Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Jan. 30th, 2019

[Matthew Cecchetto]

IOM provides assistance to IRCC to fill out certain forms, for example in the adjudication process. Also, through all stages, whether it's medical or pre-departure, we outline the necessity that refugees declare all family members so that they can avail themselves of the one-year window program.

We do see that some people are worried about declaring certain family members. There can be persistent misinformation among refugee populations that declaring a family member would prolong their case. Those are persistent myths that we're trying to dispel.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

I'm afraid I need to stop you there. Thanks.

Mr. Sarai.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

I'll be sharing my time with Mr. Ayoub.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Okay.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

The first question is for Mr. Cecchetto.

Are India, the Philippines and China included in the countries that you give pre-arrival services to?

[Matthew Cecchetto]

In the last calendar year, 2018, the number of refugees who left China was four, so it's not very high. India was higher, and we do multiple sessions in India. As for the Philippines, we did hold a small session there in the last calendar year as well, but the number there is also very small.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Thank you.

Ms. Choo, I just wanted to thank you. I was at one of the graduating programs of C.A.R.E., the one that trains women in the hospitality sector. It was funded by IRCC. It was very effective. I think almost everyone in that program had employment, and it was well received by employers as well as the women who took it.

Ms. Choo, what is the participation rate in your pre-arrival services?

[Queenie Choo]

Certainly. Last year we served over 5,600 newcomers. This year we are already on pace to exceed last year's number by 30%.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

What countries are they predominantly from in terms of pre-arrival services?

[Queenie Choo]

They're from India, China, the Philippines and others.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

What strategies are you putting in place to reach these migrants before they depart?

[Queenie Choo]

That's a very good question. Thank you for asking it. We want to connect with them sooner rather than later. A lot of it is word of mouth. I personally went to visit the Canadian visa office in Hong Kong, because they issue all the visas to those individuals who receive invitations to Canada. I visited them to make sure the program was known to people.

It is not a mandatory program, but I think it's a wonderful program to ensure that people can start off at the very beginning, at the get-go, before they come to Canada.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Do you see a marked difference between immigrants who come after attending or doing one of these pre-arrival programs versus those who have not?

[Queenie Choo]

Absolutely. Again, thank you for the question. I personally was an immigrant to Canada 38 years ago. I did not receive any services, and neither did I receive foreign credential recognition. I had to struggle through in my own way in terms of getting to know the country and getting to know the system.

I mean, we have these wonderful pre-arrival programs to assist people coming to Canada. Wouldn't that be a nice way to make sure that the information relevant to them—employment, health care, language, Canadian culture and systems—was provided to them prior to their coming to Canada? I think it would be such an asset to those individuals and help them gain knowledge about the country they decided to come to.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Thank you.

Mr. Ayoub.

[Ramez Ayoub, Thérèse-De Blainville, Lib.]

Thank you.

My questions are for Mr. Bigeau and Ms. Abdi-Aden.

I know you didn't get the grant you requested for pre-arrival services. Despite everything, the situation of francophone minorities outside Quebec seems to be improving. The Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship has made an investment of $40 million over the next five years.

What do you think about the strategy and plan related to those investments, which are particularly targeted at the francophone minority?

[Jean-Guy Bigeau]

I will first make a general comment, then I will give the floor to Ms. Abdi-Aden.

In response to the call for proposals, our project, which met the criteria exactly, sought to set up a one-stop shop to make the entire immigration process more efficient and seamless. That was the intent of our proposal. However, the decisions made were not entirely consistent with the criteria. The funding was spread around, so to speak, to increase efforts in the regions. There is an entry point, but the funding structure provides for regional entry points. This means that efforts might overlap. In our opinion, this will slow down the immigrants' progress.

It is therefore important to tighten or refocus the process and to ensure that the decisions made help immigrants integrate into Canada more smoothly. That was our plan for the project.

[Ramez Ayoub]

We are still talking about $40 million, which is more than before. We hope that this five-year investment will yield results.

[Jean-Guy Bigeau]

Absolutely.

[Ramez Ayoub]

We have never invested more than that, and I wanted to know what impact that investment will have across Canada.

Ms. Abdi-Aden, do you have anything to add?

[Roukya Abdi-Aden]

The investment is significant, but we must also ensure that the services are adequate. After all, we are dealing with people's lives. When immigrants arrive in Canada, they have needs, and we must ensure that we invest in the right place to meet them, because that is what will make the difference.

[Ramez Ayoub]

Of course.

[Roukya Abdi-Aden]

Our services must be more efficient and much more client-oriented. The language issue matters, but so does the effectiveness of the services. We must therefore ensure that we provide services that produce results. Otherwise, the immigrants will go elsewhere.

When we offered our pre-departure services, we noticed that we were not the only francophone service providers. There were also bilingual services. Immigrants do their research before or after arrival, they check what services are available. If our French-language services do not meet the needs of immigrants, they will look elsewhere.

In addition, with Express Entry being introduced, we noticed that people were becoming more and more educated and that their English-language training was quite extensive. Most of the time, they are almost bilingual, so they can go to any community.

I think we must consider these factors to ensure that the services we provide in the communities are really focused. They are no longer the same immigrants we received a few years ago. We must bear that in mind as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Mr. Ayoub, ask a very short question, please. You only have a few seconds left.

[Ramez Ayoub]

I understand that integrating francophone immigrants into a francophone minority environment is limited to unilingual francophones. Francophones who go to Calgary or Vancouver will still need a minimum or even a maximum level of English: they will not be able to live in French only.