Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 15th, 2018

[Marta Morgan]

We will look into whether that information is actually collected and available on individual cases. If it is, we will certainly provide it. We can certainly provide the number.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

The government has put up on their website that for the caregivers program, effective November 29, 2019, those who have not met the two-year work requirement will not be eligible to apply for permanent resident status. I know that the minister, since that time, has said they're looking at this, that it was a pilot program, and so on. The issue that I'm bringing forward is this. Individuals who came in 2017 and—through no fault of their own—had their employment interrupted for whatever reason, will not meet the 24-month requirement.

Will they be penalized?

[Marta Morgan]

As we noted, the pilot program was always for five years, and it is destined to sunset in 2019. However, we're looking at how they're working and what the path forward is for permanent residency for caregivers, including those who have been working since they got here or whose work has been interrupted.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

For example, if an individual has an employer who's abusive, and through a lot of courage she's had to resign that position, she will not meet that 24-month requirement by November 29, 2019.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

I'm afraid I need to interrupt you. That's a very important point, but that was four minutes. You'll get another round in here.

Mr. Tabbara, you have seven minutes.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I just want to continue on my line of questioning from before. The trend of our population is an aging demographic, the same as I pointed out before within Germany. We know that five million Canadians are set to retire by 2035. What kinds of figures do we take in, or what kinds of measures do we look at when we factor in what other countries are doing, to ensure that we decrease the median age of our population and have a proper ratio of workers to retirees?

[Marta Morgan]

This is one of the important factors that was considered in the development of the multi-year levels plan. We know that throughout Canadian history, generations of newcomers have had a positive impact on the Canadian economy. Looking forward, in particular given the aging of the labour force and the need for new skills, the immigration program has the opportunity to really benefit the Canadian economy in that respect. We look at that very carefully.

There are a number of pathways that are primarily economic within the multi-year levels plan, such as the provincial nominee program, the federal express program, and the Atlantic immigration pilot. All of these, from a permanent immigration perspective, are designed to contribute directly to the economy and our economic growth, but so are our family reunification and humanitarian programs. We see, for example, that the children of refugees have higher educational outcomes than Canadian-born children. Across all elements of the multi-year levels plan, we see growth, and that growth will contribute to the economic vitality of the country.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you very much.

If I can just continue on with that, my colleague from this side mentioned international students. Oftentimes, when they finish their studies here in Canada, they've been here for quite a few years, they've learned the language, and they've become accustomed to the Canadian lifestyle. They may not have a specific job offer, but they can offer tremendous skills in the labour shortage that we currently have in Canada.

Oftentimes, we want to keep those international students here. What are some of the things we are continuing to do to keep international students here that will really help us in our job growth and to close the gap on our labour shortage?

[Marta Morgan]

One of the key factors that was really driving the creation of the express entry program on the economic side was the recognition of the importance of human capital in terms of education and also language to the economic success of immigrants here. Of course, students fall clearly within that category.

There are a variety of potential streams within the immigration program that would enable students to stay in Canada after they've completed their studies. They can stay temporarily under our work permit provisions. They can stay through the provincial nominee program. They will have preference in the express entry program because of their Canadian education and their education levels. Also, in the Atlantic immigration pilot, one of the key features of that pilot program is to look at how we transition students from being students in Atlantic Canada to working in Atlantic Canada, to being permanent residents.

We are building pathways for students across many of the paths within the immigration program.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Since we're speaking of Atlantic Canada, I'll pass it to my Atlantic colleague.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you very much for the time, Mr. Tabbara.

Another group of Canadians who have come to Atlantic Canada are people from the Balkans, including Romanians and Bulgarians. They've opened up lots of great and wonderful businesses. They're great members of our community and they were very happy to see the visa requirements lifted last year so that their friends and family and relatives could come. Given the previous line of questioning, I just want to have some assurance that as more immigrants from those areas may choose to come to Canada as skilled...or under the PNP or economic migrant class, that this won't affect the ability of visitors from those countries to come under the current visa rules.

Could you describe for us, in general terms, without breaching the confidentiality to Romania or Bulgaria, how that process works and why we're so happy that Bulgarians and Romanians can come to this country, either as visitors or as economic class migrants?

[Marta Morgan]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

In terms of how that visa policy works, it's a broad framework that's multi-faceted, that looks across a range of issues and criteria to help us to assess whether it would meet both our program objectives and our national interests. Socio-economic trends in the countries, migration issues, travel document integrity, border management, safety and security issues, human rights issues, and bilateral and multilateral issues are all considered, as well as the level of co-operation and collaboration that we have with the countries that we are working with on these issues.

All of those things are taken into account, and certainly we recognize in our visa policy framework the importance of tourism, of business travellers coming to Canada, from an economic perspective and also from a family perspective, in terms of striking the right balance between facilitation and integrity in all of our programs.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Would you say, then, that people who are coming as economic class migrants wouldn't be counted as a negative towards Romania and Bulgaria, in the mechanics of the evaluation, and that additional economic class migration wouldn't prejudice the visa system?

[Marta Morgan]

One of the objectives of the Atlantic immigration program is built on a recognition of the need to attract more permanent residents into the region. One thing that we have seen that is successful, not just for attraction but also retention, because that's a key feature of the program, is that there are communities there and those communities build. When immigrants come to those regions, they have community members who are already there and that seems to be a kind of stickiness factor.

If there are immigrants coming from those regions, I would think that would be a positive thing for the Atlantic program.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Thank you very much, deputy.

Mr. Maguire.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

I'm going to allow my colleague to ask a couple of questions first, Mr. Chair. Thanks.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

You're so generous. Thank you.

Going back to my previous line of questioning, how many Bulgarian nationals have made asylum claims since the visa requirements were lifted in December?

[Paul MacKinnon]

We'll look for Bulgaria. It's much lower. The asylum claims from Bulgaria are not concerning, but we'll look for it and share it if we get it.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Okay, so will you table that with the committee?

[Paul MacKinnon]

For sure.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

My understanding is that typically a threshold is set when calculating the number of people who would make asylum claims, who come into the levels. Usually a threshold is set, for any country 5%, or something, of a certain number of people who come into a country. Once it gets to that point we would start talking about a visa review. Has that number or percentage threshold changed for any countries over the last couple of years?

[Marta Morgan]

I'm not sure I understand the question.

Is it whether the number of asylum claimants from different countries has shifted over the years or whether...?

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

How would the department trigger a visa review at this point?

[Marta Morgan]

The department looks at a variety of factors, including the factors that I mentioned previously, and it's a very holistic review. Certainly numbers are one part of that and when we see numbers increasing from different countries we take a close look at that. That is a key aspect that feeds into our visa policy.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Could you provide the committee with the numbers of spousal sponsorship applications for 2016 and 2017 found to be fraudulent?