Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 29th, 2019

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

That would be fantastic.

I won't go into the details of the case of these women, but one of the urgent situations that they require is the ability to work. When the month of May ends, they will have to pay rent again and they have not made any money for the entire time they have been here. They've had to go into debt to pay to get here, which they shouldn't have, but they had to for all the reasons that have been highlighted for you, Minister, in the letter.

My office is happy to work with you to get this going. I really hope that before the month ends the open work permit question could be answered. Otherwise these women are really going to be stuck.

I'll leave that and move on to another area.

On the issue around caregivers, the government has announced two new pilot projects. The officials were around this table last time. They weren't able to answer my questions, so I'm going to put the questions to you, Minister.

For how long will the open work permits for the spouses and dependants of the caregivers be valid? Would the dependants of the caregiver—children, if you will—who go to post-secondary education or who need the education system have to pay international fees? What is the policy with respect to their access to medical coverage?

On another issue related to medical exams, will they have to do multiple medical exams or could they do only one when they first get approved to come to Canada and that would suffice?

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

The whole point of the reforms to the caregiver program was to eliminate the possibility of family separation. That is why we've ensured under the new program—we'll provide all the details in the fall—that when these caregivers come to Canada, they can bring along their spouse, who will have an open work permit, and their children, who can go to school.

Beyond that, I will urge you to bear with us as we work out some of the additional details. The point was to signal to the community that the era of family separation is over.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I appreciate that, Minister, but people actually need to know what the program looks like. You might anticipate—

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

We will be informing them.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

—if the minister says, “Okay, you can bring your families here”, but it's under the condition that they pay international fees for their children to go to school, that this will create an affordability issue about whether or not they can actually feasibly do that. I hope the minister will take all of this into consideration and answer those questions. Those are absolutely pertinent with respect to that.

I'd like to ask the minister this other question, too, related to caregivers.

There were files rejected just prior to the introduction of the new threshold for medical inadmissibility under which caregivers' families were assessed. This would be the medically inadmissible category, right? I'd like to know—and perhaps his official can provide this information—how many files were rejected within 12 months of the new medically inadmissible threshold being brought in. If the new threshold were to be applied, how many of those cases would qualify? Can I get that information? You may not have it now but I would appreciate it if you could make the commitment to get it and provide it to us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Nick Whalen]

There's just over a minute for the response.

[Lori MacDonald, Acting Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

We will look for some data on that and get back to you with it. We'll table it to the committee.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much.

With respect to the Iranians, we've had long delays and we haven't been able to resolve this issue. I wonder if the minister can tell us what work is being done to reduce application processing times for Iranian nationals, and more specifically, for those whose applications have actually been received. Their medical, their security and their criminality checks have all gone through, but they are still stuck in the system. I wonder if I can also get the minister to commit to providing information to this committee, in writing, so that we can get to the bottom of this. Again, there are many Iranian nationals just stuck in the system—talent we want here in Canada—and they are ready to move forward.

[The Chair, Liberal, Nick Whalen]

You have just 15 seconds.

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

Under the Conservatives, the Iranian nationals were waiting twice as long as other nationalities for processing—

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Sorry, I just need a yes or no, please. I only have 15 seconds—

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

—and we have cut that number by half.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

—so if I can get a commitment to have that information—

[The Chair, Liberal, Nick Whalen]

I believe we've received a commitment to get an answer.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Okay. So my last question—

[The Chair, Liberal, Nick Whalen]

Actually, there's no more time. It's 7:01, so we'll go to our last seven-minute round before we head upstairs for votes.

I will note, as we finish this round with Mr. Sarai, that immediately after the votes we'll come back here. I believe the minister has agreed to come back and do the final 23 minutes of questioning, so Ms. Kwan, you'll get your three minutes to follow up on that issue later.

Mr. Sarai.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

First, I want to thank Mr. Hussen and the department for being here with us today, as well as for their commitment to the integrity of our borders, our asylum system and our overall immigration system.

As my riding of Surrey Centre has some of the highest levels of casework in Canada, we have seen the detrimental impact that unscrupulous immigration consultants can have on people. The main estimates for 2019-20 would provide IRCC with $11 million and CBSA with $1.5 million to protect the public from unscrupulous consultants.

Can you, Minister, explain how these funds will mitigate the risks associated with these dangerous consultants?

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

Yes. For the first time we are introducing new administrative monetary penalties to go after unauthorized consultants. We are doubling the maximum criminal fines that are available to law enforcement to go after unauthorized consultants.

In addition to that, budget 2019 provides more resources for CBSA to conduct much-needed investigations and enforcement against some of the most complex cases that target people.

Also, very important steps are being taken to revamp the oversight mechanism. There will be the establishment of the college of immigration and citizenship consultants. That will result in a much newer landscape that involves a public interest board of directors sitting on the board, a majority, and a new code of conduct developed by the Minister of Immigration.

In addition to that, the new college will have the power to enter into premises of immigration consultants where they suspect wrongdoing is occurring. In addition to that, they can compel members of the college to come and provide testimony to answer on complaints. There will be a compensation fund for those who have been wrongfully taken advantage of by immigration consultants.

There will be a requirement for the new members of the college to have liability insurance, and there will be a much more robust training, disciplinary and complaints process.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

How will it help immigrants or students or temporary foreign workers who are facing them? Does it protect them when they complain? Will whistle-blowers, in this case, be protected and assisted?

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

It will help in many ways. I have seen personally, in my previous life as an immigration lawyer, cases where people would come at the tail end—after being out of pocket for thousands and thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars—and say, “This consultant didn't even file my application. They took money from me and they didn't even do what was supposed to be done.” Those days are over. Those folks will have access to a compensation fund.

The misinformation will be tackled head on. Some of the money that is allocated in budget 2019 will go toward more outreach officers in some of our key source countries for both permanent and temporary immigration, to proactively inform people about the proper way to apply and also which credible immigration consultants to use.

The new college will also have the power to go to court to get injunctions against unauthorized consultants, to prevent them from practising and preying on people.

Many, many times we see that people who are in violation of the immigration system are themselves victims of these unauthorized immigration consultants. We see international students who are taken advantage of, who are promised things that are simply not true. We see visitors and others, and they are not only disadvantaged by losing a lot of money; sometimes they are disadvantaged because their applications are not even filed.

These new measures will result in much stronger oversight, but also much stronger enforcement and investigations and an ability—when the worst happens, when these people are taken advantage of and lose a lot of money—for them to recoup some, if not all, of that money for the first time, by setting up a compensation fund that will help them out.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

The main estimates for 2019-20 would also provide IRCC with $160 million to enhance the integrity of Canada's border and asylum system.

How will this funding impact the functionality of IRCC compared to previous governments?

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

First of all, the new funding for the Immigration and Refugee Board will result in the hiring of 700 staff to be in place by the end of 2020-21. Already the investments we made under budget 2018 are having an impact. Average processing time at the Immigration and Refugee Board has dropped to 21 months from 24 months. Straightforward cases are being processed in six months. A number of efficiency measures are being put in place.

Make no mistake about it, one of the key things that was hampering the Immigration and Refugee Board was not filling vacancies, and we've done that as a government in addition to making sure that the Immigration and Refugee Board is funded for the actual volumes of asylum claims it is receiving. That is the first time this is happening. There are more resources for CBSA, RCMP and IRCC as well, because we want to treat the asylum system as a system as a whole and not just fund one part and ignore the rest. Security screening is important and further efficiencies within the IRB beyond money will make sure we have fast, fair and final decision-making for asylum claimants.

[The Chair, Liberal, Nick Whalen]

Thank you very much, Minister.

As agreed with unanimous consent...those who are watching will see that the lights are flashing faster, which means we're getting closer to the vote. I believe we should all be able to be back here by 5:30 to commence the meeting promptly and then hopefully complete our work by 6 p.m.

The meeting is suspended for the next 15 or so minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Nick Whalen]

I now call for the resumption of the meeting.

We have a five-minute round and a three-minute round remaining.

Again, I remind members that the time available for a response should be roughly that provided during the question, so we can keep things running smoothly. Short questions mean more questions.

Mr. Kmiec.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome back, Minister, to the rest of this meeting. I hope there won't be any more votes to interrupt us.

I want to ask you, again, when will you close the loophole in the safe third country agreement? Your officials had 15 minutes during the votes. I'm hoping that one of them provided you an answer.