Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 22nd, 2016

[Stephen Burt]

I think we come at this from somewhat different perspectives. I'm really only able to speak to the situation on the ground in Iraq. I think any travel is dangerous right now throughout northern Iraq. I don't think there's a particular point at which it becomes more dangerous or less dangerous. It really depends on what's happening on the ground in terms of the military operations and what groups like Daesh might find an attractive target.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

What would be your concerns about the security of the officials who will be travelling there for this resettlement process?

[Stephen Burt]

My concerns about the officials who will be travelling there are the same as my concerns for all of the Canadian personnel who are there already. They relate to the ongoing military conflict. I'm not sure that gets at your question, though.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

How will we ensure the officials who will be going there for the processing will be safe?

[Stephen Burt]

From an intelligence perspective, I can really only speak to what is happening, what we see happening. What we do is take that information and we flag it up to folks on the policy and operational side. We have to make a variety of decisions about what geographic areas they would like to pick, how they would set themselves up in those areas, and how they would mitigate the risks we've identified for them. Really, my mandate is restricted to the issue of identifying the risks with enough specificity that people can react to them.

From my perspective on the defence side, with the ongoing military campaign there, it's really focused on what is happening overseas. There are different issues with security risks with regard to people we are bringing into Canada, but that I really can't speak to.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Would you like to add something to that?

[Catherine Parish]

Our role is really around the security screening. While the other side of other departments or branches in our agency would look at threat assessments, that information, as indicated by my colleague here, would make its way up to the respective policy centres and lead departments in terms of their ability to assess the security on the ground.

I'm not sure if our colleagues to the left would like to speak to it.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Would you like to add to it?

[Reid Sirrs]

What gives us pause is when people are moving in and out of a region.

First of all, it's moving, say, from an airport in Erbil up to a processing centre in Dohuk, for example. The move on the road is, first of all, a dangerous move. People start noticing a pattern of vehicles moving back and forth at regular intervals. People staying in what we call static locations, who are in the same place for long periods of time to do processing of applications, are also of concern, because you have a lot of people arriving at a destination. They stay put. At the end of so many hours, they leave. That gets watched and monitored. That's where we actually are nervous.

As our colleagues were saying, it's all a collaborative effort of collecting the information. If they hear stuff, if they observe stuff, that will be passed on through the various chains of command to make sure their people on the ground are aware that people are watching, or to make sure they adjust their movement protocols or make adjustments to their actual security defence posture.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

What is the current operating environment in northern Iraq? Do you foresee this situation becoming more hostile towards our operation?

[Stephen Burt]

As I stated, the current operating environment is extremely volatile. It's very risky, depending on where you are. Right now there are ongoing operations and counter-operations in terms of the clearing of Mosul.

In addition, we're seeing Daesh continue with efforts to conduct terrorist attacks in a variety of areas, including areas where they're not currently present, areas that we consider cleared. We don't expect that will stop.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Do you foresee that it will be more hostile once we start our process of bringing the Yazidis here?

[Stephen Burt]

I don't think the process of bringing in the Yazidi population is going to affect it one way or the other. I think what's going to affect it are the ongoing military operations and counterattacks by Daesh. Potentially, as Daesh is diminished, there is the potential for the various other groups in northern Iraq to start taking on each other as the situation becomes more fluid.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

We understand the situation in northern Iraq is volatile and changing, and it's difficult to predict the level of risk. How do you assess the risk and what is an acceptable or minimum level?

[Stephen Burt]

We assess the risk as very high right now. The issue of what's acceptable is really an operational and policy decision in terms of the goals to be carried out and the amount of resources you're willing to apply to do it.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

We heard from the German officials about their program. They mentioned that they started the operation in January 2015 and completed it in January 2016. It took them 12 months to bring about 1,100 people.

How do you see our processing compared to theirs? How long do you think it will take for us? Do you see that it can extend up to that period, or do you think that we can do it in less time?

[Emmanuelle Lamoureux]

Again, I think it's a question for IRCC to address. They are the experts when it comes to resettlement processes.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

IRCC will be looking for support from all of you to complete the process.

[Emmanuelle Lamoureux]

Yes. Absolutely, and we're there to support, but in terms of the selection processes themselves, there are various ways of going about it. I certainly cannot speak to that. I don't know if others are able to.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

You have 20 seconds, please.

[Denis Vinette]

Perhaps I can jump in.

I don't know what the German position is or how the approach was undertaken, but I can tell you that when we undertook to bring 25,000 Syrians, we were able to mobilize and do that in far less than a year. That is the process that we're looking to replicate here in order to be responsive to the request by IRCC.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

Mr. Tilson, you have five minutes, please.

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

Mr. Burt, how many Canadian Armed Forces personnel are there here?

[Stephen Burt]

Where?

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

At this site that we're talking about, northern Iraq.