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
I'm sorry. I don't quite understand the question. Can you ask it again?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I'm sorry. The time is up.
Mr. Wong, you were not able to hear the question?
Mr. Clerk, can you have a look? Did we lose connection with Reverend Wong?
Bloc
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
Madam Chair, I don't know if my question has been translated or heard correctly. If you would give me more time, I could rephrase it and get a quick answer.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Yes, I think there were some connection problems.
Madam Normandin, can you please repeat your question? We'll have a quick answer from Mr. Wong.
Bloc
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
Thank you very much.
I was talking earlier about study permits, which are difficult to get due to the lack of guidelines, because students are refused on the pretext that they won't return home. Should there also be guidelines for issuing electronic travel authorizations? A person can't get an electronic travel authorization if they have a criminal record. Under China's national security law, a person can have a criminal record, but it isn't necessarily relevant to Canada.
February 1st, 2021 / 5:20 p.m.
Liberal
Reverend, Mustard Seeds Hong Kong Concern Group
I think the Canadian government has already made the judgment that certain crimes from 2019, regarding the demonstration or the pro-democratic movement, were not—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I'm sorry for interrupting. We will have to end here.
Now we will move on to Ms. Kwan.
Ms. Kwan, You have two and a half minutes for your round of questioning.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
VFS Global is a company contracted by the Canadian government to process immigration applications in visa application centres abroad. The parent company of VFS Global is backed by a subsidiary of the state-owned Chinese Investment Corporation. It has been reported in the public media that VFS Global has had at least one major security breach of personal data. It was noted that IRCC has no record of this and that the Canadian government was not notified of this breach.
Given the situation going on in Hong Kong, and as things are unfolding, I'm wondering whether any of the witnesses have any concerns about the Canadian government using VFS Global to do this work.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Do you think the government should bring that service back in-house and that this be done by Canadian officials?
Reverend, Mustard Seeds Hong Kong Concern Group
Yes, I do, as soon as possible.
NDP
NDP
Pastor, As an Individual
I was terrified when the news was announced. I was hoping that this would not happen. I think we all know that the Chinese government has the right to require any information from any Chinese organization to be handed over to security. Every potential Chinese organization or citizen can be a potential spy for the Chinese government, even though they don't want to be. They will be coerced, and there's nothing they can do to say no.
I'm not saying that people are bad, but I think a wise decision is to bring it back in-house. We're handling sensitive personal data that could mean life and death for people. We must bring it back home.
Executive Director, Alliance Canada Hong Kong
We know that the Xi Jinping regime has been increasing control over private corporations, so there is definite concern with giving biometric data to a Chinese state-owned company, especially under the knowledge that many Hong Kong activists' biometric data has already been illegally or arbitrarily collected by the authorities. There are many concerns, and I think Canada should bring those services back in-house.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I'm sorry for interrupting. The time is up. We will now move to Ms. Dancho.
Based on the time, there will be three minutes each for Ms. Dancho and Mr. Dhaliwal.
Ms. Dancho, you can start. You will have three minutes.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Thank you, Madam Chair.
My understanding is that 200 Hong Kong activists, mostly young students or even high schoolers, fled by boat to Taiwan. I wonder whether you know how they're doing and what options you think Canada should be offering them. I personally feel that we should be doing something for these brave activists, but nothing has been announced to date. If you could comment on that, it would be great.
Executive Director, Alliance Canada Hong Kong
Taiwan doesn't have a formal asylum scheme, so I believe Canada should consider issuing travel documents for those who are in Taiwan without status to travel to Canada and resettle here, whether to claim for asylum, to study or to work.
Reverend, Mustard Seeds Hong Kong Concern Group
If Canada could have an office to assess their asylum application in Taiwan or even in Hong Kong, that would be great, so that they could apply for asylum status overseas. Then they could ask for or fundraise for support after they come here.
Pastor, As an Individual
I want to add a quick comment.
Besides the activists who fled by boat to Taiwan, many people have immigrated to Taiwan because it's fast and it's closer. However, I know a majority of them would not want to stay in Taiwan for good, because it's too close to China. What about a war breaking out? They want to come to the west. There are thousands of them. There's a Hong Kong group community right there in Taiwan. I think we should attract these people to come to Canada.
Conservative