Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Dec. 6th, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on October 4, the committee will continue its study on the subject matter of the supplementary estimates (B) as well as the immigration levels plan.

Once again, we have the minister before the committee today.

Minister McCallum, the floor is yours.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members.

It's a double pleasure to be here today because I'm here for twice the usual length of time, two hours. I'm very happy to be with you this afternoon.

I'm very pleased to be joined also by my officials: Marta Morgan, deputy minister, as well as Robert Orr, Dawn Edlund, David Manicom, and Daniel Mills. I think we will probably be sharing the questions, depending on what you choose to ask.

Mr. Chair, I'm glad to be able to provide you with an update on my department’s 2017 immigration levels plan, which we announced last month. This is the second levels plan that I've had the honour of presenting as Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. I'm proud of how it reflects our government's commitment to help strengthen our compassionate, open and welcoming country through the immigration system.

The plan will do so by bolstering the middle class through economic growth; attracting investment; supporting diversity; and helping to build vibrant, dynamic and inclusive communities across Canada.

The 2016 plan contained the highest number of projected immigrant admissions put forth by the Government of Canada in modern times, a notable increase from the annual planning range that was in place in recent years.

Our latest plan maintains these historically high levels and will result in Canada welcoming between 280,000 and 320,000 new permanent residents in 2017 across our economic family and refugee programs.

We're also establishing 300,000 as our new baseline for permanent resident admissions in our annual levels planning going forward. This will be the foundation from which we can grow immigration levels in the future.

The 2017 plan balances our economic needs with our commitments to reunite families and offer protection to those in need.

Mr. Chair, we remain strongly committed to the idea that immigration is crucial to Canada's future. We are increasing the share of economic admissions in the 2017 levels plan as compared with the 2016 plan.

Within the overall target of our latest plan, our admissions target in the economic class has been set at 172,500, including 73,700 federal economic admissions, 51,000 provincial nominees, 18,000 admissions through the federal caregivers program, 500 federal business admissions, and the remaining 29,300 admissions coming through the Quebec skilled workers and business program.

The plan restores federal economic admissions above the 2015 level of 70,000 and provides more admission space for candidates selected through our express entry system.

As well, admissions for the new Atlantic immigration pilot program are included in the federal economic category and will accommodate admissions resulting from up to 2,000 applications in 2017. This pilot, which was developed in partnership with the four Atlantic provinces and is expected to launch early next year, aims to attract and retain immigrants to meet the demographic and labour market objectives of these provinces.

One more thing worth highlighting in the economic class is the fact that the 2017 plan will see the virtual elimination of our inventory of legacy live-in caregiver applications with a target of 18,000 admissions through the federal caregiver program by the end of 2019.

The 2017 immigration levels plan also reflects our government's emphasis on family reunification, which helps newcomers better integrate into our country and contribute to their new communities.

We continue to focus on reuniting close family members who, in many cases, are kept apart by processing times that are simply too long.

With that in mind, we're increasing family class admissions by 4,000 spaces, from 80,000 in 2016 to 84,000 in 2017, and by 16,000—or an increase of 24%—as compared to the 2015 plan. Our target of 84,000 family class admissions in 2017 will immediately reduce inventories and processing times.

More levels space combined with targeted efforts to decrease processing times in the spousal category will lead to families being reunited more quickly, so they can start building their lives in Canada. In the case of the parents and grandparents program, we have formally increased the number of entry applications that will be accepted annually. Beginning this year, the number of applications accepted for intake is 10,000, doubling the previous cap of 5,000 applications. We have also continued efforts to reduce the backlog inventory in the parent and grandparent program. We estimate that this inventory will be reduced to 46,000 by the end of 2016, down from a peak of more than 165,000 in 2011.

Mr. Chair, our 2017 immigration levels plan also upholds Canada's long humanitarian tradition of welcoming people seeking refuge and protection from conflict and war. The 2017 target for refugees and protected persons is 40,000, which is divided between a target of 25,000 for our various resettlement programs and 15,000 for our protected persons. The 25,000 resettled refugee admissions include targets of 16,000 privately sponsored refugees, 7,500 government-assisted refugees, and 1,500 blended visa office-referred refugees, sometimes known as BVOR. These numbers uphold Canada's position as a global leader in resettling refugees.

Although the planned refugee admissions are lower than in 2016, which saw our exceptional response to the Syrian refugee crisis, they are considerably higher than the average of 14,000 annual admissions between 2010 and 2015. By setting a target of 16,000 privately sponsored refugee admissions in 2017, the plan will address backlog reduction in applications for that program, reflecting the generosity of Canadians. The 2017 immigration levels plan also includes space for 2,900 to 4,500 admissions in the “humanitarian and other” line of business, which includes admissions of people under humanitarian and compassionate considerations, and on public policy grounds.

We carried out a comprehensive stakeholder and public engagement exercise throughout this past summer.

We found broad support among stakeholders for higher levels, as long as the growth is planned and phased, and accompanied by settlement supports.

Among the general public, the views are a little more mixed, although I'm happy to report that support for immigration remains high.

Mr. Chair, in the remainder of my opening remarks, I will address the main points of supplementary estimates (B). A key component of the mandate letter I received upon becoming minister last year was our government's initiative to welcome 25,000 Syrian refugees within a few months. I am proud that to date we have exceeded our original target and have welcomed over 35,000 Syrian refugees in over 320 communities across the country. But we still have work to do to meet our commitments, and the supplementary estimates reflect this.

For instance, our estimates contain an increase of $7.3 million related to the Syrian refugee initiative. This funding is for the travel costs of 3,040 privately sponsored Syrian refugees, and it's from the amount that was lapsed for this initiative in 2015-16. Therefore, this does not represent an amount above the overall funding already announced for this initiative. This funding will also process the surplus government-assisted refugee applications that were received and in the inventory between February 29 and March 31, 2016. It is expected that those remaining cases are more complex and thus require more resources to finalize. The estimates also contain a $310,000 transfer to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to fund researchers actively engaged in research in areas related to immigration and refugee resettlement. It is intended to support researchers addressing pressing, short-term research issues related to the current Syrian refugee resettlement effort.

This research will inform and support the efforts of policy-makers, service organizations, and other stakeholders.

Another key element of these supplementary estimates is $2.1 million in additional funding for the expansion of the electronic travel authorization, or eTA, for low-risk travellers. This funding will help lift the visa requirement for certain low-risk travellers who are from key visa-required markets and who travel to Canada by air.

As the committee is aware, starting November 10, 2016, visa-exempt foreign nationals—other than U.S. citizens—need an eTA to board their flight to Canada. The eTA allows Canada to screen travellers for admissibility before they travel to Canada and prevent those who are inadmissible from travelling to Canada in the first place.

To date, more than 2.4 million eTAs have been issued. Most—more than 80 %—have been issued within three minutes of the application being submitted.

As my department recently announced, Canada intends to lift the visa requirements for Romanian and Bulgarian citizens on December 1, 2017. In the lead-up to full visa lifts, Canada intends to implement partial lifts for eligible Romanian and Bulgarian travellers. This would mean that on May 1, 2017, Romanian and Bulgarian citizens who have held a Canadian temporary resident visa in the past 10 years or who currently hold a valid United States non-immigrant visa may be eligible to apply for an ETA, or electronic travel authorization, instead of a visa to fly to or transit through Canada.

Mr. Chair, there are other pieces to our supplementary estimates as well, but I think that ends my opening remarks. I'd be very happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you, Minister McCallum.

We begin the first round with Mr. Ehsassi for seven minutes.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you, Minister McCallum.

It's good to see you before this committee again. I would hazard a guess that you have probably, as our minister, appeared before our committee more than any other minister has. Thank you for that.

And thank you for your lengthy remarks today. It's quite obvious that your department remains a beehive of activity, and you're moving on numerous different fronts.

My first question is this. You are setting a new baseline of 300,000 for new permanent residents. That's great news; however, as a country we've experienced long processing times in the past 10 years. I know one of your priorities is to address that issue. Do we have assurances that will not happen once again? If so, how are we going to get there?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

I think we're certainly equipped to handle the 300,000 we have planned for in the coming year. If you're asking me whether we're well equipped for significant increases beyond that, I think we would need more resources. We would need the capacity to handle the job without significant increases in processing times. In fact, I'd go beyond that to say we're definitely aiming for lower processing times. I'm making an announcement tomorrow about processing times for family class, which I won't get into today, except to say it's good news.

We've recently announced a global talent strategy, for which the processing time has been reduced to two weeks. Under express entry, the processing time is six months. Citizenship applications are down to taking a year. There are certainly cases that take longer than that. I don't deny that, but I think overall we are making progress, sometimes quite dramatic progress, in reducing those processing times.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you very much for that.

Now I'll move to the new Atlantic immigration pilot program. Of course, I've heard from many colleagues from out east that it is something they're very, very keen on. Having heard about this, I wonder what the mechanisms are that will ensure that, once immigrants come to our country and they arrive in a particular region, they will stay in that very same region.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

That's a really good question, because it goes to the nub of the whole proposal.

Atlantic Canada is somewhat ahead of the rest of us in terms of aging more quickly than other provinces, so it is quite desperate for immigrants and refugees. It was among the most enthusiastic recipients for the Syrian refugees. However, it has an issue in not retaining as many immigrants as other parts of the country do. It doesn't do much good for Atlantic Canada, desperate for immigrants, if those immigrants arrive in Atlantic Canada and then take a plane to Toronto, Vancouver, or wherever.

I, as a minister, am making available additional immigrants to Atlantic Canada—2,000 in the first year of principal applicants, so, depending on family size, that could mean 5,000 people. Also, they on their side will work with the companies in the region to do everything possible to retain those people by creating a welcoming atmosphere, by reaching out. I have urged the provinces to speed up the credentials recognition process, which would make it more likely the individuals will stay.

We're just beginning. We can't preordain the results, but I know we've had a positive experience in Manitoba, where they have been successful in attracting immigrants to smallish towns, and they have stayed there. Not all will stay, and it's a pilot program, so the better it goes in the early years, the more it's likely to expand and possibly spread to other countries.

I think it's a very important issue, to try to facilitate the movement of immigrants to parts of the country that traditionally have trouble attracting immigrants. Atlantic Canada is a case in point, but there are other parts of the country that would fit into that category too.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you for that.

Another thing I noticed is that there is an allotment of 73,700 for economic immigrants. How, in your opinion, will these immigrants assist with our aging population?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Look, Canada does have an aging population. We need immigrants just to replace the labour force. There are more people retiring than new people coming in. In my conversations across the country, there was a very broad consensus that for demographic and other reasons, for labour-shortage reasons, the country needs more immigrants. There is no shortage of groups and regions calling for those immigrants. However, we as a government have to ensure that those who come to Canada as economic immigrants are as well equipped as possible to hit the ground running to do well. In the last 10 or 15 years we haven't always done so well. It has taken more years for immigrants to reach Canadian levels than it used to, so we do have some challenges.

That's why we are making some reforms in that system. We've had the global talent strategy that I've just mentioned. We've given additional points to international students. I think they will hit the ground running more than most do. Also, the additional points mean that as many as 40% of all of our economic immigrants will be international students.

I think we're taking measures to improve not the quality but the speed with which economic immigrants can hit the ground quickly, get jobs, and contribute to Canada.

Finally, I would also say that economic immigrants often create jobs. We have immigrant entrepreneurs. We have companies that are desperate for a small number of key immigrants in return for which they will hire a vastly larger number of Canadians. Thomson Reuters is a recent example of that. Very frequently it's the case that immigrants don't take other people's jobs; hiring immigrants very frequently results in the creation of net jobs for Canadians.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

Ms. Stubbs, you have seven minutes.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, thank you for being here today.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

It's a pleasure.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

I just want to start by acknowledging the hard-working employees at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. They provide assistance to my staff, certainly in my constituency office in Lakeland, as well as, I know, to staff across the country to assist in meeting the many needs in our respective constituencies.

I'd like to talk about Vegreville, Minister. Of course, on October 28 you said: “It is [the] responsibility of the government to spend taxpayers' money wisely”. You said there is a good business case, but your own department admitted that there was no cost analysis or economic impact assessment done about the closure.

Will you release the business case?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

I will leave my departmental officials in just a moment to answer the second part of your question, because they certainly did consider the economic impact of the cost situation. I will leave that to them to respond, but I think my general answer is that our first responsibility is to improve the processing times and the efficiencies of our department.

The department's analysis did indicate that this could not be done successfully in Vegreville; hence, the need to move to Edmonton. There were a number of factors contributing to that. The lease was about to run out; there was a lot of work that had to be done to repair the building; and they were having trouble hiring people for major vacancies that they could not fill. It was felt that there would be a much stronger performance in Edmonton; hence, the decision was made.

But—

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

So will you release the specific information outlining the business case for the closure of the government facility?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

If you let me finish my sentence, I'm going to ask my colleagues to talk about the business case.

But I would just like to close by saying that we understand the dislocation this has caused. My staff has spoken to the mayor. I have offered to speak to you. We are ensuring that every current staff member in Vegreville, whether permanent or non-permanent, is offered a position in Edmonton, so we are doing our best to facilitate the move. It is really in the interest of running a more effective and efficient immigration department.

Maybe one of my colleagues could comment on the nature of this business case.

[Marta Morgan, Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

I would just reiterate what the minister said.

The business, the lease—

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Okay, well then, I'll move to the second question if you're just going to reiterate what the minister said.

You have made the comment more than once that all current employees will be guaranteed jobs in Edmonton; however, on November 29 the parliamentary secretary said, “...current indeterminate employees will be able to retain their jobs”.

Do you actually mean that all employees will be guaranteed jobs in Edmonton, or will it only be indeterminate employees who are offered jobs—

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

All.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

—of which less than half—

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

All.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

—are currently indeterminate in Vegreville?

And what happens to the temporary workers whose contracts were up for renewal just months after the proposed move?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Before I say anything with which they might not agree, I'll pass it over to one of the officials.

[Robert Orr, Assistant Deputy Minister, Operations, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

The commitment is that all indeterminate employees will be offered a position in Edmonton. Those who were on term assignments at the time of the move likewise will be offered positions in Edmonton. For those who are casual, we will have to look at the situation at the time to determine whether or not they will be offered a position in Edmonton.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Minister, will you commit to releasing information about the business case for the closure?