Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 14th, 2017

[Craig Mackie]

Well, we have—

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Unfortunately, the time is up. Perhaps you could answer that in a written form so that we have the benefit of your answer for our study.

Ms. Kwan, take five minutes, please.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Before I begin with my round of questions, I want to register this on the record. I don't support our moving into five-minute rounds instead of seven-minute rounds. I was asked for an opinion and I offered an opinion. I wanted us to stay on seven-minute rounds for this panel, which we would be able to complete within our time slot.

The government members and the chair, actually, decided that this is what we will do. That being said, it is the chair's prerogative. I lost seven minutes already in the first round, and I lost two minutes in this round. I can't say I'm happy about that. People talk about disrespect and not wanting to get into the study. The opposition matters, too, in terms of what our voice is and what we want to bring forward and what is important.

With that, Mr. Chair, I will go on with my questions. I would like to ask Sarah a question.

Sarah, you mentioned the need for adequate programming and services. To that end, what would adequate programming and services look like to you? What is it that you think is required to make those programs successful and, to that end, to make it successful for the provinces to which we wish to attract immigrants, and particularly to support bilingual immigrants?

[Sarah Parisio]

I think we also need the equivalent of services already provided in English to be also available to those whose first official language is French. There are already many English-language services in Newfoundland and Labrador, including integration, reception and referral services, mentoring, job search assistance and language testing. English classes are offered, but French classes are not, to name one.

I'm thinking of the full range of integration services, including pre-arrival services. Those services are available in other provinces, and it is essential that we also have them in our province.

What we are focusing on at the moment is a service that would facilitate community integration because, as we mentioned before, immigrants are integrated into minority language communities. In Newfoundland and Labrador, the retention rate of francophone immigrants is high because it is easy for them to integrate into small groups and small communities.

Where we live, everyone counts. Very few immigrants find themselves without help and without ties in the community.

However, if we cannot count on the funding of the services we need to help them, we lose most of them, of course. As a result, immigration has become detrimental to our francophone communities.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much for that answer.

We know that services are inadequate. Do you think the federal government should be providing and funding these programs?

[Sarah Parisio]

Absolutely, we have been claiming the right to these services for years. That is why I pointed out that this is the first year when there have been cuts to the one and only indirect service for newcomers to Newfoundland and Labrador.

I stressed this because, despite all the progress we have made, it is very important to us.

I also emphasized the language test, the French test, which is required to obtain citizenship. Francophone immigrants go abroad to write it; they go to St. Pierre and Miquelon. Our own residents are forced to leave the country and then come back in order to obtain citizenship.

So the answer to your question is yes, absolutely.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

Part of the contribution of retention, really, and attraction, goes to the lack of services and the federal government has actually cut the funding in support services. We need to, clearly, not cut but also reinstitute and enhance the services.

Thank you for that.

I'd like to turn to Mr. Mackie.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

You have 20 seconds.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I heard you talk about refugee services and the lack thereof. Could you elaborate on that?

[Craig Mackie]

Actually, we do okay with refugee services right now, but with the numbers we received last year, we were nearly overwhelmed. We got some short-term funding to deal with it, but we really need some more work to help the Syrians through the rest of their initial journey in Canada.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

So you need additional services to support you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

Mr. Morrissey, for five minutes, please.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I didn't realize that was a question.

My question would be for Mr. Mackie.

Regarding the Prince Edward Island situation as it relates to rural Prince Edward Island, would you agree that the temporary foreign worker program supports a lot of seasonal jobs in the rural economy that are filled by Islanders, in Prince Edward Island's case?

[Craig Mackie]

I don't know how many temporary foreign workers are currently in the province.

We do support those who approach us with service. As I said, we currently have about 1,400 on our caseload. Many of them do work in rural P.E.I. in fish plants and on farms.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

A lot of these foreign workers who are now in small rural communities are now purchasing homes in these areas where they would like to, as they move into a path of permanency, make these small communities their permanent homes.

Are you aware of that?

[Craig Mackie]

Yes.

In fact, we've been helping them. Some employers are interested in the Atlantic immigration pilot project. They're applying to get their workers, with whom they've been working for years in some cases, into this program so that they can get them permanent residency. They will make for great citizens in this country, I believe.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Would you agree that the Atlantic growth strategy can go a long way to growing the population in small rural communities across Atlantic Canada and Prince Edward Island, in particular?

[Craig Mackie]

I do. I think it is a good pathway for us to pilot and to find out how we can quickly get some of these temporary foreign workers into more security by becoming permanent residents of Canada.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

How much time do I have?

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Three minutes.

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

Wow. I only had 30 seconds.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

You may have talked.

There was an earlier witness who gave evidence before this committee; you would not be privy to it. In my opinion they gave a very simplistic generalization of the landscape of Atlantic Canada as it relates to the reasoning for a temporary foreign worker program to exist. They failed to recognize that for a lot of these seasonal industries, without access to temporary foreign workers and without that labour supply to top up their local supply, a lot of jobs in Atlantic Canada would be in jeopardy.

From your landscape and viewpoint in Prince Edward Island, can you comment on this? In my opinion he made a very generalized statement that really proceeding down that avenue was not required. One way was simply to continue to raise the wage, recognizing that in the seafood processing industry it is a known fact worldwide that seafood processing will move to an area of lower wages. That's why the European Union brings people in from the eastern bloc countries and Scandinavian countries do as well. Also, we do it here in Canada. In fact, in the U.S., the State of Maine is now competing very aggressively with Atlantic Canada on the processing because they have access to a much broader temporary foreign worker program than we have in Canada.

Could you comment on that?

[Craig Mackie]

We know from our experience that fish plant farms, the trucking sector, and so on have been unable to fill the vacancies they have from the existing population, and that's why they sought to keep their businesses going by accessing the temporary foreign worker program. I hear from these business owners that it's a valuable program for them.

As I say, I think the Atlantic immigration pilot is going to show how these people can become permanent residents, which is what most of them want to be. They've come here to Canada; they like Canada; they like Prince Edward Island, and they'd like to keep working where they are. They like the work and they're very happy where they are.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Could you also comment on the fact that without the temporary foreign worker pool, many jobs filled by Atlantic Canadians and—

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Make a 10-second response.