Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 16th, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Mr. Sarai.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

When we spoke to Ms. Rempel, we said no fewer than three. If we need more, we should have more. By saying “as soon as possible”, the goal is to do this over the summer, if necessary, and to do as many as possible to accommodate the concerns.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

Ms. Rempel.

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

Mr. Chair, through you, my understanding is that all committee members are amenable to a robust and large witness list, which focuses on ensuring that witnesses who can provide concrete recommendations on how we can achieve this would be dealt with, hopefully, in a very non-partisan manner, in a very expeditious fashion as well. I'm sure Mr. Sarai will confirm that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Mr. Saroya.

[Bob Saroya, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

One last thing, I will make myself available if I need to attend any meetings over the summer at any time of the day. These are very serious issues.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

Mr. Kent.

[Peter Kent]

Chair, very briefly, and as a guest member of the committee, with respect, I appreciate the amendment. Going forward under the amendment, we should keep in mind the appeal by the UN report today which says that a genocide has not only happened with respect to the Yazidi people, but it is continuing. I think that consideration should be front of mind to.... You're quite correct that they are not in official UN refugee camps in northern Iraq, in the Kurdish autonomous area, but they remain highly vulnerable, even those who have escaped Daesh captivity.

A key element of the eventual report should respond specifically to the plight of the Yazidis, who may yet be saved from genocide, and an appropriate number accepted here in Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

Ms. Kwan.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I want to make sure I clarify the scope of the study. Part of the issue in northern Iraq in particular is that the government does not have a processing centre there. People cannot get their applications processed even if they have been identified by the UN as a group or a family that meets the requirement to come under the Syrian refugee initiative. This has been ongoing for some time, and therefore the delay in getting the families out has been incredible. I can't even tell you the frustrations that I hear from sponsoring groups here, waiting for those families. I hope this study will also encompass that, because that is a reality today. All those refugees there are vulnerable in that context.

Related to this issue is the LGBTQ issue. As we heard from government officials, while the government identified the LGBTQ community as vulnerable, and at the outset, when the government announced they would embark on the 25,000 Syrian refugee initiative, that would be an identified group to which they would try to provide support. When the officials were before this committee and were asked how many people came under that category, they had no idea because it was not being tracked.

We don't know in that context whether or not the government's own targeted vulnerable group has been successful. We need to find a way to address that as well.

I want to have a clear understanding at this committee that the scope of this motion will include those aspects in our study, because I think it is an important part of the broader extension of the vulnerable groups.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you, Ms. Kwan.

It appears that we've exhausted the speaker's list, so I will put the amendment to the motion to—

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Before we vote, may I please get confirmation in the affirmative from the movers of the motion and the amendment with respect to what I just commented on, so I know that's incorporated in this study?

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Mr. Sarai.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Sure. I have no objection to having to study that to figure out how we can process people in those areas where there's no processing centre.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

We will now move to a vote on the amendment to the motion.

(Amendment agreed to)

We will vote on the motion as amended.

(Motion as amended agreed to)

Thank you.

We will now suspend and go in camera. A budgetary matter has come up that we need to deal with.

[Proceedings continue in camera]