Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 12th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I call the meeting to order.

This is meeting number five of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we are here for the study of the subject matter of supplementary estimates (B), 2019-20, votes 1b and 10b under Department of Citizenship and Immigration. Also, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we are here to study of the mandate of the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

Good morning, everyone.

I would like to welcome the Honourable Marco Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship here before the standing committee.

Good morning, Minister. It is your first appearance before this committee.

I also welcome the departmental officials, Catrina Tapley, deputy minister, Harpreet Kochhar, assistant deputy minister, operations, Marian Campbell Jarvis, assistant deputy minister, strategic and program policy, and Daniel Mills, assistant deputy minister and chief financial officer.

Thank you all for coming here today.

Minister, I understand you will be leaving after the first hour and the officials will stay here for the second hour. The floor is yours. You have 10 minutes for your opening remarks.

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to all of the members of this committee for allowing me my first opportunity to come and address you.

I would like to begin by acknowledging that we gather today on the traditional territory of the Algonquin nation.

I'm pleased to make my first appearance before this committee as the Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

As a result of Canada's history of immigration, today more than one in five Canadians were born outside of Canada. This is a strength for our country and a source of great pride. Canada's commitment to diversity and inclusion is essential to making our nation and this world a better place.

That is why the Government of Canada is focused on building an inclusive society with a sense of belonging, trust, and shared values throughout our country.

We know that immigrants make important contributions to Canada, both economically and through cultural diversity. Our government will continue to defend immigration in this country. Our aim is to further improve Canada's immigration system for the benefit of all Canadians and newcomers. This is no small task.

The Prime Minister has given me a very important mandate, one that is vital to our future economic prosperity and one that is absolutely essential to who we are. I have already begun this work in earnest.

As you know, in recent years our government has moved to a multi-year levels plan. This approach allows us to work more effectively with our partners all across the country as we make responsible increases to immigration. My department will soon table its annual report to Parliament on immigration, which will include Canada's multi-year levels plan for the years 2020 to 2022.

Immigration builds vibrant and dynamic communities. It gives Canadian businesses the skills they need to thrive in global markets and to create good-paying middle-class jobs. Our government is working with our counterparts to ensure that these benefits are distributed right across the country, particularly in this period where several regions have been affected by labour shortages.

We live in an increasingly competitive world and we must seize the opportunity to work together to ensure that Canada remains a world leader.

I've travelled to Geneva and to Germany where Canada has been recognized as a world leader and a shining example for the rest of the world on immigration. In fact, recently Germany invited us to share the lessons we have learned together over many years. These lessons have strengthened our system, which has been hailed by the OECD as the “benchmark for other countries” when it comes to integration.

To seize the opportunity and to stay in that position as a world leader, we are working on various initiatives to enhance economic immigration everywhere in Canada. Let's take the Atlantic immigration pilot for example, which has been a tremendous success. We are building on it to attract even more skilled immigrants to live and work in Atlantic Canada and we are taking the next steps to making this pilot a permanent part of our framework.

In addition, our rural and northern immigration pilot is rolling out in partnership with 11 communities from northern Ontario to British Columbia.

We're also looking at developing a new municipal nominee program to allow local communities, chambers of commerce and labour councils the opportunity to directly sponsor the workers they need.

Similarly, the express entry program is the fast lane for immigrants who have the skills and experience to hit the ground running. It's getting results. Under this stream, 95% of the participants have a job, with 83% of them in their main occupation, and 20% earn more than the principal applicants who are coming in under streams other than the express entry.

We're also maintaining our commitment to family reunification. We will continue to play a leadership role in refugee resettlement by introducing a dedicated refugee stream for journalists and humanitarian workers at risk, with a target of helping to resettle as many as 250 people per year.

To help all newcomers and their families integrate, our government will continue to deliver innovative settlement programming and to further invest in research, support and employment projects for visible minority newcomer women. Newcomers, whether refugees or from family reunification, give back to their host country by participating in the economic development of their communities. I know you will be as familiar with their successes as I am.

Supporting positive outcomes—not only for the newcomers who come to Canada, but for our communities across the country—is critical, and my cabinet colleagues and I are working diligently with partners and stakeholders across the country to achieve this.

A timely and efficient immigration system is of critical importance in attracting the world's most talented individuals. Canadians continue to view immigration as key to filling labour gaps and as a tool for addressing the challenges of an aging working population. But, while Canadians continue to express strong support for immigration, we cannot be complacent. We know that Canadians' continued support for immigration goes hand in hand with our ability to manage the system in an orderly and principled way and one that is beneficial to our country.

While Canada is open and generous towards the world's most vulnerable, we must also remain vigilant in the enforcement of our borders, while ensuring our asylum system remains open for those who truly need it.

To that end, I am working with my colleague, the Minister of Public Safety, and I will continue to advance reforms and investments in the capacity of the asylum system to ensure it is efficient, while meeting Canada's international legal obligations.

We're also improving our immigration system for all of our clients. This means we must also endeavour to protect them from fraud and from falling prey to immigration and citizenship consultants who are unscrupulous and take advantage of vulnerable people. To that end, my department will implement the new professional governance regime for immigration and citizenship consultants under the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Act, which will bring strengthened government oversight and a new and stronger compliance and enforcement regime.

The protection of our official languages is very important and that is why we want to put in place measures to strengthen the capacity of francophone communities across the country.

We want to increase francophone immigration between now and 2023 and support the integration and retention of French-speaking newcomers outside Quebec.

Canadian citizenship is the hallmark of a newcomer's full integration into Canada. I have attended a few citizenship ceremonies since I took office and I can tell you, there is no greater pride than the pride that can be seen on the faces of newcomers on this significant day.

There is nothing like seeing a smile on the face of somebody who has just been welcomed to the family of Canadians.

Becoming a citizen is a key of an immigrant's journey, and 86% of newcomers go on to become Canadians. This is one of the highest naturalization rates in the world and something we should celebrate. In fact, more than 200,000 took the oath of citizenship and became citizens in 2018-19.

Through our shared citizenship, we are building a stronger Canada and promoting equality and diversity. To encourage even more newcomers to take the full path to citizenship, our government will bring forward a plan to eliminate fees for citizenship for those who have fulfilled the requirements to obtain it, and I look forward to advancing that work.

I will also say that I'm pleased to have recently tabled Bill C-6, which will amend the oath of citizenship to reflect reconciliation and to reflect our essential relationship with indigenous peoples in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's call to action.

Madam Chair, in conclusion I believe that Canadians should have the utmost respect for the people who want to rebuild their lives in Canada and make contributions to our country. I know that everyone around this table shares the same goals of seeing how we can depend and rely on immigration not only to improve our country, but to make the world a better place.

For example, I want to commend this committee's study of labour shortages. I look forward to collaborating with you on that important work. Together, I know that we can generate and shape the ideas that will drive Canada's long-term prosperity, and I look forward to that work with you as well.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Minister, for your opening remarks and for letting us know all the important work you are doing.

We will now move to our first round of questioning.

Mr. Kent, you have six minutes.

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Minister, and thanks to your departmental officials for attending today.

I am as new to this file as you are, and you have inherited a truly challenging set of files. The official opposition is committed to assist you in addressing those challenges.

We know from departmental figures that among the 341,000 permanent residents admitted in 2019 to Canada, 4,710 were admitted for humanitarian, compassionate and other reasons. Among the many appeals currently in play for admittance on those grounds, as well as applications for ministerial exemption, is a particularly compelling case, that of an effectively stateless orphan, Widlene Alexis, in hiding in the Dominican Republic in the care of a Canadian family for the past 10 years, a family that sought a temporary resident permit in Canada that would enable her adoption here.

Last month, a Federal Court of Appeal judge set aside an immigration officer's decision to refuse a TRP for Widlene, saying that the decision was “incoherent or profoundly inconsistent with the presented evidence”. Mr. Justice Barnes said the time has come “to take a holistic and full-fledged humanitarian and compassionate review focussed on Widlene's circumstances and needs.”

The judge ordered redetermination by another decision-maker.

Minister, you could send the case back to Canada's office in Mexico where it could languish on an officer's desk for years, or you could, under the powers you hold under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, subsection 25.1(1), grant a “foreign national permanent resident status or an exemption from” the act, if you, the minister, are of the opinion “that it is justified by humanitarian and compassionate considerations relating to... [a] foreign national, taking into account the best interests of a child directly affected.”

Your officials have said that you are considering this case, but I would like to ask you today, will you take a compassionate and humanitarian decision on this case now and then consider the risk that this child is facing now in hiding in very difficult circumstances in the Dominican Republic?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

I'd like to congratulate my honourable colleague on assuming the portfolio as my critic. I look forward to working with you, sir, both today at this committee and in the future.

I am indeed very proud of the work of my department and of this government when it comes to our humanitarian efforts. I am aware of this case and will say that I had the opportunity recently to speak with Mr. Earle. I want to underline that I understand and respect his frustration and know that these cases are difficult because they have a profound impact on people's lives.

I have seen the decision; I have been briefed on it, and as you rightly pointed out, the court does remit the matter back to an official.

It is my position, the position of our government, that we should let due process unfold. We look forward to providing an update to you and to the members of this committee, and to the public more generally, when we have that decision.

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Could you assure the potential adoptive family, as well as the child, of a particular time frame for a timely decision?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Kent, we do have the decision. I have followed up with our department to ensure the review is being undertaken in a timely fashion.

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Thank you.

Among the specific assignments you received in your mandate letter are those to support the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness in the continued work with the United States on the significant problems with the Canada-U.S. safe third country agreement, which brings me to the point of asylum backlog claims. Canada has recently set a record in the last few months with the asylum backlog claims exceeding 80,000 cases. This represents the largest number of unprocessed claims on record and the first time it has ever been this high.

Recognizing that the process time determines how large this backlog gets, and we see that the increased illegal irregular arrivals are still exceeding the number of processed claims, have your officials briefed you on the legislation passed by our previous government in 2012, which dealt with obviously probably unworthy asylum claimants to be processed within 45 days and allowed only one appeal before being removed from the country? That was effected, significantly reduced the cost to Canadian taxpayers and discouraged the number of unworthy claimants at that time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

You have 20 seconds.

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

I will try to condense my answer to say that this is a world-class asylum system that is recognized around the world as setting high-water marks for due process and efficiency. We invested $1 billion as part of a border enforcement strategy. We have seen irregular migration come down. I think we should take a moment to celebrate that progress, and I see that my time has lapsed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Mr. Kent, your time is up.

We will now move to Mr. Tabbara. You have six minutes.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for your first visit to this committee. We welcome you and we look forward to engaging with you on various topics.

I want to start by talking about my region and expanding across Canada. I know that a previous immigration minister John McCallum early on in our last Parliament came to our Waterloo region and met with staff at an incubator called Communitech and they talked about the shortage of labour and the high skills in high tech particularly. That was in a round table. If can give you a few stats, in 2017 Communitech had around 200 start-ups. It generates around $250 million in start-ups, and employs hundreds of people. When the previous minister went there, he heard about the shortage in talent, the calls for getting talent from many different regions around the world—top talent because we needed the best and brightest in our region to expand, innovate, scale up companies.

As I mentioned, those stats were one of the reasons it was imperative for Communitech to scale up and have that talent. When we introduced the global skills strategy through the global talent stream, we were able to bring in talent within two weeks rather than two months. Many other countries like Australia were grabbing these individuals, bringing them to their countries. How has that impacted communities in the Waterloo region and across Canada?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

I take this as an opportunity to answer the question as well as an invitation to come and visit with Communitech and other leaders in your community who are showing leadership when it comes to driving economic prosperity by leveraging Canada's immigration system to attract the best and the brightest.

My colleague demonstrates with his experience how we can leverage our tech and innovation leaders here to really attract people who present the high skills and experience to come and hit the ground running. I would point to two concrete examples where our levels plan is achieving that success.

One is the express entry program, where, like the individuals who are working at Communitech, individuals are able to very quickly integrate into a job and into their communities.

The other is the start-up visa program. We have seen a number of incubators like Communitech, capital funds and angel investors that are really doing their part to ensure that we are attracting the best and the brightest from around the world.

The types of initiatives that I've just pointed out together are driving and attracting economic investment and growth.

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

To continue with that, we bring in those who are in the high-tech field and those who have proven to have great skills. There's another organization that was run by Mike Lazaridis who is one of the founders of BlackBerry. Although BlackBerry isn't in our region anymore, he has started Quantum Valley Investments. It is bringing in a lot of researchers from around the world to develop a quantum computer that will revolutionize our technology. Through certain streams, it has been able to get that top talent as well.

We always want to bring in high-tech workers, but researchers are a key and pivotal role for us to advance in the next phase of our technology. Once we develop that technology here in Canada, we can export it around the world.

Can you elaborate a little bit more on having that top talent and how that can benefit our economy?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

In addition to the two examples I've already provided, I would also highlight the work under the global skills strategy.

The global skills strategy has seen 60,000 people come to Canada who are highly skilled, particularly in the category of research, tech and innovation. By leveraging this program, we are ensuring that our companies that operate here in Canada remain on the competitive edge. That is precisely the kind of innovation that we've shown within our own policy framework approach so that we can be sure that companies like Communitech and others in your region, in Kitchener-Waterloo, are able to attract the best and the brightest.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

You have 25 seconds.

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

I'll pass on that time. I don't think I can get to my third question.

Thank you very much, Minister, for that update.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Mr. Tabbara.

We will move on to Ms. Normandin for six minutes.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you very much.

Thank you for being here, Minister.

The first question I want to ask you has to do with francophone immigration. I know that this is one of the issues that you are addressing, as indicated on page 17 of your departmental plan.

I'll start my question by referring to an article in La Presse from March 2. This article mentions that between 70% and 90% of the applications of French-speaking international students from Cameroon, Guinea, Algeria and Senegal are refused, which means that half of the international students end up in Ontario, which corresponds to almost twice the weight of its population in Canada, and only 12% end up in Quebec, which is half the weight of its population in Canada.

Does the minister have an explanation for this situation? Why are there so many refusals and why are 51% of foreigners who want to study in Quebec denied their permits, compared to 38% in the rest of Canada?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

First of all, I want to thank my colleague for her question.

I'll start by saying that there is a lot of cooperation between the Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec. We respect Quebec's jurisdiction when it comes to setting the level of immigration. Even when it comes to foreign students, there is a great deal of cooperation between our two governments. We know that the International Student Program is important to growing the economy.

With regard to your question, we have indeed seen a high degree of approvals for individuals who are coming from that part of the world to participate in the international student program here in Canada, including in Quebec. On September 9, 2019, the student direct stream was expanded to include Senegal and Morocco, facilitating the process of genuine study permit applications from these two African countries.

I believe we are seeing progress in this part of the world for aspiring international students coming to Canada.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

I'll continue in the same vein.

We note that many educational institutions admit students from, among others, French-speaking countries, mainly from Africa, and that these places are not filled because, even if Quebec accepts students, the federal government refuses them.

Can you explain to me why this is happening?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

I'll revisit a few points.

In 2019, the volume of applications for temporary resident visas and study permits from Africa increased significantly. As a result, there are more applications. In addition, applications from Cameroon, Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire increased by more than 25%. In 2019, the number of study permits issued to students from Algeria, Senegal and Morocco doubled.

So there are many more applications, and my department will continue to work with the Government of Quebec to ensure the success of this program.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

My next questions are about the Municipal Nominee Program, another flagship project mentioned in your mandate letter.

Given the existence of the Canada-Quebec Accord and the possibility for Quebec to select its own candidates for economic immigration, does the minister agree that the application of this program in Quebec would be an intrusion into its jurisdiction, which would create a duplication of procedures and entry points for economic immigration?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Thank you for your question.

The goal of this new program is to continue to work with municipalities to understand the needs of local communities and their priorities regarding labour shortages. They can share their experiences with the federal government. When I launch this pilot project, I will continue discussions with my counterpart in Quebec City. I had an initial discussion with Mr. Jolin-Barrette, which was constructive. We will continue to work together.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Fine.

I'll clarify my question, Minister. Do you intend to implement the Municipal Nominee Program in Quebec?