Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 29th, 2019

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Right, Minister—

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

—which is what—

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Sorry to interrupt you because I'm pressed for time, the votes are coming up and I need to have an answer on this—

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I'm trying to answer your question.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

I agree with you, though, that there are cost drivers to policy decisions the government has made. Do you have a timetable, then, on the expectations of when bilateral negotiations will be completed to close the loophole in the safe third country agreement with the United States?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

The safe third country agreement, as you know, is a bilateral agreement between Canada and the United States. Any changes or any modernization of that agreement have to be agreed to by both countries. What the Auditor General pointed out in the report that was issued about the asylum system were the costs of inaction and the funding that occurred in the past. That's what we're dealing with now.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Minister, I'm happy to reference the AG's report because in that same report he has shown that if we do nothing right now, there will be a steady increase in the wait times, which will be five years by 2024. If you don't address the loophole in the safe third country agreement, everything will get worse. That's what the AG's report says. That's what the PBO's report says.

This morning there was a National Post article by the chair of the IRB saying that the backlog in asylum-claim hearings is going to reach 100,000 by 2021. All of those things are related to the loophole in the safe third country agreement. Again, Minister, do you have an answer, a timetable, a date before the election, after the election? Have the Americans given the government any indication on when negotiations might be completed?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I'm happy to talk about processing times. I'm happy to talk about funding.

A lot goes into wait times when it comes to the Immigration and Refugee Board. We are the government that launched an independent review of the whole asylum system. Our investments this year will result in the dropping of the processing times. It will result, for the first time—

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

That's not what the IRB says.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

This will be the first time that the Immigration and Refugee Board will be funded for the volume that it actually receives.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

The chair of the IRB said—

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

The previous government did not fund the system.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Minister, it's in the National Post. They're saying the backlog on asylum claim hearings is going to reach 100,000 by 2021.

I know you didn't—

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

That's if nothing is done. That's the key point.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Right, and despite that, it's going to get worse.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I'm trying to answer your point. If nothing is done, that's what will happen.

The point is that we are doing something. We are cleaning up the mess from the previous government. We are making the investments that are necessary for the system to actually operate as a system.

The previous government starved the Immigration and Refugee Board of the necessary resources.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

That's not true, Minister.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

They were funding the Immigration and Refugee Board for 10,000 claimants when they were receiving way more than that.

Secondly, the changes that were made in December 2012—

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Minister, there were tens of thousands more applications.

[The Chair, Liberal, Nick Whalen]

The interpreters require that only one person speak at the same time. The normal rule in the House is that a question and answer should have about the same duration.

I think the minister has provided about the same length of a response as the question, so I'd turn the floor back to Mr. Kmiec for the next question.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

When will the government close the loophole in the safe third country agreement? You don't have to give me a specific date. You can give me a year, a timeline or any indication the Americans have given to you.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Our responsibility is to engage in a bilateral process on a bilateral agreement. That's all I can tell you about that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Nick Whalen]

Thank you very much.

We move now to Ms. Kwan.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the minister and the officials.

I believe this will be the last opportunity for the committee to engage with them in this way before the election. I have a number of issues that I want to raise.

First, I brought to the minister's attention personally a number of cases regarding the TFWs and what I think is exploitation and abuse of the situation. These women are desperate to get their open work permits. As the month comes to an end they have to pay yet another round of rent, for which they have made no money and they have actually expended quite a lot of money to get here.

I understand that we can't get into all the details of it, but I ask if the minister can commit to having his staff engage with my staff, so that we can see—I hope—open work permits expedited for these workers. I know that the minister has staff looking at the files along with CBSA, public safety and Mr. Goodale's ministry.

I ask this because the women are just so anxious and desperate. Can I have that commitment, please?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Thank you.

You already have raised this case with my team and I thank you for bringing it forward. It is unacceptable for workers to be exploited or taken advantage of by employers. I completely sympathize with these individuals. My office is already working with your team on this; I'm happy to make sure we help your office and these individuals in every way we can.

I will add that we have made sure there are adequate resources for increased investigations, inspections and open work permits for folks who are exactly in this position.