Evidence of meeting #71 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 seekers.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Patrick Tanguy  Assistant Deputy Minister, Government Operations Centre, Emergency Management and Programs Branch, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Commissioner Joanne Crampton  Assistant Commissioner, Federal Policing Criminal Operations, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Jacques Cloutier  Acting Vice-President, Operations, Canada Border Services Agency
Michael MacDonald  Director General, Operations Sector, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Paul MacKinnon  Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic and Program Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Louis Dumas  Director General, Domestic Network, Operations, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

9:20 a.m.

Conservative

Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB

I'd appreciate that response.

What are the social service costs being borne by provinces while asylum claimants await the IRB hearings?

9:20 a.m.

Director General, Operations Sector, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Michael MacDonald

On average, the number I gave you includes the social cost to the provinces and territories.

9:20 a.m.

Conservative

Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB

If you could include that in your answer, that would be great. Thanks.

I know there was some reference to the specific medical. What are the specific medical, background, and security checks claimants go through before they're referred to the IRB, how many people have been allowed to move forward, and how many have been denied following those initial checks? Could you include that in it as well, please?

9:20 a.m.

Director General, Operations Sector, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Michael MacDonald

Just for precision, Mr. Chair, do you mean in the medical sphere or do you mean in other inadmissibilities around criminality and/or any other ineligibility? It's just for precision, that's all.

9:20 a.m.

Conservative

Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB

In all of those, please.

9:20 a.m.

Liberal

The Co-Chair Liberal John McKay

Mr. Maguire, are you directing that question to IRB or are you directing it to border services?

9:20 a.m.

Conservative

Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB

Both, I guess, if we could get an answer on that, but IRB for sure in that area and anything that might be there as well. I'm just wondering how many people have been allowed to move forward and how many have been denied following those initial checks from border services as well.

9:20 a.m.

Director General, Operations Sector, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Michael MacDonald

Sorry to interrupt. I could briefly answer that now. Overall, in terms of the Lacolle movement itself and in terms of the Haitian movement, the vast majority of individuals are being determined eligible to move forward to the IRB. It is a very significant number.

The IRB's decision is a different situation, but overall, the movement in Lacolle is proceeding through eligibility, admissibility, health checks, and so on.

9:20 a.m.

Conservative

Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB

Earlier, the Prime Minister made a tweet, “Regardless of who you are or where you come from, there’s always a place for you in Canada.” I'm wondering how many individuals seeking refugee status have specifically mentioned that tweet of the Prime Minister as they sought refuge in Canada.

9:20 a.m.

Director General, Operations Sector, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Michael MacDonald

That is not a specific question we asked during the admissibility eligibility determination process.

9:20 a.m.

Conservative

Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB

I know that. I'm just asking how many of them have offered that type of an answer or that response because we know there have been some in Manitoba.

I just wanted to say that we know and understand at least that the CBSA didn't meet the targets for removing failed refugee claimants from Canada. I believe the target was to remove 80% of them within one year and only 47% of them were removed. The other 53% who are still in Canada—

9:20 a.m.

Liberal

The Co-Chair Liberal John McKay

Thank you, Mr. Maguire.

Go ahead, Ms. Kwan.

9:20 a.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all of the witnesses for their presentation.

This has been a long time coming. I've been trying to get a study with respect to irregular crossings for almost a year now and it has been shut down four times by the government members, so this is a really good beginning of a new session and with a new chair.

In this regard, I am particularly interested in actually getting the sense of— this is to the IRCC—how many cases have been accepted through the IRB? Do you know how many cases have been processed and accepted from the IRB with these asylum seekers?

9:20 a.m.

Director General, Operations Sector, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Michael MacDonald

That's a complex and multi-layered response because asylum seeking goes on all during the year. We just saw the real peak over this year.

9:20 a.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

Let me be very specific then, regarding the very peak that we're talking about and this particular subset of asylum seekers.

9:20 a.m.

Director General, Operations Sector, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Michael MacDonald

In terms of the greatest peak this year, which was in the month of August, those claims are being worked through, but the IRB has yet to hear them. They're being scheduled now. In addition, the IRB does have its dedicated task force, which is existing to look specifically at this issue over a three-month period.

9:20 a.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

I'm interested in the comment about the United States that everything is good on the safe third country agreement piece, yet we do know, for example, that Mr. Seidu Mohammed, who crossed over the in the dead of winter, and lost digits as a result of it. His claim was rejected in the United States, and yet when he came to Canada, his claim was accepted. This is an outed LGBTQ man from Ghana.

Amnesty International also did a study, if you will, though informal, and the people they interviewed indicated that they don't feel safe in the United States. That's why they are crossing over. There seems to be some discrepancy in terms of the reality, at least from the IRCC's perspective and the government's perspective, versus what people are experiencing on the ground, which I think is very important to note.

There was a large influx in the last year, I would say, and yes it peaked in the summer for Quebec. It peaked in Manitoba in the winter, so there are different periods of time when it peaked.

Do I understand correctly that these cases have been referred to the IRB, and that the vast majority of them have not been heard? What are the wait times for people waiting for their cases to be heard? How does that compare with previous times? In the meantime, in terms of the resources for these individuals, who is providing resources to house them? Is it the province, and has the government provided additional resources to the province to support these asylum seekers? Regarding the NGOs that are on the ground doing this work, are they provided with additional resources as well, and if so, how much?

9:25 a.m.

Director General, Operations Sector, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Michael MacDonald

Thank you, Chair. There are a lot of parts to that. I'll generally answer as quickly as I can, Ms. Kwan.

In terms of the IRB, I understand that next week—next Tuesday I believe—the IRB is appearing with IRCC officials so that we can get more clarity on how the IRB is scheduling. The IRB is coming up with some innovative ways to work through this massive movement that they now have before them.

In terms of the stats on the IRB decisions coming out, particularly on the Haitian population for 2017, I'll let the IRB speak to that. In terms of the housing, indeed, the provinces are the ones that have carriage of helping asylum seekers until they become permanent residents, post-IRB hearing—

9:25 a.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

If I may interrupt, I'll ask if you can share this information with the committee then. Has the federal government provided any additional resources to provinces with these asylum seekers, not just for the housing component but also to support the asylum seekers as they wait for their claims to be processed?

9:25 a.m.

Director General, Operations Sector, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Michael MacDonald

The federal government does not provide direct support to provinces for asylum seekers awaiting their claims. The support comes at the permanent resident granting determination process, afterwards. That being said, we have taken various measures to help the provinces and to help asylum seekers by expediting across Canada all work permit applications and trying to—

9:25 a.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

If I may interrupt then, how many work permit applications have been processed and approved?

9:25 a.m.

Director General, Operations Sector, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Michael MacDonald

About six or seven weeks ago, we had over 6,000 work permit applications for all asylum seekers across Canada in our inventory. That is now almost eliminated, and we are processing in under 30 days any new asylum seeker's work permit that is coming in from across Canada. We are doing those in well under 30 days. The idea is to help people get into the work force quicker.

9:25 a.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

Back to the resources and the provinces, the federal government is not providing any resources to the provincial governments to manage the situation. NGOs are not getting a dime from the federal government to deal with the situation on the ground. I know that in British Columbia, for example, one NGO is actually about to close their doors. They've had to turn asylum seekers away because they have no resources. People who are coming over are now rendered homeless and in shelters, and the federal government knows this.

Has the federal government taken any action with respect to that in supporting the provinces in dealing with the situation? This is most notable in B.C., but B.C. is not alone. In Manitoba, for example, the NGOs that stepped up to deal with this situation are still out of pocket, due to the lack of resources from any level of government with respect to that.

Has the federal government done any work with respect to that?

9:25 a.m.

Liberal

The Co-Chair Liberal John McKay

You have about 30 seconds to answer that question.

9:25 a.m.

Director General, Operations Sector, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Michael MacDonald

I'll be very brief.

The assistance that the federal government does give to the provinces and territories to help for this population, specifically around the asylum, is part of the overall social transfers that go through any of the housing strategies—