Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 22nd, 2016

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Okay.

Is there a risk, within what Canada is doing to help these people or to help in the security, of creating some sort of additional crisis to what's already there?

[Stephen Burt]

I would have a hard time.... There's always potential for more tragedy in a situation as volatile as what's going on right now in northern Iraq. There's no doubt that we will continue to see casualties taken on all sides as that conflict continues. I'm not sure this specific initiative will have a direct effect on the security situation.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

You've indicated that you can't tell us how many armed forces personnel there are. Is there a need to increase our armed forces numbers there to do what Canada is trying to do?

[Stephen Burt]

Based on the experience that we had with the Syrian refugees previously, the role of the armed forces was very much in support. It was about transportation. It was about clerical support, in some cases. There was a certain amount of advice in terms of the security situation that was going on. It really depends on the specific plan.

The circumstances in northern Iraq are much different from the circumstances of the previous refugee effort, so what resources we would apply to it will depend on the plan that is developed and a very specific sense of what that plan is.

I guess the challenge from my perspective is that not being military and not being an operator, I would be hard-pressed and probably wrong-headed to speculate.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

Ms. Dzerowicz, you have five minutes.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank you all for your presentations and for your patience with us and all our questions and also say that I appreciate all the expertise you're bringing to the table today.

In my past life I was an executive for a large financial institution. Whenever we had a very big project to deal, with we brought all the departments together, we gave it a fancy name such as Operation Bluebird, and then we had a sort of timeline and put some resources to it.

My question is—and I think my colleague asked a little bit of this, but I want to be very clear—has there been a meeting of not only the government department, IRCC, but also of all of you together to talk about this specific project?

[Denis Vinette]

There's been significant collaboration in bringing together discussion around questions such as what this means and how we enable it. We are relying quite heavily on the experience we gained under Syria, which was managed much in the way that you're speaking to, which was an interdepartmental collaboration alignment, and then everybody's piece in that operational plan came together, was sequenced, and we had quick governance to remedy, if we hit some roadblocks.

Those conversational consultations are happening, and IRCC is leading those on behalf of the government right now.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

But I haven't heard that you guys have all met together in a room and said, “Here's the game plan; here are our timelines; here's what we're trying to do; here's how we're going to get there; here's how we're going to work together.” Has that type of meeting not happened?

[Denis Vinette]

I don't know whether it has been in a room. There's collaboration across the departments, but I'm not in a position to confirm that for you.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Okay. Thank you.

My next question is to both Mr. Burt and Ms. Lamoureux.

The Germans mentioned to us that before they went in, as they were trying to bring over 1,100 Yazidi women and girls and family members, they decided to start off with a contract with the federal state of northern Iraqi Kurdistan. I'm wondering whether we should be doing something similar. The reason I ask is because of a comment that you've put into your note, Mr. Burt, where you say:

As such, the international community's resettlement efforts, while assisting the plight of refugees and...displaced persons, may also be used by various actors in northern Iraq to achieve their own political objectives.

I'm wondering whether that type of agreement might help us ensure that we're not inadvertently helping people we don't want to help, but actually help us achieve what we're trying to do.

If you can, answer that quickly, because I have two more questions.

[Stephen Burt]

In terms of the overall security assessment and the objectives of the various players on the ground, it is possible that you could find willing partners there, as the Germans did.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

But do you think it would be helpful if we were to form an agreement with the state, as the Germans did? They set out the parameters of how they would work together and what their mutual objectives would be.

[Stephen Burt]

I don't know enough about the German agreement, nor about refugee resettlement, to comment knowledgeably on that, unfortunately.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Do you have any comments, Ms. Lamoureux? If you don't have any, it's okay. I just want to see whether you have anything to add.

[Emmanuelle Lamoureux]

A formal agreement we would have to look into, but certainly we need to be consulting with local authorities: Iraqi, KRG, governorates at all levels, and Yazidi leaders. Whether it should take the form of a specific written agreement is something that hasn't been discussed yet.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Okay. Thank you very much.

My next question is to Ms. Parish.

Ms. Parish, you have repeatedly told us today that you're very much focused on security screening. A number of countries have already been successful in achieving the same objectives we're trying to reach right now, whether it's Germany or Australia or Sweden. I wonder to what extent there is some sort of collaboration or some learning we might have from them about what they've done. Have there been any discussions with them around security screening and sharing of some best practices?

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Keep it to 20 seconds, please.

[Catherine Parish]

To date there have not been any discussions, at least from my branch, with other countries as this relates to the Yazidi issue, but I think my colleague would agree that we had a very successful process in place that was established through the Operation Syrian Refugee, which we plan to build on for this upcoming requirement.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Next is Mr. Saroya, for five minutes, please.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to all the witnesses for coming and giving us your perspectives.

In the last half hour, I heard two versions here. Originally, when the members were asking questions, everybody indicated that it is possible in the next 100 days that we can bring these 1,000 Yazidi women and children, but after the last question from Ms. Zahid, I wasn't sure anymore.

Is it still possible? What is it? Can we bring them in the next 100 days, those 1,000 people?

I'd like to hear from Mr. Burt.

[Stephen Burt]

From our perspective, we are examining the situation all day and every day, and our role of providing advice and assessment is ongoing, which we do all the time, anyway. There are no limits from that perspective.

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

I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but this is what I understood in the last half hour. First, I understood it's possible to bring 1,000 people in the next 100 days, but after the last question I heard, I'm not sure anymore, so what is it?

[Stephen Burt]

The role of my organization is to provide intelligence assessment on international security situations. I can certainly do that.

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

Does anybody else want to comment?