Evidence of meeting #6 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was c-6.
A video is available from Parliament.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Borys Wrzesnewskyj
That was not part of what was decided by the subcommittee, but if you'd like to make a motion, go ahead.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
With the remainder of my time, and I would hope in a very non-partisan spirit, and to my colleagues who may be new, I'm just starting the process of dealing with case work. I want to re-emphasize how important it is for us to have access. What happens is, when we phone this 1-844 number, oftentimes the response that we'll get is that they can't help us because the central processing unit would essentially allow them to overturn somebody's decision. That's not what we want. Every once in a while there's a new piece of evidence. A constituent has come in, and there have legitimately been times when evidence has been lost in the mail and we need to have a reconsideration on a ruling, and they're not in a position to be able to do that.
For instance, I can give an example of something where we would intervene. I had a constituent whose husband was the sponsor on her citizenship application and her daughter's. They were about to take the oath and he committed suicide. The ruling was that they could not be granted citizenship. That's where we worked through that department to overcome that issue because the visa officer couldn't overturn the ruling.
These are the sorts of cases that we are involved in. From the bottom of my heart, and to my colleagues across the aisle, I strongly recommend against removing our access into that division. It's going to make your life a lot more difficult and it's going to gum up the system for your officers as well as for us. If anything, I would recommend better training for new MPs on how to use those services and in what situation.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Mr. Chairman, I would move that the staff of the department be invited to return before the end of the deliberations of Bill C-6 to further brief the committee on the topic that's just been raised by Ms. Rempel. If it requires further time on the bill, that would be added to the time.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
This was not in our schedule. I think maybe we can discuss it within the subcommittee.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Mr. Chairman, I've made a motion. I expect we're going to have a vote on it, or a debate.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
This was not in our schedule. I think we have to finish with the officials here, and maybe this can be taken to the subcommittee.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Are you suggesting the department come back to a subcommittee? No, the department would come back to this committee. This is a most important issue. I don't know whether you've had calls, Ms. Zahid, to your office—
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
I think this is pretty simple. It's not partisan.
12:40 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I would support this motion, and I think we can dispense with it fairly quickly. I think it is important for us to get clarity on what the changes are. We have heard news about this and have been hearing about rumours around this change. I have written an open letter to the minister making inquiries around that to see what the changes are. If there are changes, constituency offices are anxious, and rightfully so, to see what it means in terms of them being able to help their constituents address cases.
In that regard it would be useful as well to get information with respect to the changes around embassy offices, because those changes include the constituency office not being able to contact the local embassy offices for information about cases.
I would welcome this opportunity, but I don't want to get into a full debate about this at this juncture. Hopefully we can vote on this, and then I can get on with my other questions to the officials related to Bill C-6.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Briefly, Mr. Chair, to my colleagues across the aisle, this is not meant to be partisan. We're simply asking for a briefing on clarity. Your staff are shaking their heads at me, which I find extremely unprofessional. This is simply to get a briefing on how this process will work. I would assume this would come up in your caucus meeting, as well. We've had different messages from the minister's office and from the department on what's happening, and we would like some clarity on this process. If you overturn this, I ask, what there is to hide? This is simply a briefing on the process change, and that's all.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
I would add there was an email that was sent out on April 5 to all the members, and it says:
Access to IRCC continues uninterrupted; Members of Parliament have direct access to the dedicated line to the department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. All MP case enquiries are handled directly by the dedicated division, which is separate from the general public line. By the end of the year we will implement an enquiry system under one central number to manage all enquiries related to IRCC, which will remain solely available to Members of Parliament. This system will further ensure that Members of Parliament receive the most expedient and informative service possible to assist them in helping their constituents and managing their cases.
This came on April 5.