Evidence of meeting #38 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cases.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Area Director, Latin America, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
It's a complex process in the sense that there are several steps in the process. We have to make sure that we comply with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and we have to follow the proper procedure.
Sometimes, in order to get the documentation we need, such as a police certificate, such as proof or evidence of relationship, it does take time. As Mr. Giralt mentioned, communicating with the clients also takes time. Sometimes it's very difficult to reach the person, and because of that, there are some delays.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Monsieur Jacques, can you make recommendations to the government as to how the regulations could be changed to reduce the delays?
Area Director, Latin America, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I am afraid it is not my position at this point to make a recommendation to the government on this. I believe that the act and the regulations that we have in place are, indeed, solid. We are working very hard to speed up the processing so that we can eliminate these delays and process people in a reasonable time.
Conservative
November 15th, 2016 / 8:30 a.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
You can finish, and then I'll take the next round, if that's okay.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
All right.
It's been suggested by some witnesses that a cap on applications for parents and grandparents be raised to 20,000 or 30,000 per year, or that the cap be removed entirely.
Perhaps we can start with Ms. Chomyn.
What would be the impact of such a move on the operations that we have? Specifically, what would be the impact on staffing, wait times, backlogs, etc.?
Area Director, North Europe and the Gulf, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
The department is currently resourced to deliver annual levels in the range of 300,000 each year. The exact composition is less relevant than the actual number, although some cases do take longer to process than others.
Any increase in one category would have to be offset by a decrease in another category, unless the larger levels number were to grow.
Conservative
Area Director, North Europe and the Gulf, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I guess we would have to take a look at our operations to see if there are any additional efficiencies that we could implement to try to deal with an increased number.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Could you tell us about your requirement for increasing the staffing?
Area Director, North Europe and the Gulf, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I'm afraid that I really can't give you a reliable answer to that.
Area Director, North Europe and the Gulf, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
The calculation of how much work is involved with individual cases is actually quite complex. The straightforward cases can be processed with fewer resources than the more complex ones.
We also have something that is uncontrollable that we have to factor into our workloads every year: the number of temporary resident applications that we receive.
So, it's really not possible for me to give you a projection. If you do wish to have that sort of projection, I would suggest that perhaps our colleagues at headquarters would be better placed than we to provide you with a more probable number.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
You're responsible for Pakistan. Due to the security in Pakistan, applications from Pakistan are processed by London-based visa officers who travel to Islamabad to conduct interviews, often requiring interpreters for several different languages. How many officers in London process the workload from Pakistan?
Area Director, North Europe and the Gulf, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I'll speak about the family reunification work because I think that's of greatest concern to you.
When we first took over the Pakistan family program, we had a unit made up of seven people—one decision-maker and the rest were administrative support. The unit now is at 17 people, and that includes nine decision-makers, one of them being a unit manager. It's been quite a substantial growth.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Just to build on that answer, when you say that your staff has grown from seven to 17 people, when did that take place? When did the 17 staff come on stream?
Area Director, North Europe and the Gulf, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
They would have come on since we took over the caseload in 2014. It would have been a gradual increase.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Okay.
I think I heard from the other officers, as well, in terms of the resource increase. Could I get the numbers in terms of the resource increase and when that took place?
I'll go to Mr. Giralt, please.
Area Director, United States and Caribbean, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
The budgetary amount to assist us was about $25 million in 2016, so this is part of the testimony that you heard from our assistant deputy minister, Mr. Bob Orr, when he came.
The funding has been used in a number of different ways. The one that—
Area Director, United States and Caribbean, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Sure.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
I'm interested in how many staff you have at the moment to process applications for both streams, for spousal and for parents and grandparents.
