Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 12th, 2016

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

Thanks, Mr. Chairman.

I'd like to ask some questions on the immigrant loan program. I understand the government has waived the loans of up to $10,000 for Syrian refugees, which cover travel costs to Canada and medical examinations for the Syrian refugees. I have several questions. First, what is the rationale to favour Syrian refugees alone with this policy, over others, in a world teeming with refugees?

[David Manicom]

The refugee loan program was not used for the Syrian movement in the normal way, primarily because of the speed with which the operation was going on. We were doing government airlifts, using chartered aircraft rather than individual flights. In that context, the government itself chose to cover those travel costs, given that the costs of chartered aircraft and military aircraft would be very high if you were charging the refugees for those costs.

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

I guess this is the question that's been put to me: will other refugees, other than Syrian refugees, be exempted in the future in the same way that the Syrian refugees have been exempted?

[David Manicom]

Yes, I believe our minister has said that he is looking at the immigration loan program. Waiving the immigration loan program for other refugees as well would be a considerable additional cost. The interest rate charged on the loans is extremely low. Right now it is 0.75%. Government is looking at the repayment schedules, whether or not interest should be charged, maximum size of loans. We are reviewing all of those issues. Each has a cost associated with it, so it is something that's under active review at this time.

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

But there's no question that Syrian refugees have been exempted of up to $10,000.

[David Manicom]

The Syrian refugees who were coming under the initiative up until the end of February are exempted.

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

Will Canadians who have come to Canada in the past under this process, and who have had loans through this process, have those loans paid back?

[David Manicom]

Will they have those loans paid back? I'm not sure.

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

The policy as I understand it is that there are loans for travel costs and for medical examinations. The policy is—and I'll repeat what I said, and you can correct me if I'm wrong—that up to $10,000 is going to be waived. If that's the case, and I'll repeat my last question, will other refugees from other countries be treated the same way, number one? Number two, will refugees who have come to Canada in the past, and who have had to pay those expenses themselves—which are substantial, just travel costs, let alone medical costs—be reimbursed for those costs?

[David Manicom]

The government has not announced any changes to the immigration loans program with regard to other refugees, or refugees who came in the past. Just to clarify the medical costs, those are quite modest. Those are the costs for the medical examination itself. The answer is no. There is no government announcement at this time. The immigration loans program has been in place for many decades.

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

Indeed it has, which is why people have asked me. I'm talking about other refugees. They have asked why they can't we be treated the same way as the Syrian refugees, because there are many refugees who go through terrible experiences like those of the Syrian refugees. They all want to be treated the same way.

That's the reason why I've asked that line of questioning. Your answer is you have no plans to treat other refugees in the same way as we're treating Syrian refugees.

[David Manicom]

If I could correct that slightly, I said the immigration loans program is under active review, but the government has not yet announced any change to it.

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

When do you expect the review to be finished?

[David Manicom]

I don't have a date at this time, sir.

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

What are the costs so far in waiving these loans to Syrian refugees?

[Dawn Edlund]

I believe the transportation costs up to the end of April, and that includes the planes, the buses, the hotels, the food at the airport, etc. are in the neighbourhood of $55.6 million.

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

I didn't hear that.

[Dawn Edlund]

It's $55.6 million.

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

That's what government has paid for that.

[Dawn Edlund]

Yes, that's what we paid under our contract with the International Organization for Migrations.

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

Do you intend to continue to pay those amounts for future Syrian refugees?

[Dawn Edlund]

Our commitment was to Syrian refugees who were interviewed by the end of February, and those transportation costs will be paid for them as well.

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

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported in April that refugee claimants were being charged outrageous amounts by immigration consultants to process their claims. I don't know whether you can talk about that, but I wonder if you are able to tell us the status of the investigation into the unscrupulous practices of some of these immigration consultants with respect to Syrian refugees.

[Dawn Edlund]

Mr. Chair, there's a three-pronged approach that's been undertaken in relation to that particular line of stories and other incidents that have come to our attention. One is to refer the allegations and the facts to the appropriate investigating agencies within the Government of Canada. In this instance it's the Canada Border Services Agency.

The second line of approach is to then go to the regulatory body for immigration consultants to have them review whether or not with these allegations there's been a breach of the code of professional conduct by those immigration consultants.

The third is our own relationship with our sponsorship agreement holders and whether there's been any breach of the obligations they have, such as possibly overcharging administrative fees that's not allowed under the agreement that we have with that particular organization.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you, Mr. Tilson. Your time is up.

Ms. Kwan, seven minutes please.