Evidence of meeting #14 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was witnesses.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Reverend, Mustard Seeds Hong Kong Concern Group
As I just said, open an office over there.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
That's great feedback. We have about 30 seconds left. Mr. Tse, would you like to make any closing comments?
Pastor, As an Individual
I want to say a few more things about Taiwan. Even though we do not have diplomatic relationships with Taiwan, I think we have some kind of office in Taiwan. If we raise its level of operation without changing something, it would enable a lot of work to be done through the Taiwan office. There will be more people going to Taiwan, and the people who go to Taiwan are safe because Taiwan checks the backgrounds very stringently. We can thus use Taiwan as an intake point for non-criminals, people who are good, to come to Canada. That's a possibility. I think the government should consider it.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
We will now move on to end this round of questioning with three minutes of questioning from Mr. Dhaliwal.
Mr. Dhaliwal, you can please start. You will have three minutes for your round of questioning.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
Madam Chair, earlier Madam Dancho asked the question about parents and grandparents—those 10,000 applications.
Madam Chair, I want to tell the witnesses that 30,000 more applications are going to be taken this year, in 2021, the highest ever since 2006 under both the Conservative government and the Liberal government. This is the highest number of applications, what this minister and this Parliament will take.
Do you think these 30,000 applications will help people from Hong Kong as well?
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
Is there anyone else?
The answer is yes...? Okay.
You fellows mentioned that there are 300,000 Canadians living in Hong Kong. Do you have the number of them working for Canadian companies?
Executive Director, Alliance Canada Hong Kong
I don't have that number. I believe it may be something GAC or IRCC would have.
February 1st, 2021 / 5:30 p.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
How many of those 300,000 Canadians who are there are willing to come back?
Executive Director, Alliance Canada Hong Kong
If there are measures to enable Canadians to bring their extended family members back to Canada with them, there will be a lot more who are seeking to come back, but at the moment, most people who I know who are Canadian and in Hong Kong do not want to leave their family or spouses behind.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
What are some of the other temporary measures that we should take when it comes to immediate family? I understand. In our culture as well, immediate family also includes cousins, nephews, aunts and so on. If we look at the IRCC's definition of immediate family, what steps can the government take that will help other than opening up to these 30,000 applications?
Executive Director, Alliance Canada Hong Kong
If their family members are able to go through an expedited pathway to obtain PR status, meaning they are able to work and study here in Canada, I think that would be an improvement to the measures that exist right now.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
How about the number of students? Have you seen the number of students escalate in the last little while since this problem arose in Hong Kong?
Executive Director, Alliance Canada Hong Kong
Being an international student here is very expensive. However, many families are looking into sending their kids here because they're afraid of state violence.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Thank you.
With that, we come to the end of this meeting.
I will take this opportunity to thank all of our witnesses for appearing before the committee as we continue our study on the special immigration and refugee measures for the people of Hong Kong. Thanks for your important input. On behalf of all of the members, I want to thank you for appearing before the committee today.
I would also like to thank you, members, for today's great work. I will update you on the future meeting.
Thank you. The meeting is now adjourned.