Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 23rd, 2016

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

Then, Ms. Tapley, in that situation it's my understanding that if a decision has been made without undergoing this particular review we would be making a policy decision that has not yet had a public service review that would look at the quantitative and qualitative indicators that are used to determine a country's eligibility for visa exemption.

Is that correct?

[Catrina Tapley]

Although a formal visa policy review for Mexico has not been officially launched, it doesn't mean that we haven't done a considerable amount of work with respect to Mexico. For the issues around the visas, much of that work is under way. These are discussions that we are having with the minister at the moment and it would be inappropriate for me to comment further on that.

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

Thank you.

Ms. Tapley, do technical experts in the public service believe that the Mexican passport is a reliable indicator of identity and nationality?

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

We've come to a consensus that's enough questions for Ms. Tapley.

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

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, on page 1068, Bosc and O'Brien says, “Witnesses must answer all questions which the committee puts to them.”

The motion states that department officials be invited to this committee. Witnesses are sworn in and I've asked a question. I don't believe that the witnesses get to determine when a member's question is answered or not.

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

Mr. Chair, we'll bow to that authority and Ms. Tapley will continue to answer the questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

You were correct.

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

Thank you.

I'll ask the question again.

Do Canadian technical experts in the public service believe that a Mexican passport is a reliable indicator of identity and nationality.

[Catrina Tapley]

We believe that the Mexican passport is indeed a reliable indicator of nationality. It doesn't mean that there may not be some other issues with that, but we would certainly respect Mexico's sovereignty in issuing those documents. Absolutely.

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

Also, for Ms. Tapley, do Canadian technical experts in the public service believe that Mexico's border management practices, for example, the tools and measures in place to manage external borders and prevent illegal migration, indicate an acceptable risk for a visa exemption or an unacceptable level of risk?

[Catrina Tapley]

There are number of issues that are under discussion within the department, with other departments, and with the Government of Mexico. Those are issues we are discussing with the minister at the the moment.

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

What issues have been raised so far in these discussions?

[Catrina Tapley]

There are a number of issues with respect to our own asylum system and issues around that. There are other issues with respect to some things that the honourable member has raised.

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

Does Ms. Tapley believe that these issues constitute a conflict with the Liberal campaign commitment to immediately—using the word "immediately"—lift the Mexican visa requirement.

[Catrina Tapley]

Those are issues that we are discussing with the minister at the moment.

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

Ms. Tapley, do Canadian technical experts in the public service believe that there are weaknesses in screening and enforcement measures at Mexican ports of entry?

[Catrina Tapley]

I think that would be inappropriate for me to comment on, Mr. Chair.

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

I'm surprised, Mr. Chair, that one our senior public servants wouldn't want to comment on this, given that the minister is here to discuss his mandate letter, and the commitment to immediately lift the Mexican visa requirement is clearly in there, but I'll continue.

Does Canadian assessment of security matters in Mexico, including particularly organized crime drug cartels, indicate an acceptable level of risk for a visa exemption or an unacceptable level of risk?

[Catrina Tapley]

Mr. Chair, these are issues that we are considering in terms of our advice to the minister and what we provide to the minister at the moment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

Your time is up, Ms. Rempel.

Mr. Ehsassi, you have five minutes.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you ever so much, Minister, for appearing before this committee. I'm sure I speak on behalf of many Canadians in congratulating you for the energy that you have brought to the task at hand. It has been incredible to see your approach to incoming refugees from Syria and to restoring health benefits to refugees, and also your comments today that we will be seeing changes to Bill C-24.

I'm sure that everyone on this committee will agree that the Canada we have today is really the result of the entrepreneurial spirit of many who have come here to live their lives. Immigration is critical to job creation and economic growth for the middle class. The fact is that Canada needs immigration to maintain our population levels, and we do have an aging population and Canadians obviously are living longer lives.

Given all of that, despite all the foregoing, Canadians have been deeply concerned during the past decade about application processing times for various streams of immigration, as you alluded to in your opening comments. To illustrate the point, the processing time for citizenship applications doubled over the past decade. To take another example, which is something that I know you attach a lot of significance to, family reunification processing times are up by 70% for spouses and children since 2007, and then an even a more staggering 500% for parents and grandparents.

Given your invitation that this committee assist in seeing how those timelines can be streamlined, I was wondering if, after having had your consultations with senior civil servants in your department, you could provide us with your early initial impressions as to how the system can be improved.

Thank you.

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

Thank you very much for that question.

In terms of your opening preamble, thank you for what you said, but I would also echo that for so many of you. I know that you, Mr. Ehsassi, have been active with large numbers of Armenian refugees, and others around the table have been active as well. It really has been a major collective effort.

Of course, I'd be happy to come back anytime. I said at the beginning that we want to be open with all Canadians on the ups and downs of this process and what we're doing. We don't want to hide things. That certainly includes this committee at or near the top of the list. If the committee wants me to come back to talk about progress in this area or about any other thing, I'd be happy to return.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you.

As you know, the Prime Minister's mandate letter specifies the need to develop a plan to reduce application and processing times for sponsorship, for citizenship, and for visas. Have you had time to examine these issues?

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

I've spent a certain amount of time on the refugee issue, but I've certainly spent considerable time on this issue, yes, because, as I said, there are many important things to do. If I had to say what the top priority was for me over the next, let's say, two or three years, it would be to bring down these processing times for family members.

We have spoken to experts, we have looked at the figures, and I have received briefings about how they got to where they are and the ways in which this might be addressed. However, we still have a lot of work to do in terms of the nuts and bolts of how we can address this. It's partly through additional funding to hire more officials to interview more people in order to let more in. It's also reforming the way we do our business.

We learned from the Syrian refugee experience that if you put your mind to it, and have a very ambitious target you have to reach, the human mind can figure out new ways to do things. We can do things concurrently, instead of consecutively. We can find ways to shorten processes without increasing risk. We had a major role for the military in the health process.

There are a lot of innovative things that we can do in order to reduce the time it takes to process a given immigrant. The more that time can be reduced, the more immigrants we can process with a given input of human power. Much of our work will be in that area, consulting this committee, I hope, which can, in turn, consult its own experts, our own expert advisers, and most importantly, my department.

I think you would agree that the members of my department, and other departments, certainly rose to the challenge on the refugees. It wasn't always smooth sailing. We had our ups and downs, but it does appear that we'll hit our 25,000 target in just a few days. They have done a fantastic job. With that experience behind them, they can do another fantastic job on this second and equally important issue, which is to reduce the processing times for family class members.

I hasten to add, very quickly, that you don't change a battleship overnight. It will take a number of years to achieve major changes in this area.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you, Minister. I'd like to thank you and your officials for appearing before the parliamentary committee on citizenship and immigration today.

As your mandate letter states, we will have an ongoing and continuing engagement with the parliamentary committee. We look forward to progress reports on a regular basis from you.

The committee will now suspend for two minutes and move in camera.

[Proceedings continue in camera]