to a national or even regional challenge. Wars, violence and persecution drove worldwide forced displacement to a new high in 2017 for the fifth year in a row. Therefore, we are talking about something that is somehow becoming permanent.
As of the end of 2017, 68.5 million people were displaced. Among them were 16.2 million people who became displaced just during 2017 itself, indicating a huge number of people on the move. If we deduce it more precisely, it is equivalent to 44,500 people who are displaced each day, or approximately one person displaced every two seconds. These numbers speak for themselves. It is truly a global phenomenon that continues and is likely to continue for the foreseeable future to have a major impact on our societies, on our economies, and on our political debates.
The European Union, due to its geographical location, its intrinsic openness, its interconnections to trade and travel routes, and its open frontiers, is in the midst of this challenge. The EU is located in close proximity to several crisis zones. Our situation is different from that of other countries that have secure physical borders.
We are also close to some of the countries with the highest population growth. To give you one example, Nigeria has less than 200 million inhabitants today, and it is estimated it will have one billion at the end of this century. This is an enormous challenge, but let me add, also an enormous opportunity.
Being a global phenomenon, migration requires global attention, political will, and a global shared vision. In this respect, we are grateful that Canada remains our strong partner in international fora at the UN as well as at the G7, calling for solidarity and global migration management. We also acknowledge the contribution of Canada in resettling 40,000 Syrian refugees since 2015.
After this brief yet necessary introduction, let me address the first point raised by this honourable committee, and that is the state of play in the European Union or its neighbourhood.
It is fair to say that a combination of the factors in 2015 and 2016 led to the unprecedented influx of irregular migrants to the EU. It is also fair to say that the EU was less than optimally prepared for an event of such proportions. I will not delve into details. Suffice it to say that between 2015 and 2017, the EU received over 3.4 million asylum seekers.
To compound the problem, the vast majority of these applicants arrived in a very limited number of countries, which did not have sufficient structures with the capacity to handle such an inflow. That said, the EU today is far better prepared to handle the migration phenomenon and to face the challenge.
We have made significant, important strides during the last 18 months. We have stemmed irregular migration. Arrivals have been dramatically reduced, down by 97% on the eastern Mediterranean route and 80% on the central Mediterranean route. Numbers are now back, if I may say so, to those of pre-crisis years.
Meanwhile, we have saved over 690,000 lives at sea in the past three years, 690,000, thanks to the combined efforts of the EU and its member states. This impressive progress has been made possible by the improved management of our external borders. As Canada knows very well, the effective management of external borders is a precondition of any successful migration policy.
I should also underline that the EU has reinforced its external borders, not closed them. It has put in place structures to speed the processing of claims at the border and to register and process arrivals.
Furthermore, given the geographical situation of the European Union, a robust migration policy should not be limited to effectively managing the borders. It is an illusion to imagine stemming the flow of people by erecting walls or building fences. For that matter, it is difficult to imagine where any such wall could actually be built around Europe, given our interconnections with Asia and African.
A successful integration policy and immigration policy has to encompass an external dimension aimed at tackling the root causes that force people to move.
We have stepped up our co-operation with countries of origin and transit on returns and readmission. Despite some success in concluding new non-legally binding arrangements with Bangladesh, Guinea, Ethiopia, the Gambia, and soon, hopefully, Ivory Coast, securing third countries' cooperation on the readmission of their own nationals remains a challenge. Lack of cooperation from certain origin countries is not helping, and it represents perhaps the major challenge at this stage.
In the longer term, the situation can only improve by addressing the roots of the phenomena, such as what we have seen in Syria and tackling issues of good governance in Africa. Given the projections of demographic trends, people will only be willing to stay in their countries if they have good economic prospects but also freedom and the protection of fundamental rights. Assisting African countries in creating better economic opportunities, improving their governance and fighting corruption and mismanagement is not an expense; it is an investment in our future.
The EU is Africa's closest neighbour, biggest investor, main trading and development partner and a key security provider. I would like to mention just a few figures for reference. The EU is providing 31 billion euros in official development assistance to Africa between 2014 to 2020 to boost Africa's economy, to give young people in the continent a chance to build a future, to ensure food security and access to energy, and to anchor good governance and respect for human rights. The EU member states held an investment stock of 291 billion euros in 2016 in Africa, making the EU the biggest investor in that continent. The EU also offers free access to the EU market via economic partnership agreements with the countries of North Africa, and, for everything but arms schemes, with the rest of the continent.
Let me provide an overview of other developments in migration and what we are doing right now.
First of all, I would like to state the obvious, which is that migration is something that features very strongly on the political agenda of the European Union. Here are just three examples. Ministers of the interior of the European Union, 28 member states, discussed migration on October 12. Ministers of foreign affairs met yesterday, and heads of state of governments will discuss migration later this week when they have a meeting on October 17 and 18.
Just to demonstrate that migration is definitely high on the agenda of political leadership, in the state of the union speech last month, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, announced a number of new important proposals that will strengthen our work on migration and asylum. Allow me to mention some of them.
EU leaders agreed to strengthen the role of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency with 10,000 permanent staff with their own equipment and tools, provided by national border agencies; a budget of 2.2 billion euros between 2021 and 2027 to finance its operations; and a strong mandate to launch joint operations, not only with its own staff within the EU but also outside the European Union.
As I said, this is crucial to effectively manage European external borders and provide a high level of security within the European Union, but at the same time, Europe will not close its borders and will continue to offer safety to those in need of protection.
In addition to strong external borders, we are proposing to reinforce the European Union Agency for Asylum. This agency will become a major tool in strengthening European solidarity and in increasing readiness to manage future migration challenges. To assist member states to better handle migration, this agency will be able to provide operational technical assistance in a timely manner.
While granting protection to the most vulnerable remains a priority, returning migrants who are ineligible according to international legislation are equally important for the good functioning of our asylum and migration system. Despite increased efforts, the rate of effective returns throughout the EU decreased from 46% in 2016 to 37% in 2017. We will work to expedite return procedures and increase the overall return rate in full respect of fundamental rights.
Legal migration is an integral part of the EU's comprehensive approach to migration and goes hand in hand with a firm policy in tackling irregular flows and ensuring stronger border protection, streamlining asylum procedures and more effective returns.
We have a legal path of legal migration for skilled workers, the EU Blue Card scheme. We have adopted new rules to make it easier for foreign students, researchers, trainees and volunteers to get a permit to come to the EU and to facilitate their access to the labour market—for example, the double scholarships and placements for students from African countries.
We launched an initiative to coordinate pilot projects with selected third countries on legal migration to fill shortages in the labour markets and help countries of origin build capacity through circular and labour migration projects.
The EU internal resettlement initiatives have demonstrated that unsafe and irregular migration can be replaced with legal and safe channels for persons in need of international protection. We need to make full use of other legal avenues for persons in need of protection.
Since 2015, two successful EU internal resettlement programs have helped over 38,000 of the most vulnerable people find shelter within the EU between different EU member states. To coordinate European efforts in the long term, the European Commission has proposed to set up a permanent union resettlement framework as part of the overall asylum framework.
Integration of third country migrants into the labour market is key to ensuring a positive impact of migration. We are interested in how Canada's immigration policy addresses the admission of immigrants with skills that match economic needs and facilitates the long-term integration in the labour market, including recognition of foreign credentials and mentoring programs.
In conclusion, much has changed since 2015, but we do have a lot of work ahead of us to manage migration in a safe and orderly manner, pursuing a comprehensive migration approach, including on legal migration.
We have shared our experience with and learned from our Canadian counterparts at various levels on numerous occasions. Despite geographical differences, we know that the challenges we face are increasingly similar. We are grateful for Canada's continued co-operation and we look forward to further exchanges that are beneficial for both sides.
Thank you very much.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
Thank you, Your Excellency.
I'd like to have given you an hour. That's very helpful.
Ms. Zahid, you have seven minutes.
Salma Zahid Scarborough Centre, Lib.
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you for coming today and sharing information about the programs you are doing in the European community.
We have seen that as of 2015, Europe has faced the biggest wave of mass immigration since the Second World War, and the peak in migrant numbers was over one million back in 2015-2016.
Do you have any recent numbers?
Peteris Ustubs
Yes. I can go back to the presentation. I will not read it again, don't worry, but I will come back to you and I will tell you exactly what the figures are if we split it among the years.
We had 1.3 million in 2015. The figure was more or less the same in 2016. In 2017 it dropped to 800,000 people. The overall tendency is going down.
Scarborough Centre, Lib.
Have you done any studies on what is motivating the crossers? Is it the economic background or is it some other reason? What are the factors driving more migration?
Peteris Ustubs
It is a very complex question, and I will try to be as concise as I can.
I think we need to split the arrival of migrants to the European Union via different kinds of routes, and I think the main reasons for people migrating to Europe would have different backgrounds.
First of all, if we look at the eastern Mediterranean route, which is the link between Turkey and Greece, either the land border or the sea border, we see that most probably the highest number of people come from Syria. That was the case in 2015 and in 2016. Nowadays there is a certain shift in nationalities coming to Europe via that route, but the main reason was the ongoing war in Syria, which sparked a high increase in the numbers of people.
If you move to the central Mediterranean route, the story is slightly different, because the nationality you would see on those boats would come from Bangladesh; you would see Eritreans and Libyans, and most recently, an increasing number of Tunisians and many from western Africa; Nigeria is dominant.
For them, the main reason would be economics, trying to reach Europe for economic benefit. I'm not playing down the conditions in some of those countries for those people, but it is not migration because of war or other disasters.
The most recent phenomenon is migration in the western Mediterranean linking Morocco and Spain. Again, the migrants you would see on those ships would come mostly from west Africa. They are of a slightly different composition than in the central Mediterranean. They would come from Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and Nigeria. There again it would mainly be economic migration.
Scarborough Centre, Lib.
In our last few meetings, we have heard from some witnesses about the relationship between the legal and illegal immigration channels and how eliminating legal channels can drive migrants to use the illegal routes. For example, when Spain eliminated the seasonal work visa for Africans, it led to a migrant surge, and bringing back a visa program saw the number of illegals drop.
You have mentioned some programs you have brought in, in Europe. Have you seen that bringing some more legal programs decreases the number of illegal immigrants? What relationship do you find between them?
Peteris Ustubs
I would like to mention specifically here several things linked with our Operation Sophia in the Mediterranean. The mandate of that operation, which is the EU's operation together with member states, gave in 2016 the possibility of arresting smugglers and taking away the means of migration, meaning the ships.
The third element for that operation was to increase the capacity of Libyan coast guards. To mention just a few examples, because of that operation, we managed to arrest around 200 individuals who were directly involved in smuggling operations. Secondly, because of the operation, we managed to dismantle or take away approximately 500 ships that were involved in illegal migration activities.
Last but not least, if you look at the events taking place outside the Libyan coast, due to the increase in the capacity of the Libyan coast guards, basically during the last couple of months, the numbers were significantly decreasing, because all the operations were contained and managed by the Libyan coast guards, which did not exist before.
The short answer to your question is that there is a lot of ongoing illegal activity, and there is a lot of need to be active in attacking or tackling it. If you know where to address it, then smuggling activities might go down.
Liberal
Conservative
Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Thank you, Chair.
I want to thank the ambassador for being here today, and Mr. de Schietere as well.
This is a great deal of information that you've provided. You just mentioned Operation Sophia as one of the areas you've been dealing with, but I'm wondering if you can update me on other progress. I've been reading a bit about the Dublin agreement and the renegotiation in that area. I wonder if you could update us on that Dublin agreement in regard to the settlement of refugees.
Peteris Ustubs
The Dublin agreement is under revision at the moment. The European Commission presented its proposals to the European Council. At the moment, it is for the member states to discuss and come up with a final decision.
It is evident that the Dublin arrangement should be revisited. We need to make sure that member states actually find the relevant compromises between themselves, specifically related to the fact of where the migrant is registered—either it is the first entry or not—and how that information is then circulated among the EU member states.
Of course, there is another element that I mentioned, and that is internal resettlement of the migrants and refugees who reach the EU. Discussions among member states are ongoing, and not always are those discussions easy. I don't want to predict any kind of calendar for when that discussion will be finalized, but the mere fact that heads of state and governments are going to discuss migration again at the summit later this week demonstrates that it is not only for ministers of the interior to find a compromise; it is also for the highest level of heads of state and government to do so. This is one of the key priorities: to get the legal framework and co-operation framework between member states done.
Conservative
Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Yes, and when you look at it, I understand that people who are immigrants or asylum seekers arriving in Europe today still aren't allowed to choose the country or state that they may want to be present in as far as an asylum request goes. Do you think there's anything we can do in Canada? Does it make any sense for Canada to enter into similar agreements with European countries, such as some of the European countries are doing right now, in regard to entertaining claims from asylum persons?
Conservative
Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
With the goal—
Pardon me. It would be with the goal to prevent this idea of shopping around to find the country you want to be in.
Peteris Ustubs
One of the things that played an important role for addressing the Dublin arrangement was that in order to avoid possibilities of migrants arriving in Europe and shopping for a country, we needed to have all the database, fingerprinting and applications done at the first stop, in one first place. Otherwise, if those fingerprints weren't taken, they would not be stored, and then the asylum shopping might start.
Now it is addressed in a far more comprehensive way. It is done in Greece and done in Italy for all who arrive. Then it is just the agreements between EU member states that make sure that the migrants actually move around in internal resettlement.
Concerning the interest of Canada to participate, that definitely would be a sovereign decision of Canada. There might be different kinds of approaches because, within the groups arriving in Europe, we see people who are definitely coming from war zones and we need to find protection for them on humanitarian grounds or for other reasons, but then there is a third category, which would be more linked with economical migration.
It would require a certain definition, potentially from Canada, about what kind of specific migration you would be interested in. Either there is the one type, with people coming from war-torn countries like Syria or elsewhere, or you would be interested to have more of the economic migrants, who might come with skills and would be interested in finding their way there.
Conservative
Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Thank you.
Just in relation to time, do any of the EU countries issue work permits to those currently waiting for an asylum hearing?
Conservative