Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 20th, 2017

[Richard Wex]

There is no allocation in the supplementary estimates (C) or in the main estimates with respect to your question.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

Ms. Zahid, you have seven minutes, please.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thanks, Minister, for coming and for appearing before the committee. I will take this opportunity to congratulate you on your new role.

Minister, my first question is with regard to the caregiver program. During the campaign we made a number of commitments with regard to the caregiver community. Some of those commitments are also reflected in your mandate letter. I hear regularly from caregivers about their concerns, which include processing times for permanent residency and especially the time to be reunited with their families.

Could you discuss your plan to fulfill your mandate letter's responsibilities with regard to caregivers and the progress made in clearing the backlog in this category?

[Robert Orr]

Perhaps I can respond to some of the points. I'll just give you a few to situate the caregiver program.

The department is currently very much on target to meet its 2017 targets, which will be 18,000 caregivers landed this year. Closing inventory at 2016 was 31,000 persons. That's down from 57,000 at the end of 2014, so that represents a 46% reduction already. The processing times are very high, but that's because we're processing very old cases. Inevitably, as they've been sitting there that long, the processing times are very long. In 2018 we expect to see a major drop in the applications. In fact for those submitted to us from 2015 onwards, the processing time is down to 12 months.

The minister also referred to the new programs that are in place with three-month landing. Eligible applicants in the larger live-in caregiver program inventory can indeed apply under the new program if they qualify, in which case their processing would be quite quick.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Is there any targeted date by which we can clear the backlog you mentioned?

[Robert Orr]

We continue to bring it down, with the high levels that are being assigned to this program, and in 2018 we'll see major advances. Particularly we will see the processing times come down, because the oldest legacy cases within that category will have been dealt with.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thank you.

My next question is in regard to the supplementary estimates (C). Your department has budgeted $1.4 million for government advertising programs. Could you outline what programs are being advertised specifically with this funding? Is it foreign or domestic advertising, what are the target audiences, and finally, which advertising mediums are being employed?

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

That's a great question.

Some of that money went to help advertise and spread information with respect to the electronic travel authorization. As you know, the eTA has been very successfully implemented by our government. Part of that success is related to our ability to advertise it widely to the visa-free countries in Europe. I personally saw some of the cards and the advertisements at various airports and travel agencies while I was travelling in Europe.

The second advertising piece with respect to the $1.4 million is related to advertising for settlement services to potential clients so that they can access these services. You would agree with me that it's important for newcomers to access critical services for their success in Canada, and that whatever we can do to facilitate their access to those services we must do. Some of the advertising went to that, but definitely a lot of it also went to the eTA.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thanks for that. I totally agree with you that we need to inform the new immigrants of what services are available. Specifically with regard to the funding we are using for these new immigrants, was the advertising in the newcomer's package they get, or was it, for instance, in community papers or some ethnic newspapers?

[Richard Wex]

There are various ways in which this information was disseminated to newcomers. Ms. Edlund is motioning to me, so it sounds as though she has some details, or perhaps Mr. Mills does.

[Daniel Mills]

The advertising campaign was conducted in Canada on social media, in the newspapers and on the radio. These three means of communication were used.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

I hope we are integrating the ethnic media, because I know that a lot of newcomers who come here rely more on the ethnic media than on the national or local media. Those are the newspapers they use and read, so I hope we use those.

My next question is also in regard to the supplementary estimates. There is funding of $10 million for the interim federal health program, which provides temporary health insurance primarily to refugees and refugee claimants. Do you have the figures on how many beneficiaries used the interim federal health program in 2016-17 and in the year prior? What is the projected budget for this program for the year 2017-18?

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

We don't have the total number of individuals who have actually used the program. We can certainly get that number to you. The $10 million addresses an increase in the number of people who have been using the program. The more asylum seekers you have, the more that program will be used, so as the costs rise, we always have to go and get extra funding to address that gap.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Mr. Wex.

[Richard Wex]

I would just reiterate what the minister said. It's a quasi-statutory authority. It starts at about $50 million, and throughout the year we access additional funds as required. What you see reflected here in supplementary estimates (C) seeks to access an additional $10 million as a result of the increased volume of refugee asylum seekers.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

You have twenty seconds.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

I'll just make a quick statement rather than asking a question.

There was a backlog of some 6,300 so-called legacy claimants in our asylum system. You have touched on that and some other colleagues have talked about it, but the volume of new asylum cases has been increasing sharply. The people I have talked to have pointed to changes to the system made by the previous government causing these cases to slip through the cracks, so I hope we will actively engage these people and get them a fair hearing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you, Ms. Zahid.

Mr. Tilson, go ahead for seven minutes, please.

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

Mr. Minister, can you tell us the status of the visa lift for Bulgaria and Romania?

[Richard Wex]

As was announced, the visa lift for Romania and Bulgaria will come into effect on December 1, 2017, but there is a phased lift to Romania and Bulgaria, such that an advanced form of electronic travel authorization will come into effect May 1 for so-called low-risk travellers from Romania and Bulgaria. These are defined as individuals who have had a Canadian visa over the past 10 years or who currently have an American visa. Those so-called low-risk travellers will be able to get an electronic travel authorization as of May 1, and then the full lift will come into effect on December 1, 2017, as previously announced.

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

I ask that, obviously, because of the voting by member states that will be going on specifically with regard to CETA. Are the Romanians and Bulgarians happy with what you just said? In other words, will that help with the discussions that Romania and Bulgaria will be having, presumably, regarding voting for provisions of CETA?

[Richard Wex]

I can't—

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

I can answer that.

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

I know that has to do with another department, but the visa issue is dependent on Bulgaria and Romania. I know that, because they've told me. If the visa issue isn't resolved, they're not going to vote for CETA.

I'd like to know whether they're happy with that, Mr. Minister.