Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 29th, 2017

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'm going to spend a couple of my minutes to speak to the Vegreville situation. I think this is a critical issue. We were just talking about jobs and retention and economic activities in Atlantic Canada. Just imagine for one minute what that would mean if those kinds of implications and impacts were to happen in the Atlantic provinces in any of those cities. I would suspect that all the provincial ministers and all MPs from those regions would not support it. Here we are in a situation where people are being devastated.

The Vegreville processing centre does exemplary work. If we do this, the potential loss they bring to the table in helping the government get the cases processed would be over 2,000 years of experience. That is significant in the context of the huge backlogs we're dealing with. By the way, there have been cases when there was a backlog in Mississauga, Ontario, when they sent boxes of files to Vegreville to get them processed. That is the stuff we're trying to push through with regard to processing spousal applications, and where there have been enormous delays. The Vegreville people are helping push this stuff through.

The government wants to reduce the wait times for spousal applications to a one-year processing time limit. You better think twice about this. You will lose thousands upon thousands of years of experience in that work, and that would only hamper the government's efforts in achieving its goals. I have written to the minister about this, and I've received a stock answer about why they have to proceed. You don't have to proceed. This is a non-partisan issue. It is about our economy, the immigration system, and about getting the work done while using the best talents to get that work done. Let's rethink it.

I think I'm going to blow all my seven minutes. I haven't had a chance to get into this debate a whole lot because of the time limitations for the NDP in questions and so on, but this is a critical issue for Vegreville. More than that, it's a critical issue for the immigration system and processing times. Think about it for one minute.

I would think nobody, government members as well as the officials, would say this is okay if we were to do this in the Atlantic provinces. Why would we want to do this to Vegreville, a community that is strong, proud, and that is contributing in every sense of the word to all of us in the work we need to do and to the overall economy of our country?

I support this motion. Because it was non-debatable around adjourning, I didn't get to speak to it, but I just wanted to spend a few minutes on that.

While we're on this track, I'm going to spend a couple of minutes on another motion, Mr. Chair. I'm going to move the following:

That pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), that the Committee immediately undertake a study of land arrivals at Canada’s southern border, including: the impact of current realities at the border on safety and security of both refugees and Canadian society; the effective management of refugee claims at the border, within the context of Canada's international human rights obligations; and how to ensure an efficient and effective refugee determination process. That this study should be comprised of no less than five meetings; that IRCC department officials be in attendance for at least one of the meetings; that CBSA officials be in attendance for at least one of the meetings; and that RCMP officials be in attendance for at least one of the meetings; that the study be concluded and that the Committee report its findings to the House prior to June 9, 2017; and that Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the government table a comprehensive response thereto.

Mr. Chair, you'll remember this is a motion that I had moved and has been adjourned I believe three times, if not four. I'm going to move that we resume debate on this. I would like to get an answer from the government members so we can schedule the study and get on with it to get this important work done. To that end, I'm going to move resuming debate with respect to that motion, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you, Ms. Kwan.

As you're aware, it's a dilatory motion so it's not debatable. We will move to a vote.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

A recorded vote, please.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

We'll have a recorded vote.

(Motion negatived: nays 5; yeas 4)

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

I'm going to ask a quick question, if I may.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Yes.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

We've just heard about the situation in Vegreville. If such a processing centre were closed in the Atlantic provinces, we have heard, the impact on Charlottetown would be the loss of 3,158 jobs. It would be equivalent to that. For Saint John, it would be 6,257. For St. John's, it would be 9,647.

We're talking about economic activities and the critical aspect of this. Would you agree that it's not something you would want to see with regard to the Atlantic provinces, to have such an implication with policies from government impacting the economic viability of the towns, the cities, and the Atlantic provinces?

[Laurie Hunter]

I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. That would be a topic that we would think would be a government opinion or decision to weigh in on.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you for your response.

Please proceed.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Yes, of course it would, and I would say that if the minister would actually agree to come to this committee and answer questions from the opposition on these budgetary items, we maybe would be able to get an answer. I was hoping that maybe the officials would be able to say to us that if the government were forced to think about this kind of thing, it would be something they would not do to any one community. That said, I understand your position. You're not able to answer that question.

Let me then turn to this question.

We have the government's Atlantic growth strategy. In fact, they have established a leadership committee that comprises the premiers of the four Atlantic provinces, as well as five members of the federal cabinet. The federal cabinet members are the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, the President of the Treasury Board, the Minister of Public Services and Procurement, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. It does not include the Minister of Immigration, and we're talking about immigration policy that would impact this.

Why is that? Can anybody answer that question? Or is that too much of a political question that only the minister can answer, which, if he chose to show up, he would be able to do?

[Laurie Hunter]

I can respond to the fact that the Minister of Immigration is on the list of ministers who will be invited to some of the leadership committee meetings, but again, the actual composition of the leadership committee would be a government decision. The Minister of Immigration and other ministers are invited to some of the meetings.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Right. Well, it seems strange to me. We are dealing with a study for this committee with respect to the growth of the Atlantic provinces vis-à-vis immigration growth, yet that leadership is not on that committee, not as an invited guest to come and offer some comments, but as part of it as a member—

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

You have 20 seconds.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

—to drive the initiative to make sure we yield the results that we want. It makes this study somewhat disingenuous, frankly, when the government itself has a strategy going and the ministers and the Prime Minister deliberately choose not to put the immigration minister at that table.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you, Ms. Kwan.

Ms. Zahid, you have seven minutes. I understand that you'll be splitting your time with Mr. Samson.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thank you, Chair, and thanks to our witnesses.

First, are there any elements of the Atlantic immigration pilot that, if successful, could be applied to focus on rural communities that are facing some of these same demographic challenges as Atlantic Canada?

[Laurie Hunter]

Yes, certainly. I think we'll be looking at different elements of the pilot as it rolls out, and we definitely need to evaluate the results as we go. Looking at the unique settlement component and the components focused on retention, as well as the fact that there are the rural areas that have different needs than urban areas do, that certainly is a possibility.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Next, although the immigration levels to Atlantic Canada have been traditionally low, they welcomed 11.5% of the Syrian refugees who arrived between November 2015 and September 30, 2016. Do we have any sense of how many have stayed in the region? Also, can we build on that capacity for other refugee resettlement initiatives?

[Laurie Hunter]

Mr. Chair, I think we certainly can draw on the lessons learned from the settlement of refugees in the Atlantic region. I would turn to my colleague Ümit to see if there are any statistics readily available or if we would need to undertake to bring that back.

[Ümit Kiziltan]

Yes, as you know, we do follow and monitor different immigrant groups in terms of their retention rates, but in terms of the tools we use, it's too early for us to understand how many are staying or will stay. The initial studies and the research that we are getting from the region, from the academics, indicate that in fact there are three research projects taking place in the region by using the SSHRC-IRCC joint special Syrian rapid impact research that was established. They are basically monitoring in terms of their settlement services.

Currently in the region, GARs and privately sponsored refugees, the ones who have been established there from the beginning, are accessing settlement services—that we know—but as for two or three years from now and how many will stay, it's very hard to tell. We will have the tools and means to monitor and report on those rates.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thank you, and I will pass it on to my colleague Mr. Samson.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Good afternoon, and thank you for your presentation.

I would like to ask you a question about francophones in Canada, especially those in the Atlantic region. The objective of your department in the last 10 years has been to increase the rate of francophone immigration by 4%. But the increase has only been 1.4%. So it has been a failure.

How can you assure us that this pilot project is going to result in an increase of francophone immigrants, which is needed in order to continue the development of the francophone communities in the Atlantic region and in other francophone minority communities in Canada?

[Corinne Prince]

Thank you for the question.

The department is not only aware of the objective that was set, but also of all the efforts that have been made up to now. We are increasing our efforts to achieve the objective in the established timeframe, perhaps even sooner. As you perhaps know, we have Destination Canada, an initiative designed to welcome francophones to the country from around the world. The event takes place each fall. As well, in Canada, we have established a process to work with employers in francophone communities outside Quebec.

As I said earlier, the best way to attract and retain immigrants is to provide them with jobs. We are working collaboratively with our network all over Canada to find jobs in communities. We are also working with service providers in order to establish the “by and for” kind of assistance, so that immigrants arriving in Canada are able to find settlement and integration services in French.

Currently, we are active on a number of fronts with service providers, with our partners in the provinces and territories. Last March 30, for the first time, ministers of immigration and francophone affairs met in Moncton to address the issue of francophone immigration, and to work together to find ways of increasing the number of francophones in Canada. The goal is not only to increase the number of immigrants, but also to retain them.

Some provinces have much higher objectives than 4.4%, like New Brunswick and Manitoba. We are working closely with the ministries in those provinces to achieve those objectives.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

I'd like to thank the department officials for appearing before our committee as we launch into our study on immigration in Atlantic Canada.

We will now suspend for two minutes to allow the next panel to assemble.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

We will now resume our study on M-39, immigration to Atlantic Canada.

I'd like to welcome before the committee, from the Government of New Brunswick, Mr. Donald Arseneault, Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour; and Mr. Charles Ayles, assistant deputy minister, Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour, population growth division.

From the Government of Prince Edward Island, we have Mr. Sonny Gallant, the Minister of Workforce and Advanced Learning; Mr. Neil Stewart, deputy minister, Workforce and Advanced Learning; and Ms. Abbey MacPherson, director and senior operations manager.

Welcome to you all.

I assume it's Mr. Arseneault who will be speaking on behalf of the Government of New Brunswick.

The floor is yours for seven minutes, please.