Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 2nd, 2021

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

First, I have a quick question about the new digitizing process. When do the officials anticipate that work will be completed?

[Catrina Tapley]

The work on digital platform modernization that we speak about in budget 2021 is just beginning. We anticipate that it will probably be a good five years by the time we're able to launch our brand new system. We have important work that we have to do upfront on this. The lessons learned from other large IT projects are really not to skimp on that good project definition, on what you need and what resources you need to invest where, to create the system that you need at the other end.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Wow. When is phase three? Is it months away or years away?

[Catrina Tapley]

We are starting phase three now. Now that we have a strong indication from budget 2021 that we will actually have money for phase three, we're starting now.

We need to finish phase one and phase two. There's a lot of work under way on disaster recovery and our technical debt reduction with the system we have, because we need to remember that we'll be using the global case management system for the next five to seven years. It's important that we continue to work on the system we have.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I would just raise this issue because, of course, we're all waiting for the system to be up and running, but in the meantime, there's a huge backlog as a result of COVID-19 as well. That has really added to the existing delays. Unless there are new resources put into the system to deal with those backlogs, we are going to be faced with ongoing serious delays in application processing.

Could I get the officials to provide a quick update on when we can expect the new citizenship guidebook to be released?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

You have 30 seconds left.

[Catrina Tapley]

We're happy to provide an update.

I'm sorry. I thought you were asking for it in writing.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

That's no problem. We can get it in writing.

In terms of resettlement services, I wonder if we can—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Ms. Kwan, your time is up.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Chair, can I just finish my question quickly?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'll give you two seconds to wrap it up if you can.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

I wonder if we could have submitted to the committee the breakdown of the resettlement services. If you have it community by community in the rural areas, I think that would be really helpful for us to see the bigger picture.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Ms. Kwan.

We will now proceed to Mr. Hallan for four minutes.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

First of all, I'm looking forward to having tabled by the officials the processing times and what the effect is. Given all these new programs coming up, there is a huge concern about backlogs.

I want to know from the officials what we are going to be doing to address those backlogs. Do we have a timeline as to when those backlogs are going to be cleared up?

[Catrina Tapley]

Thanks, Madam Chair.

We have a number of applications that we are holding onto, because as you know, the border remains closed to new permanent residents. We continue to accept applications and are happy to accept applications. We continue to [Technical difficulty--Editor] and express entry, because we have a three-year levels plan. The levels plan for 2022 and 2023 will see increases. We'll go to 411,000 and 421,000. I need that inventory to be able to process and to be able to make sure that we meet those targets.

I would be a lot more worried about being able to clear those backlogs, once we have the border reopened, if I didn't have really good levels space as we move ahead.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

-Thank you for that.

Again, are we going to be concerned that more more and more applications are going to be piling in? Are we going to address that with more resources and how many? Do we have a plan or an estimate for how many more we think are going to be coming in and how many resources it's going to take to clear those up?

[Catrina Tapley]

The year 2021 has been a strange year for so many different reasons. From an immigration point of view, the minister has said previously that it's the ultimate paradox that we're trying to run an immigration system and keep the border closed at the same time. This year we have pushed and experimented with some new things. That includes the TR to PR pathways. It includes what we've done in express entry on those Canadian experience class draws.

I will come back to express entry. Express entry gives us a lot of control over what we're able to do and the number of applications we are bringing into the system. I would also point out that in budget 2021 there was a very small item on express entry, giving us a go-ahead to try to secure some additional flexibilities in express entry. I think that's going to be a really important component of doing it.

As for resources, the department did receive additional resources with the levels plans from the previous two years as we saw the levels go up, so that there is a corresponding increase in resources for the department to be able to handle that.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

That you for that.

I've heard many times through even my own office—and there was a report on this as well—about how returned applications don't always have a tracking number when they get sent back. In some cases, for constituents of mine, the return mail has gone to the wrong address.

When we're talking about modernizing the system, do we have something to address this? What are we doing to address that now?

[Catrina Tapley]

Moving away from paper-based applications is going to be key in that modernization. With respect to the member's previous question, I would point out that we are processing more per month now, in many cases, than we were doing in 2019. The processing efforts from the department have really expanded in 2021. We learned some important lessons from 2020.

That's just to give some assurance to the committee, Madam Chair, that we really are focused.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Thank you for that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Your time is up, Mr. Hallan. Thank you.

We will now end this panel with Mr. Dhaliwal, who will have four minutes for his round of questioning.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to commend the officials for the long hours they have invested in this committee over the past few months and for the great work they have done and the information they are providing to committee members.

Madam Chair, recently the ATIP management action plan was announced, which will improve and modernize the system and provide faster response time to the clients.

The number of ATIP requests is increasing year after year. I would like to know about this action plan. What are some of the initial and promising results that have been shown so far?

[Catrina Tapley]

Let me start by saying that we have serious challenges with access to information and privacy in this department in terms of volumes. We are a department that is committed to upholding our obligations under the act, and we are working closely with the Office of the Information Commissioner on this.

We receive more access to information requests than the rest of the Government of Canada combined. Those numbers have grown significantly over the last few years, so we are prepared to try just about anything to make sure that we're able to stay on top of our service standards. In that regard, one of the things that will be most important to do is to have clients access, in a real way, their own information, and to expand the work in the My Account portal.

I'm happy to report that one of the biggest successes we've had is with the recent announcement of a better tracker on My Application. We have started with citizenship applications. We are watching closely how this is working and how it's going. Our intention is to absolutely move this to other lines of business. We would be only too happy to come to give the committee a bit of a demonstration on how this works and what we've done with it.

Second, there is our own action plan on this. It's also to look at technology and where we can use technology as our friend in automating some of the processes to improve our processing times. We have worked closely with the private sector on this in using bots inside our own system to retrieve information and bring it forward.

What is really important for us to do, as other members have indicated previously at this committee, is simplifying IRCC's online request form through the use of drop-down menus, and enhancing our website to improve the transparency of how processing times are communicated.

We've gotten better in our capacity to push and notify clients' targeted information, but there's still room for improvement and to really move forward on this.

The final thing is that we do a dance with legal considerations and providing more information to clients. When we have rejected applications, we should be clear with clients on our reasons for doing so. We continue to look at that and how we craft those letters, so that they are in plain language.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

This past Monday there was an express entry draw that invited nearly 6,000 candidates with a score of at least 380—which has come down from 400—besides the 27,232 and another 5,000 applications.

I would like to hear a response from the officials on how IRCC is prioritizing candidates already in Canada. How will we continue to admit record-breaking numbers of new immigrants over the next few years to meet the minister's mandate?

[Catrina Tapley]

The Canadian experience class is largely composed of people who are already here and working. We continue to focus on that as part of our draws on express entry. As that pool replenishes, we continue to draw from the pool.

Even though the score may have dropped to 330, I'll point out that 330 is a very high score in terms of human capital. Strong language, strong education and good work experience, all of these components are there.