Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Dec. 7th, 2020

[Marian Campbell Jarvis]

Thank you for the question.

I will let my colleague Mr. Mills answer it for you.

[Daniel Mills]

As we got close to September, for example, we established a two-stage process for students, so that they could start their studies remotely. So the approval process was done in two stages. The first stage was to establish their eligibility to come to Canada. We sent more than 62,000 applications or letters to students so that they could could start their studies in Canada remotely. After that, processing those applications proceeded normally.

This was one aspect of our activity where we had to adapt quickly. We innovated in order to make sure that, in terms of customer service, it was positive both for Canadian universities and for the international students who wanted to come to Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Mr. Mills.

We will now proceed to Madame Normandin.

You have two and a half minutes for your round of questioning. You may proceed.

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

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Let me give you a very concrete example. After phoning some IRCC officers, I found out that the application for permanent residence of one of my constituents had been accepted last July 6. Five months later, however, he still has not received a Confirmation of Permanent Residence.

To your knowledge, are many files currently in that same situation?

The application has clearly been accepted. Even though we know that there will be no interview upon arrival, that the process will be done entirely by means of a letter, and that the steps in obtaining the permanent residence card will then take their course, people are not being given any information at all.

[Marian Campbell Jarvis]

Thank you for the question.

I will let my colleague Mr. Mills tell you about applications and about processing files.

[Daniel Mills]

I will be very honest with you, I am not aware of cases like that. I hope that it's an isolated case, but I will be happy to follow up on it.

According to our process, each time that an application is approved, we communicate with the applicant to inform them about the situation. At the beginning of the pandemic, we began to allow virtual admissions. We do communicate with people whose permanent resident applications have been approved. Though there is no interview in person, we communicate with them in order to admit them virtually.

I am surprised at the situation you are describing, but I will be happy to follow up on it.

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

Thank you very much. So I will be able to come back to that later.

We had some questions about visas, because the subject has come up on a number of occasions. Visas are needed for some countries, while for others, only an electronic travel authorization is needed.

Are the criteria often reviewed with a view to removing the visa requirement for some countries or imposing it on others? What is the justification for a visa to be required for one country but not for another?

[Marian Campbell Jarvis]

Thank you for the question.

A number of factors must be considered in determining whether a visa is required or not. Certainly the relationship between the countries—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting, Ms. Jarvis, but the time is up.

Ms. Kwan, you have two and a half minutes for your round of questioning.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

Just to clarify the last question on data, could the officials provide TRVs, approved versus denied, for applications with dual intent, and the same thing for applications without dual intent, going back the last 10 years and broken down by year and country, please?

On a different issue, the deputy minister previously confirmed that permit holders wouldn't be deported or lose status, but there has been no indication from IRCC that this is in fact the case. Does someone with an expired postgraduate work permit have implied status even though it can't be extended in the vast majority of cases? For those who are in Canada with an expired or expiring PGWP, what are their options if someone is interested in hiring them? Are they out of luck if their work permit has expired? What happens if they have a job but their PGWP has already expired?

I noted that there's a difference as well for those who are in Quebec. I wonder if the officials can answer the same question for people both in Quebec and outside Quebec.

[Marian Campbell Jarvis]

There's a lot in that question. I would like to raise a few things to help respond to it.

First, we are seized with this situation that has arisen as a result of the pandemic. As the minister noted, the immigration-level targets, the interest in international students, the calibre of students becoming permanent residents—that was certainly noted by the minister. We've taken note.

In terms of the expiration of the postgraduate work permit, that is a one-time permit, as I think the member knows, but there are a few things in the interim. We have encouraged a person approaching the end of their expiration to consider applying as a visitor, as a temporary foreign worker. That could be under the international mobility program or the temporary foreign worker program. Those are some options that do exist.

To stay in the country, one of the flexibilities we introduced was the revocation period. That would allow somebody a bit more time to reapply to have status and to perhaps pursue other options.

Madam Chair, as I think the member noted, this is something we are very seized with. We are looking into this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Ms. Jarvis.

Mr. Allison, you have five minutes for your round of questioning. Please start.

[Dean Allison, Conservative, Niagara West, ON]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I want to continue on that note. One thing I always hear from people is that when they're here, sometimes the timing doesn't work out with a job offer or that kind of stuff. Would you review again what their options are?

[Marian Campbell Jarvis]

As I noted, we are seized with this new situation that we find ourselves in as a result of the pandemic. There are certainly some options in the interim. Somebody could apply for a temporary foreign worker position that would require a labour market impact assessment, an LMIA, through our colleagues at ESDC. There is also the international mobility program with employer-specific and open work permits. There may also be opportunities, depending on the status of the state—there are so many different individual variables here—for application to, say, one of the pilots or the provincial nominee program.

So there are some pathways that are open. We are continuing to look into the situation going forward.

[Dean Allison, Conservative, Niagara West, ON]

Thank you very much.

I know this is probably more of a long thing because there are provincial nominee programs and multiple pathways, but one of the things I hear from business quite a bit is that there is a lack of a coordinated effort. I just wonder if, in the future, it would be possible try to help people understand some of the agencies, with maybe a whole-of-government approach.

I realize that the provinces may have an option. I see it all the time when we have kids who are graduating from college and university and they end up heading out to Newfoundland and Labrador or to any other parts of Canada where their point total could be higher if they were in that particular area.

My question is as follows. I would like to know what the chances are of a whole-of-government approach when certain industries would be able to look at their need and maybe come to government and say, “Listen, we're experiencing a shortage of 40,000 or 50,000 or 60,000 employees. Would we be able to work with you to help to try to figure that out, versus trying to apply to one little program here and one there?” It becomes a bit of a complicated mess for businesses trying to fill jobs and roles that they have.

[Marian Campbell Jarvis]

The government has certainly focused on regional and some sectoral requirements and we really see that through the pilots: the Atlantic immigration pilot, the rural and northern immigration pilot and the provincial nominee program.

A number of these economic programs really allow tailoring of the specific need in that area. The member noted Labrador and Newfoundland, so looking at what might be the specific labour market requirements, the provincial nominee program does enable that kind of targeting and tailoring, that perfect match between immigration and labour market needs.

[Dean Allison, Conservative, Niagara West, ON]

Thank you.

I have one last question as we move forward here.

I mentioned this to the officials the last time they were here and I ran out of time. I have a number of technical operations in my riding, such as greenhouses, and some of them have been deemed essential services during this pandemic. I would guess that all jobs would be essential services at some point.

My question is the following. As we continue to loosen up and things continue to move a little bit, when applications are made for temporary visas for technical purposes, would there be some consideration given if they involved new technology required by the business for them to understand and implement, or if they required some type of knowledge base because of equipment bought in from outside of the country? If not, would the government consider all of those things essential as we move forward?

I realize that if it was food-related, it was definitely essential. Sometimes it took a little bit of time to get that to work, but essentially, when people were investing in new plants and new equipment, it was to hire more people down the road and to be more productive.

[Marian Campbell Jarvis]

In terms of essential services, on the Public Safety Canada website, there is an extensive list of critical and essential infrastructure. As well, most provinces and territories have their own lists of essential services. Those are triaged accordingly.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I am sorry for interrupting, Mr. Allison. We will have to move to our next member.

We will end this panel with five minutes from Ms. Martinez Ferrada.

Ms. Martinez Ferrada, you have five minutes for your round of questioning, and then this panel will come to an end.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Sorry, Madam Chair, may I make a point of order before we go to the questions?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Yes, please, Ms. Kwan.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thanks.

I just want to make sure that I got a confirmation on the data request from officials so that the committee could receive it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Yes, Ms. Campbell Jarvis has indicated that they will provide us the data.

Ms. Campbell Jarvis, if you could send the requested information to the clerk of the committee, it will then be distributed among all the members.

[Marian Campbell Jarvis]

Madam Chair, we have taken note of the member's request and the detailed breakdown of what is being sought. We will endeavour to provide that information.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Ms. Campbell Jarvis.

We will now proceed with the round of questioning by Madame Martinez Ferrada.

You can please start.