Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 22nd, 2016

[Dr. Michael Blume]

Actually, we went there and spoke with the Kurdish government, and we saw how different NGOs are working. Air Bridge Iraq-Luftbrücke Irak is a German organization built by German Kurdish groups, and they were already in the business of evacuating children. They helped medical emergency cases with children, so we knew they had experience in exactly the field we were seeking. The IOM, of course, is an international organization affiliated with the United Nations, and on the ground we had very good experiences with them. Actually, a lot of German cities and states are working with IOM, so these two were the partners we chose.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Working with these groups, was one of these groups more successful than the other one?

[Dr. Michael Blume]

I think it was good that we had both of them. For example, Luftbrücke Irak and Mirza Dinnayi had very good contacts through the high council of the Yazidi religion, and he knew a lot of people on the ground. On the other side, IOM was brilliant on logistics, on medical flying buses, so in a certain sense, they helped us to get what we needed. We needed both of them, but in the end, you see, we were only three partners—us, Luftbrücke Irak, and IOM—and with the three of us, it worked.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Further to what you said last time and further to Ms. Kwan's questions, you mentioned the criteria that you used to select the victims for resettlement, and also that you extracted some Christians and Muslim minorities. Did you distinguish between the Yazidis and the other minority groups?

[Dr. Michael Blume]

No, actually, we didn't. According to our constitution, it's even forbidden for state officials to ask for the religion, although, of course, we knew in most cases. For example, there were rumours. Some said that a family might have converted to Christianity, and we said it's okay, it's not our business.

We won't even ask the people. We are seeing whether they fulfill the criteria, and we are not into ethnic or religious discrimination. Of course, most of the victims are from the Yazidi community, but it was important, even in talking about this issue in public, that people saw that we wouldn't single out a certain minority but that we were open for people who needed help.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Even when you interviewed them, did you ask them about their ethnic affiliations or their religious practices?

[Dr. Michael Blume]

If they wanted to tell us about that, we were fine with it. For example, we asked them whether they would want to be blessed by the Baba Sheikh in Lalish, but if someone was hesitant, if someone wouldn't want to talk about the subject, we completely accepted that.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

What were their most pressing needs upon arrival in Germany, and how is it different for children and women? Were there any other issues you saw during their resettlement in Germany?

[Dr. Michael Blume]

We had suspected at the start that they would need therapy immediately, and there were some cases that needed to be hospitalized. Some also had very hard medical issues. However, what most of them actually needed was everyday life. The children needed to go to kindergarten, to school; the mothers needed to have secure shelters, a place to bake their own bread, and get into a normal life. That was the most pressing issue.

Then they wanted to start learning the language. There were a lot of issues about getting married, about whether they could move to another place, and these kinds of things. We saw that they began to think about the future. It happened some weeks after their arrival.

This process is still going on. Some of them are already speaking up, giving testimony in public, so they are going into a more active mode. They didn't do that at the start.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

My last question would be about process and the time it took.

How long did the process take from the beginning until the first Yazidis were brought to Germany? Could you discuss the necessity of each step, and how long each step would take?

[Dr. Michael Blume]

We started in January 2015 to approach the Kurdish government. Then we built up the structures and made treaties with our partners. In March 2015, we managed to bring the first group of beneficiaries to Germany. Then we adjusted our planning. It was a small group with a little more than 30 persons. Then we went, on a rotating basis, with every new mission, every two to three weeks, and in January 2016, we were done. It took three months preparation and nine months to do it.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

What were the total number of Yazidis you brought into Germany?

[Dr. Michael Blume]

Excuse me?

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

You brought a total of about 1,100 into Germany?

[Dr. Michael Blume]

Exactly. There were 1,100 beneficiaries. About 950 Yazidis came into Baden-Württemberg, maybe 40 Christians and 10 Muslims, tentatively speaking, and almost all in the other states are Yazidi. It was 1,100 overall.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

With that, Mr. Blume, I'd like to express the committee's thanks for your invaluable insights. I speak on behalf of the whole committee when I express a heartfelt sense of gratitude for everything that you personally have done, and to the people of Baden-Württemberg for opening up their hearts, and to your prime minister, to your team, for leading the way in helping these survivors of the horrors of Daesh.

With that, we will suspend and go in camera.

Thank you so much.

[Dr. Michael Blume]

Thank you very much.

[Proceedings continue in camera]

[Public proceedings resume]

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

The committee will resume its hearing.

We have before us a number of departmental officials. From the Department of National Defence, we have Mr. Stephen Burt, the assistant chief of defence intelligence, Canadian Forces intelligence command. From Canada Border Services Agency, we have Mr. Denis Vinette, director general, international region. With the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, we have Ms. Catherine Parish, director general, security screening. With Global Affairs Canada, we have Mr. Reid Sirrs, director general, mission security, and Ms. Emmanuelle Lamoureux, director, Gulf State relations division.

Welcome to the officials.

We begin with Mr. Stephen Burt for five minutes, please.

[Stephen Burt, Assistant Chief of Defence Intelligence, Canadian Forces Intelligence Command, Department of National Defence]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair and members of Parliament, thank you for the invitation to speak to you this afternoon. It's my distinct pleasure to speak to you about the security situation in Northern Iraq. I'm also glad to be sitting next to my esteemed colleagues, who will be able to provide different perspectives on the region.

Before I talk about the security situation in northern Iraq, I'd like to provide some background briefly on the role of the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command.

The command's role consists of supporting the Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces in making sound decisions in the exercise of their duties. Whether conducting operations in the Arctic, providing support for events such as the 2010 Olympic Games or the G8 summit, or carrying out overseas operations, the Canadian Armed Forces need the most accurate and up-to-date intelligence in order to achieve their military objectives and ensure the security and protection of their personnel.

I am assistant chief of defence intelligence, and my organization is responsible to provide timely, reliable, relevant, all-source analysis of defence intelligence issues to the department, the armed forces, and interdepartmental clients. We provide strategic warning and threat assessments to the department and to the CAF. Another important part of my mandate is to contribute to intelligence-sharing relationships with allied partners and countries.

Defence intelligence is also a key element in the ability of the government to make informed decisions on defence issues, national security, and foreign affairs. I can say with pride that our intelligence capability is world class and offers the necessary tools 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to give our leaders an information advantage in making those decisions. Intelligence is a leading factor in operational success.

I would also note that we benefit from productive relationships with our government partners, working closely with the Privy Council Office, the RCMP, CSIS, CSE, CBSA, and Global Affairs, to name a few. You and the Canadians you represent may be certain that your intelligence organizations are promoting the interests of this country in the areas of defence and security.

The Canadian Forces Intelligence Command focuses the vast majority of its energy on foreign military threats and support to Canadian Forces operations abroad.

Turning now to the subject at hand, I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the volatile security situation in northern Iraq.

Northern Iraq is characterized by an intersection of conflicts among local, sub-state, and regional actors. Daesh currently provides a unifying enemy for these actors, but as Daesh weakens, we expect that they will all increasingly act in their own self-interest, often at each other's expense. Therefore, as the fight to dislodge Daesh from the city of Mosul progresses, the security situation in northern Iraq will become more fluid and unpredictable from the geopolitical standpoint.

We believe that as Daesh elements are defeated, the group will revert to acting as an insurgency and will increasingly pose an asymmetric threat rather than a conventional military one. Though Daesh is currently on the decline in Iraq, it still poses a significant threat to traditional state armed forces. As it loses territory, it will increase its use of terrorist attacks to distract the Iraqi security forces and the anti-Daesh coalition, as well as to foment sectarian tensions.

As such, we assess that even after the fall of Mosul, Daesh will retain the capability to target civilian populations and official Iraqi or Kurdish institutions throughout Iraq, including in what is considered to be cleared territory.

Regional and sub-state actors will almost certainly vie for influence in a post-Daesh northern Iraq, complicating an already difficult security situation. Sub-state actors, principally the Kurdistan Regional Government, or KRG, and Shia militias, are aggressively posturing to be the dominant actors in several localities within northern Iraq. KRG forces and Shia militias have clashed with each other on several occasions and display deep mistrust and antipathy towards each other, raising the potential for localized conflicts across northern Iraq.

Regional actors, principally Iran and Turkey, are also seeking increased influence in Syria and Iraq. Both countries have increased their military presence in northern Iraq and are actively supporting proxy forces that serve their respective national interests.

Finally, I would like to note that as the conflict in northern Iraq has evolved over the last several years, we have seen population displacement used as a tool to achieve the political and security goals of various actors. Allegations of forced population displacement have been levelled at all sides in the Iraqi conflict—principally at Daesh, but also in some areas at Iraqi security forces, Shia militias, and Kurdish security forces.

While some Shias and Kurds have been affected, the majority of the displaced have been members of the Sunni community or various minority groups. The international community's resettlement efforts, while assisting the plight of refugees and other displaced persons, may also be used by various actors in northern Iraq to achieve their own political objectives.

Mr. Chair, this concludes my presentation. Thank you for listening to me. I look forward to answering the questions of committee members.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you, Mr. Burt.

Now it's Mr. Vinette for five minutes, please.

[Denis Vinette, Director General, International Region, Canada Border Services Agency]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

As this committee is aware, the Canada Border Services Agency has a dual mandate of facilitating movement across our borders while ensuring and protecting the safety and security of Canadians. Together with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the CBSA administers the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which governs both the admissibility of people into Canada and the identification, detention, and removal of those deemed to be inadmissible under the act.

The CBSA's role in refugee determination is to provide support to IRCC by ensuring that refugees are screened to minimize all risk to Canadians. The process is the same when there is a national effort to extend humanitarian support to a particular group of people, as we did for Syria, although as the committee can appreciate, it requires a great deal more coordination across government departments, given the scale of these undertakings.

The CBSA has a well-established and well-respected practice in the area of security screening. It works closely with the relevant departments and agencies as well as with international partners to ensure the integrity of the process.

The CBSA’s role during the Syrian refugee resettlement initiative demonstrated that our security screening process is robust and proven. It's designed to be responsive to changing environments, and we are able to apply it consistently.

The process involves comprehensive interviews, the collection of information and biometrics to assist with confirming identity, and checks across a range of databases. It also involves working closely with our federal government partners to seamlessly integrate security screening at key points in the process.

We have successfully refined the process, and the CBSA is ready to work with our partners once again to meet and support the Government of Canada's commitment to bringing Yazidi refugees to Canada.

The CBSA's security screening practices ensure that every refugee coming to Canada in the wake of the humanitarian crisis will have undergone a multi-layered screening process prior to their arrival, allowing them to fly to Canada. It also ensures that refugees arriving in Canada have the proper travel documents and that they can be welcomed and processed by our border services officers for admission into Canada on their arrival.

Through thorough and efficient security screening, refugees and their families are able to arrive in our country and move on to their important work of settling into their new communities and starting a new life.

That concludes my remarks, and I would be more than happy to answer the committee's questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you, Mr. Vinette.

Ms. Parish, you have five minutes, please.

[Catherine Parish, Director General, Security Screening, Canadian Security Intelligence Service]

Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.

I'm director general of the security screening branch in CSIS. My branch is responsible for providing advice and assessments to other government departments in support of their review of applications for status in Canada and for government security clearances.

I want to thank you for the invitation to appear in support of your study on the resettlement of the Yazidi refugees in Canada. I will keep my remarks brief. However, I would like to provide you with some insight into the service's role in supporting this effort. I will focus my remarks on the service's immigration security screening program.

Members may be most familiar with our section 12 mandate, which is to investigate and provide advice on threats to the security of Canada as defined in our act, such as terrorism, espionage, sabotage, and foreign interference.

Security screening is also one of our core mandates, and it is certainly the most relevant to the committee's study. Pursuant to section 14 of the CSIS Act, CSIS provides security advice to our immigration partners in support of the administration of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Section 15 authorizes CSIS to conduct investigations for such purposes.

It is important to note that CSIS does not have an enforcement mandate, nor do we decide who is granted entry or status in Canada. Our role is to provide advice to CBSA and IRCC, which contributes to the bigger picture examined by our partners in making decisions regarding an individual's admissibility to Canada.

With respect to our security screening program, we have robust processes in place to manage this important function. We also work closely with our partners on a routine basis.

These processes and partnerships work on a routine basis, but also lay the foundation for efforts we may consider more exceptional—for example, the resettlement of Syrian or Yazidi refugees, which may require a more concerted effort.

With regard to this resettlement of Yazidi refugees, CSIS is committed to working with our government partners and will support the security screening process by providing security advice.

To ensure the integrity of Canada's immigration system, the same high standards will continue to apply to all individual refugee claimants. Screening individuals from complex environments does comes with its own unique set of considerations; that said, CSIS is working with its partners to consider the process and requirements as a whole in light of the particular circumstances.

Though unique in its own right, it is useful to highlight the integral role CSIS played in fulfilling the Government of Canada's commitment to resettling Syrian refugees. CSIS was successful in achieving its security screening commitments and remains confident in the measures put in place. A robust and appropriate security screening was undertaken before applicants departed for Canada.

With that, Mr. Chair, I will conclude my remarks and welcome any questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you, Ms. Parish.

Ms. Lamoureux, you have five minutes, please.