Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 22nd, 2016

[Denis Vinette]

Just to clarify, in our case, if you're using the number 1,000, we're more than capable of handling that by working with partners to render a decision within that time frame on the 1,000 referrals made by IRCC for screening. In regard to resettling and getting them to Canada, there is a lot of logistics and there are many phases to it. We had a pre-selection phase, a transport phase, and an arrivals phase when we did Syria, and throughout each of those we were able to map that process.

I think that we're all enablers in the effort. I can speak to the CBSA in partnership with my CSIS colleagues and others. Certainly, screening and receiving them in Canada is achievable, and we can make that, using the 1,000 number.

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

It will be your department's job to pick up these 1,000 people? What is their role to assist in this?

[Denis Vinette]

IRCC makes a selection. When deploying as the Government of Canada, we use information to determine what's safe, how we're going to operate in theatre, and what the process will look like. IRCC will make the selection with the UN or by other means. Once they've selected those people, they will refer them to the organizations that will conduct the security screening.

We do not compromise in any way, and I want to make that very clear. Once we've been able to go back and confirm that there's no concern over the inadmissibility of these individuals, then it gets into the transportation phase, and IRCC is responsible for the logistical pieces on that.

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

Do we have any plan drawn out for how many people we're picking up from Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, or northern Iraq? Do we have any numbers in mind when we're picking up so many from northern Iraq?

[Denis Vinette]

I don't have those numbers. The right people to ask on that question would be the IRCC representatives.

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

What was your role in bringing in the last 25,000, and what will be your role in the next 1,000 people, if any?

[Reid Sirrs]

From my perspective in Global Affairs, my role was specifically looking at the protection of Canadians and locally engaged staff who were supporting the initiative. We would be the ones who reach out and engage with all the various stakeholders in the country, as well as with our partners. We wanted to make sure we had all the information necessary to constantly monitor what was going on in theatre, to make sure that we had information in advance of the team's coming in place, to make sure the appropriate security protocols were in place, and to make sure that we had the appropriate interview structures, right down to the departure point at the airport.

We also wanted to make sure that we had adequate facilities in place to ensure that our Canadians and locally engaged staff were safe in doing their jobs to complete the last remit.

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

I'm assuming some of you may have gone to either one of these camps in northern Iraq. Anybody? No?

What is the relationship of the Kurdish soldiers or Kurdish people with the Yazidi women and children? Do they trust each other? Do they believe in each other? Is there any relationship there? Can they work together? Are they forced to work together?

[Stephen Burt]

I don't know if I have the level of specifics that you're interested in, given the number of internally displaced Yazidis, but the vast majority of them have found refuge within the territory held by the Kurdistan Regional Government, which has made some significant efforts to deal with both Yazidi and other IDPs, including non-Kurdish ones that have been created as a result of the previous conflict and as result of the current fight around Mosul.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

Mr. Tabbara, take five minutes, please.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you. I'll be sharing my time with Julie Dzerowicz.

Thank you all for coming here today.

We talked about the peshmerga forces a little bit and our collaboration with them. Have we, with this particular initiative, consulted the Iraqi forces, and are we working with them on the ground concerning how to conduct this operation, Mr. Burt?

[Stephen Burt]

I can't speak to what we're doing on the operational side of it.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Have we been in contact with some Iraqi officials?

[Stephen Burt]

Again, the role of Intelligence Command is really to do the assessment of the security situation of these things. What we may or may not have done in terms of operationalizing this work, or the kinds of relationships we have with.... We certainly do have relationships with Kurdish officials on the operational side. Specific to this initiative, I don't know.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Okay. I'll pass it on to Julie.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Tabbara.

Mr. Vinette, you mentioned in your report that when there's a national effort to extend humanitarian support to a particular group, it requires a great deal more coordination across government departments, given the scale of the undertaking.

Given that we have a fairly short timeline and given the fact that we have a fairly ambitious objective within that four-month timeline, what is it that we could do as a committee to facilitate this coordination? What recommendations might you have for us, or how can we help facilitate this coordination so that it's a bit faster, a lot more coordinated, more helpful to all of you? If you have any recommendations, I'd be grateful.

[Denis Vinette]

Maybe the best way to put it is that we queue up behind our colleagues at IRCC. They're in the driver's seat and they're looking to deliver on the agenda that they have been provided.

Anything that brings the required clarity to the objectives, the outcomes that are sought to be achieved, allows us to queue up and ensure that the processes, which are long-established.... We've been receiving individuals in Canada for many years. Whether it's from an earthquake in Haiti, a war in Lebanon, or other things, we've been able to be responsive to bring it together. The processes are well established, but the clarity I think becomes key for us in terms of when we launch, what we are doing, how fast we have to do it. Knowing that allows us to bring the resources together.

Again, it's a very mature process. We just have to put it on steroids in certain circumstances, this possibly being one. Certainly Syria was one. In regard to your question earlier, I think collaboration and governance are really key to making sure that it happens and that we deal with any hiccups, as I'll call them for lack of a better word, so that they are addressed really quickly and we don't unduly delay things.

That said, we continue right to this day to support the overall Syrian effort. We still have many refugees arriving through the refugee stream. It's just making sure that as we layer this effort on top of that one, we're capable of maintaining the pace on all fronts.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

That's very helpful. Thank you, Mr. Vinette.

We have a minute and a half left, and I guess maybe the parting question, really to the rest of you, is this: if you had to give one recommendation to this committee to help us move forward on achieving our objective, what would it be in your respective area?

Maybe we'll start with you, Mr. Burt, and we'll just go down the line.

[Stephen Burt]

I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you. We're not really in the business of recommendations, in what I do.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Most government officials aren't, which always is a surprise, actually, but I try so hard, just in case.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Stephen Burt]

What we would be able to say is that this, as I have said in my statement, a very difficult environment, and even with the best preparations, it is going to generate surprises and enormous difficulties—much more so, in my view, than what we ran into in much more controlled environments in the previous operation.

If I were stepping out of the assessment role describing what you can expect on the ground and into a sort of opinion role, it would be to say that you should expect that this is going to be very hard.

[Catherine Parish]

I would concur with my colleague about making recommendations, other than to say that we're fully prepared to support the initiative with our colleagues at CBSA and IRCC.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Sirrs or Ms. Lamoureux, do you have anything to add?

[Emmanuelle Lamoureux]

I would just say the announcement of the initiative has generated some interest and questions in northern Iraq. I would say that referring any questions to the IRCC, which has the latest on these people, is probably the most useful thing to make sure the information that is circulating is correct.