Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 27th, 2018

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

The minister has said that he's spending money to deter asylum seekers. We now know that people firing tear gas at asylum seekers is not something the minister is looking at. Related to that is whether or not the department officials have conducted any examination of the asylum seekers entering into the country based on the safe third country agreement, consistent with the 1951 UN convention.

This is all part of the department's work, Mr. Chair, under asylum seekers. Every aspect of it, when you make a decision related to that decision, actually applies.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Go ahead.

[Marta Morgan]

The funding provided in the supplementary estimates is utilized in order to provide information in the United States and in other places regarding Canada's asylum system and to correct misinformation that may be circulating—

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

[Marta Morgan]

—regarding Canada's system. That is what that funding is used for.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I gather, then, there's no inquiry into that.

How many asylum claims does the ministry expect the IRB to have referred to it in total in 2018, 2019, and 2020? Given that the government has continued to choose to underfund the IRB, how many of those claims referred to them does the department expect them to process in each of those years?

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

I'm afraid I need to end you there.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Can I get that information tabled?

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

No.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

So much for getting information.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Mr. Whalen, it's your question.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you, Chair.

I'm happy to have Ms. Kwan's question answered.

[Paul MacKinnon]

Mr. Chair, this year—2018—we're expecting approximately 50,000 asylum claims overall.

Ms. Kwan, you might have been asking about the backlog at the IRB. As of October this year, there are about 69,000 decisions pending.

In terms of 2020, I wouldn't want to suggest what that number will be, but the 50,000 last year and 50,000 this year seem to be about on par in terms of a yearly intake.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you.

With respect to the line of questioning earlier about the consent management process, in my office, when I happen to deal with an immigration case, I'm often asked by the agent on the phone for the date of birth, the UCI and the application number. They verify my identity and that I have this information, and that's what's deemed consent. I contrast that with the CRA, where I'm required to provide a physical consent form. I think there are two different standards of consent.

I like the process at the IRCC, so I'm not suggesting you change. But one thing about that process is that there's no ability for the IRCC to know from me whether or not I'm acting on behalf of any other individual group or for someone else's benefit. That's an ethics question.

Do you have some other mechanism to obtain that information generally, or does it not exist?

[Marta Morgan]

No, we would not have information on that. We are operating on the basis that MPs receive questions from their constituents and that if the MP has the information, it indicates that they have consent. We only provide information on the file.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

With respect to the MP hotline, there's no ability for someone who answers the phone to take any decision that's outside their purview or to be influenced or lend or sell influence through using the MP hotline?

[Dr. Harpreet Kochhar, Assistant Deputy Minister, Operations, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

It is the case that the person who is receiving the call on the other end is able to go into the global case management system, look at the status of the file, and see if there are particular inquiries, for example, about whether something is missing or how much time.... That is all. They don't have the ability or the power to change anything or influence a decision.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

That's perfect.

I'm going to ask some questions along the lines of the levels plan, because I think it affects the estimates process in terms of whether there will be more or less, or how the run rate is going to work in the budgetary process as we look forward.

In terms of the increased operating expenses, there doesn't appear to be anything related to increased or decreased costs associated with the levels plan. For the 2018-19 fiscal year, how are we doing, what ballpark are we at now, with respect to the levels plan and the expenditures? Do you expect expenditures to fluctuate with where we are in the levels plan, or are we going to be down the middle regardless, and plus or minus 20,000 cases really isn't going to change our operating expenses?

I just want to get a sense of that, because there's quite a broad range within the levels plan. From my perspective, if we were to hit the top ends I would expect to see some additional costs, or if we're at the low end, maybe some lesser costs.

I'd like to understand how you manage the finances in conjunction with the levels plan.

[Marta Morgan]

One thing that has been a real game-changer for us has been the multi-year levels plan the government tabled last year and then again this year, because it really does allow us to plan, budget and resource—in terms of human resources as well—on a multi-year, ongoing basis. Particularly when we have, as we do over the next number of years, an increase in the levels year after year, it allows us to be prepared for that.

We were provided funding in budget 2018 to support the growth in the levels plan. We are on track now, both in terms of the levels and utilization of the funding. We monitor this very closely because we want to make sure we are within the range that was approved by Parliament. Both on the funding and on the numbers side, at this point we would say that we are on track to do that.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

That's wonderful.

With respect to internal transfers for the migration policy development program, which is used to fund international forums and research on international migration policy issues, what policy issues were specifically done this year for that transfer? What is expected next year? We don't have project-based estimates reporting for your department, so it would be nice to see what the projects are like.

[Paul MacKinnon]

I'd be happy to table that information, but I can give you a sense of it if you don't mind me using the time.

We do a lot of workshops, for example, in Central America that look at capacity-building issues around visa and passport issuance. We work with the International Organization for Migration to better understand migration trends.

We had an earlier question about refugees. We're also doing some interesting work with an organization called Talent Beyond Boundaries that is looking at how we can look at refugees—and not just through the refugee lens of needing protection. A number of refugees are very skilled. Could we be bringing those folks in through economic pathways? We're doing some work there, and we've actually had, I believe, two people arrive in Canada through our work with Talent Beyond Boundaries, which is funded in part through this money.

Those are just some examples. There's a long list of examples that we could share.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Mills.

[Daniel Mills]

I'd like to add that the transfer of $650,000 was to meet the growing need for Canadian expertise in the execution and implementation of immigration policy and refugee protection policy at the international level. This is an internal transfer between our integration level and that program.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Mills, is your department effecting a transition in this manner...

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

I am sorry to have to interrupt you, but your time is up.