Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 9th, 2016

[Dawn Edlund]

In the answer to the parliamentary question, they answered that the extra amount of money they put forward was $2.35 million, if memory serves.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Were there any extra funds above and beyond that amount that were used to retrofit military houses specifically for this? If that funding was allocated, it would have come out of the Department of National Defence budget, and so that $2.5 million was essentially wasted because the housing wasn't used. Correct?

[Dawn Edlund]

It was $2.35 million, and those retrofits still are in place and would be to the benefit of the people who are residing in that housing.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Who would be residing in that housing right now if it was retrofitted for refugees? Are there plans to use that housing for refugees in the future?

[Dawn Edlund]

There's no plan to use that housing for refugees in the future. It was housing that was already on the bases, and then we set it up in terms of being welcoming for the refugee population as our backup plan in case we needed it.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Somebody is likely to live in those houses and we'll derive some benefit from the retrofits, but the main point is that we saved a lot of money because we did not have to use the military bases for refugees.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Perhaps one of the officials can provide information on this question. Many members of the government have raised the issue of waiving the immigration loans program for all refugees in Canada. Could you provide the committee with a cost estimate, should that proceed, of the total cost of waiving the immigration loans programs for all refugees?

[David Manicom]

Yes, we could provide the committee with that information.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

What is it?

[David Manicom]

I don't have that figure in front of me right now. It's several tens of millions of dollars, but we would want to provide the exact number.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Thank you.

The last time officials were in front of the committee, there wasn't a system in place on tracking employment rates of Syrian refugees. Has that been rectified and, if so, what are the cost estimates to the government in terms of Syrian refugees requiring social assistance due to a lack of employment?

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Twenty seconds, please.

[Catrina Tapley]

Mr. Chair, I don't have cost estimates in terms of Syrian refugees on social assistance. Income support is provided for government-assisted refugees for the first 12 months, as you are aware.

In terms of how we will track those moving to employment, we are standing up a component in something called our immigration contribution agreement reporting environment, or iCARE, and that will be available later this year as a proxy. This is where we work through service provider organizations.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you, Ms. Tapley.

Ms. Kwan, for seven minutes, please.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much.

On the funding for language training, there was some breakdown for British Columbia. I wonder whether or not I could get the detailed information on the organizations and the communities that received the language training in British Columbia.

Aside from British Columbia, from our committee's witnesses we heard from folks from OCASI, people from COSTI in Toronto, folks from the Catholic Crosscultural Services, MOSAIC from B.C., and the YMCA from Cambridge and Kitchener, who actually highlighted the fact that they also received funding cuts as well, and that would be for their normal resettlement services.

Then, as well, even though in some cases—not all of them—they may not have had a funding cut this year, they didn't get an increase in funding either when their workload has increased significantly. In the case of Catholic Crosscultural Services, for example, they actually stated that 437 Syrian refugees turned up at their doors. Their funding did not go up; they have had a funding cut.

I know that we won't be able to get into all the detailed numbers, but I wonder if the minister could provide the committee with a detailed breakdown from community to community what that funding stream is for regular resettlement services, what the new injection of the money is for the Syrian initiative, what they were targeted for, and what organizations received that funding.

Then we can have a clear understanding of what's going on. Right now what the minister is saying and what the officials have provided don't match with the reality of what's going on in the community.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

I think we tried to be clear that in terms of the overall funding, some got cuts, some got increases, because of the changing distribution of immigrants over the previous three years. On top of that, substantial additional funds were provided to accommodate the Syrian refugees, with the amounts depending on where the refugees were going to.

In terms of your detailed questions, perhaps one of the officials could say whether we can get that information you want.

[Richard Wex]

Mr. Chair, we'll be able to provide that information.

If I could just take a couple of seconds, what I was trying to say earlier, we will provide that information to the clerk of the committee as appropriate, Mr. Chair, but of the $678 million, to the minister's point, there will be an injection of $150 million over three years, but through these supplementary estimates (A)—which is what we're here today to talk about in part—we're seeking an additional $9.3 million that will help directly these service organizations to get to the very issues that the member is properly raising.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

If I may—

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you, Mr. Wex.

I've actually stopped the clock so that response doesn't come out of your time. Let's proceed.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you. I don't mean to be rude, it's just that I only have seven minutes.

With that, Mr. Chair, and to the minister and his staff, could we actually get the detailed breakdown then for both the regular budget as well as from the supplementary estimates, the increased dollars that are being asked for. A clear breakdown of that would assist us a lot.

On the question around cessation, actually, I just want to touch on this for a minute. This is a different realm.

I wonder whether or not the minister can provide us with this information. How many individuals has the IRCC set a quota on bringing cessation against for the 2016-17 fiscal year? How many staff members are involved on the cessation files? Since the passing of Bill C-31, how many individuals have had the cessation process brought against them? Since the passing of Bill C-31 how many individuals have been deported? Of those deported, how many were deported on the basis that it is retroactive? That is, how many individuals have been deported for engagement in an act and had the cessation process brought against them before it was even brought in as legislation? How many cessation cases are currently on hold? How many cessation cases are currently before the courts and in which provinces? Last, will there be further action that would be undertaken by the government to address this policy?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

My strong impression is that all of those are CBSA issues.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

With the exception that the targets actually come from IRCC. CBSA carry out that work, but I believe that the information actually comes from IRCC.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

I will ask one of my officials to comment on that.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Perhaps I could suggest this while the staff are wondering about this. We could get the information back to the committee in written format, and I would welcome that as well, and for these questions to be answered. If the minister could commit to providing that, I would appreciate it.

Then I could move on to my next set of questions.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

We can provide information to the extent that it's from my department. I'm not sure if I'm entitled to commit to provide CBSA information. To the extent that it's from the immigration department, yes.