Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 20th, 2017

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

There is roughly a $10,000 or $12,000 difference here.

Why is the government focusing on government-sponsored refugees as opposed to clearing the backlog of privately sponsored refugees that are in the system right now? My understanding is that there are tens of thousands.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I don't agree with that assertion. We are doing both. We are resettling government-sponsored refugees and we're doing—

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Time is up on this particular round.

Mr. Anandasangaree, you have five minutes, please.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Minister, I'm very proud to see you in this new role. I want to congratulate you and your family for this great responsibility. I know, of all the immigration ministers, you probably appreciate this role in a unique way. Thank you for your leadership on this, and thanks to your incredible staff in the minister's office as well as your colleagues.

A number of issues are currently brewing. I know one of the major issues that has come to our attention is the issue of legacy cases. I want to see if you can maybe elaborate a bit on what the plan is for the 6,000 or so that are currently pending and if you could offer some options going forward.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I will start the answer and also bring in my officials to give you even more detail on that.

The asylum reform is a key part of my mandate letter. We have to reduce the backlog and work with the IRB to reduce the backlog generally of asylum claims, also specifically on the issue of legacy refugees. These are individuals who have been in limbo for the last number of years through no fault of their own, and they need to have certainty with respect to their cases. I have been working very closely with the chair of the IRB to make sure that we address this. Part of it is efficiencies, faster processing, and internal mechanisms within the IRB. There is definitely a request and a need for resources. We're considering that within the overall framework of the budget.

I would also allow my officials to add some input into this.

[Richard Wex]

I don't have much to add beyond what the minister has said—I'll turn it over to Mr. Manicom if he wants to add anything—other than to say that this is a very serious issue, one that I know the minister and the department take seriously. We've discussed this with the Immigration and Refugee Board. Proposals are under consideration, and at this time there's nothing further that we can share with this committee.

That said, Mr. Manicom may want to fill this request.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

If I could probe a little further, do we have any legal options with respect to procedural fairness with delays? Has the department sought any advice on that, and maybe looked at other options the department has exercised in the past to clear backlogs of this nature?

[Richard Wex]

Very quickly, with this particular cohort we have looked at a variety of options, again in collaboration with the IRB. As always with tough challenges, there are numerous different types of program and policy responses, and legal approaches as well. We are looking at the full range of options available to us.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

Mr. Minister, I just want to bring to your attention the TRC's calls to action. I would like to get a sense of a timeline with respect to amending the citizenship oath.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

We moved very quickly on that. My department officials have met with all the major stakeholders within the indigenous community—the representative organization of the Inuit community, the Métis National Council, and the AFN—and they've all indicated agreement with us on our proposed desire to move forward on revising the citizenship guide, but also the oath. I am also meeting those stakeholders to do the same, and have another meeting to make sure that they're all on board and they're in agreement with where we're heading on this. Once this happens, we'll move very quickly to introduce legislation to make that happen.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

With respect to processing times, I know inland spousal sponsorship was quite problematic when we took office. Can you maybe offer some timelines as to how we've improved that efficiency and other improvements since taking over government in October?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I spoke about this earlier, but I'll let Bob Orr talk about it.

[Robert Orr]

I think there's been some very real success since the announcement on June 13 of the new spousal process. We did a very fundamental review of the entire process, looking at the kits, the forms, the various aspects of it, the various steps involved. As a result, we are bringing it well within the 12 months. We're well on track for that, and also we brought down the inventory of cases in Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you, Mr. Orr.

Ms. Kwan, you have three minutes, please.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

CCR made recommendations with respect to legacy claims: to create a regulatory class for legacy claimants; that legacy claimants be landed if they apply and meet minimum requirements, i.e., they have worked for at least six months or have been in some form of education for at least six months in Canada; and that applicants for this class not be required to withdraw their claims. I just want to put this on the table for the government to consider and to move forward on.

Very quickly, on the safe third country agreement, I see that in the supplementary estimates there's $1.2 million to address irregular migration pressures as a result of the lifting of the visa requirement for Mexican nationals. In addition to that, there's a $5-million allocation to the IRB, mostly designated for funding to address irregular migration pressures as a result of the lifting of the visa requirement for Mexican nationals.

On that question, given the Trump situation, and the impacts for us at border communities, why is there no allocation for the irregular migration pressures being put on our communities?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Thank you for the question.

I'll let Mr. Mills answer that.

[Daniel Mills]

Why isn't there a request for additional funding for this? The reason is that Mr. Trump's new order has just been implemented. According to our estimates, the money requested in the supplementary estimates (C) and the funds from the main estimates are enough to meet current needs. We haven't yet assessed the additional amount that will be required.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Okay. Then, as my follow-up question, Mr. Mills, when will you have some estimates? Is your department undertaking that work right now to provide estimates, and will you make them public?

[Daniel Mills]

According to our estimates, the money we're requesting is enough to meet current needs. At the moment, no additional needs are anticipated.

[Richard Wex]

Just as a point of clarification in terms of the question, was that with respect to the department or the IRB?

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

The IRB.

[Richard Wex]

Okay.

[Daniel Mills]

Sorry, yes, that's—

[Richard Wex]

In terms of the IRB, that's not within the department's purview, of course. But to go to the member's question with respect to that, the IRB, as the minister previously said, is already facing a number of pressures and recent events will only give rise to further pressures. As we indicated earlier, this matter is under active consideration by the government. When the government is in a position to share that information in terms of a decision, that will be made—

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you. I take that to mean there's no allocation. That's what it means right now.