Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Dec. 7th, 2017

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Can you give me a list of those immigration services, and when you say the processing of those applications, exactly what they are? I just want to have the categories with an understanding of what they are in detail, because in these broad categories that information is meaningless, frankly.

[Michael MacDonald]

Yes.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

With respect to the $9.5-million decrease related to the transfer of the operating budget to Global Affairs Canada to support departmental staff in missions abroad, could the officials provide us with a list of what those missions are and the purpose of the missions?

[Daniel Mills]

Mr. Chair, we can provide that information. We have transferred

additional funds to the missions in Dakar, Accra, Bangalore and Gansu in order to increase the presence of immigration officers abroad. We had to expand our activities in the missions.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Then, within that amount, is there anything allocated as a result of the Yazidi initiative?

[Daniel Mills]

No, not within those amounts.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Okay, and with respect to the $5.1-million support for capital investments, is that for the Quebec asylum seekers' temporary housing? Is that the capital investment? What is the capital investment in this line item?

[Daniel Mills]

The capital investments are for our information technology systems, including the Global Case Management System, or GCMS, used by the department. So these are investments in technology that allows us to improve our processing times.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

Similarly, on the issue around reallocation of existing resources to process the live-in caregivers and caregivers application processing delays, where did those internal resources come from?

[Marta Morgan]

Mr. Chair, every year we allocate resources to different lines of business in order to meet priorities. For example, we've received funding to improve our processing times for spousal applications. On caregivers, it's really a function of prioritizing those applications. We are constantly moving work around the network so that we can prioritize it.

Partly it's also a question of level space. That has been a key driver in the caregivers case, in that we've increased the number of caregivers we had level space for every year so that we could bring in more. Rather than taking away from one area to add to another, it's actually allowed us to process more because we had the level space tabled in Parliament that allowed us to bring in more in any given year.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

At any given time, whenever you reallocate priorities, as the government has the right to do, it means some other priority has dropped off, so what priority has dropped off as a result of that?

From my perspective on the live-in caregiver program, I've always called for a special measure so that we don't actually displace other programs. Somewhere along the line something got dropped. What is it?

[Marta Morgan]

Mr. Chair, last year when the permanent level of immigration was set at 300,000, the department was funded for that. It was funded for the processing costs that are related to bringing 300,000 individuals into Canada, and also for the associated settlement costs. That includes the increase in the number of caregivers we were funded to process. Therefore, there wasn't an impact on other lines of business; it was part of the funding cycle. Going forward with the three-year levels plan, the department has also been funded on a per-capita basis for the immigrants who are going to be coming into Canada and for their settlement services.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Thank you very much.

That ends this part of our meeting.

Again, on behalf of the committee, I want to thank the deputy and all the officials for joining us today. We look forward to seeing you again as we continue our work.

We're moving in camera in about two minutes, and we'll continue our business meeting.

[Proceedings continue in camera]