Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 18th, 2020

[Elizabeth Long]

Absolutely. There are two groups of people I see that are suffering quite a lot. One is the students. During these COVID times, they oftentimes have trouble finding work. In order for them to stay in Canada, they need to have that one year of high-skilled work experience in Canada or a job offer. That's really difficult, even though they are willing to work—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting. The time is up. We will have to move to Ms. Dhillon.

Ms. Dhillon, you will have four minutes.

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

Good afternoon to all of our witnesses. Thank you for being here today. I'm going to put my comments and questions to all the witnesses and anyone can answer.

Regarding work permits, in May our government introduced a new measure to drastically reduce the time it takes for a temporary foreign worker to start a new job. While this policy is here, a worker already in Canada who has secured a new job offer can begin working in their new job even while the work permit is being processed.

This cuts processing delays from 10 weeks to 10 days. Do you feel that this is an appropriate solution to work permit delays?

Thank you.

[Kelly Goldthorpe]

I can give a live experience on that.

We recently had somebody apply who had an open work permit. We applied for a new work permit for that person, but that person can't switch to the new work permit because their previous work permit was an open work permit. For the closed employer work permit, they're still going to have to wait.

It helps only the people who meet the narrow criteria for that public policy change. While it is very helpful and we've been successful in getting the work permits changed to new employers, and employers do appreciate the ability to have workers come in quickly, what I've been seeing is that, for foreign work permit applications, the processing time for the UAE is 51 weeks.

A business is not going to wait 51 weeks to get a worker in from a foreign country. That 51 weeks is not necessarily the correct or the accurate processing time, but it's a deterrent for employers if they see processing times that are that long.

[Elizabeth Long]

Furthermore, on that process you've just spoken to, it also doesn't apply to someone who's applying for a work permit in the first instance. Right now, it is allowed to have someone to apply for a work permit inside Canada if they are in Canada. We have many people who are inside Canada who have job offers, but who aren't able to start their work because they're waiting 180 days through that process.

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

My next question is also for all of the witnesses. This kind of links up to my previous question. Our government is looking for innovative approaches to help newcomers and better support the integration process. Do you find that increasing employment support and leveraging new technology is the right path forward? How do you see your organization benefiting from changes at the immigration department?

[Elizabeth Long]

There is one aspect for the entrepreneurs that I feel could be better supported in Canada by our immigration policies. Right now there are very few policies, and a lot of them are discouraging people from starting work in Canada. For example, self-employment work is not counted towards work experience in Canada.

I certainly hope there will be more supports for entrepreneurs and small businesses so that people can immigrate here if they will be starting a business in Canada.

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

Thank you.

Our government made some changes to the IRCC spousal application system. One of them was to make sure we could digitize applications and also convert them from paper to digital form. This is a piece—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Ms. Dhillon, your time is up.

We will now move to Madame Normandin.

Madame Normandin, you have two minutes.

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

Thank you very much.

I have only one question, about reuniting parents and grandparents.

I invite Ms. Goldthorpe and Ms. Long to answer if they wish.

In another life, when I was a lawyer, I had the opportunity to fill out sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents myself. In some instances, just by evaluating the case, I already knew that my clients would not be financially eligible for the application and that they were, in a way, taking the place of people who might have been eligible but were not selected at random.

I would like to hear your views on the possibility of prescreening certain cases, as long as the issue of financial eligibility is maintained.

[Kelly Goldthorpe]

I absolutely agree. I think that a sponsor, before they can be eligible to go into the lottery, should be pre-screened. The solution is a matter of linking their tax information. On a citizenship application you can link their tax information through the use of their SIN and their permission to link. You don't need to require the submission of the notice of assessment.

For sponsors who have filed income tax returns for three years, you can get tax information quite easily and, based on the income tax documents, you can determine whether they meet the eligibility requirement for the LICO. I think that's an easy, quick fix the department could look into.

[Elizabeth Long]

I actually disagree a little bit, because in our system we do allow someone to move forward even if they don't meet all of the eligibility requirements. They can ask to be admitted on humanitarian or compassionate grounds. They can also go to the IAD. Therefore, if we screen out everybody who does not meet everything for eligibility in the first instance, we are not going to allow that to happen in the system.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you. The time is up. We will now move to our last member.

Ms. Kwan, you have two minutes.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to go back to Ms. Long on the COPR question, and about whether the government should just automatically review the COPR and honour it.

I'm looking for just a quick answer on that and then I'd like to go to a different question.

[Elizabeth Long]

Absolutely.

People were already eligible before, and they should already be eligible to be in Canada. I don't see any reason at all for us to spend any more resources on trying to get them to be requalified for this.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

That would also save IRCC resources to help process the backlog as well.

I'm going to turn very quickly to the question of post-graduate international students. As we know, they have time-restricted post-graduate work permits, whereby they are required to complete 12 to 14 months of high-skill, high-wage jobs, but because they have been impacted by COVID their qualification for PR is now impeded. Some of their work permits are about to expire, and people are very anxious.

I wonder, Ms. Long, if you have any thoughts about what the government should do. Should it just automatically renew these individuals' work permits? These are talents already here in Canada.

[Elizabeth Long]

Absolutely. It would be such a waste of our opportunities and talent to have these students leave Canada because they weren't able to meet their one-year of work experience in Canada and didn't have the time to go through the system.

I would certainly recommend that we extend their post-grad work permits. Currently they only get one in their entire lifetime, but it's a very easy fix for them to allow them to extend their post-grad work permits.

Then, also long-term-wise, I would suggest that the government think of a new permanent residency application for these students similar to what it has proposed for Hong Kong students.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Ms. Goldthorpe, could I have a quick answer on this before I run out of time?

[Kelly Goldthorpe]

Yes. Absolutely.

For post-grad work permits, they only get one kick at the can. If they have a one-year work permit, they are not necessarily working for 12 months to meet the requirements for express entry, so they need to renew or extend the work permit. They have to do it through a labour market impact assessment where they are basically applying for the same job.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting. Your time is up.

With this, I want to take a moment to thank all of the witnesses for appearing before the committee and the important discussion we had. If you want to send in some written submissions, you can do that through the clerk of the committee, and we can consider them as draft the report.

I will suspend the meeting for two minutes. I will ask the clerk to please do the sound checks for the second panel.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I call the meeting to order and welcome our witnesses for the second panel.

I welcome Alastair Clarke, Mark Holthe, and Fadia Mahmoud.

All of the witnesses will have five minutes for their opening remarks. We will start with Mr. Clarke.

Mr. Clarke, you have five minutes. The floor is yours.

[Alastair Clarke, Lawyer, Clarke Immigration Law, As an Individual]

Thank you very much.

Honourable committee members, I'd like to thank you for this invitation to provide testimony on the impact of COVID-19 on the immigration system.

I would like to acknowledge that I'm giving this testimony on Treaty 1 territory, the homeland of the Métis nation and the ancestral lands of indigenous peoples.

I'm appearing before you today as an immigration and refugee lawyer with more than 12 years of experience. I started my career at an immigration law boutique on Bay Street in Toronto. From there, I practised at a legal aid clinic assisting low-income residents, and for the past seven years, I have practised exclusively immigration and refugee law here in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the heart of the continent.

Today, I'll be making five brief points.

My first point is that IRCC needs to further digitize the system and expand online services. For example, spousal sponsorships and temporary resident permanent applications could be easily submitted online.

In 2018, the refugee protection division of the IRB introduced the epost system, which has been very successful. Epost makes it easy for counsel to see details of documents that have been uploaded. IRCC has started to use epost for refugee claimants inside of Canada, and this tool may be useful in other contexts. In short, a robust online system may provide solutions to dealing with long processing times and the current backlogs.

For my second point, I strongly support the possibility of an applicant posting monetary bonds for TRV applications in the context of a spousal sponsorship application. These applicants are sufficiently motivated to become permanent residents through the family class, and there would be low risk in the possibility of them overstaying their visa.

However, I do have reservations if a monetary bond were to become a requirement of all TRV applications. I would not want the TRV application to become out of reach for low-income applicants.

My third point relates to applicants in provincial nominee programs. Many of these individuals are able to apply for permanent resident status based on their education and work in Canada. Once these workers receive their nomination certificate, they can apply for a bridging work permit, but that is restricted to their employer.

This pandemic has resulted in many layoffs and it has caused severe hardship. In my view, these work permits should be less restrictive and could avoid many issues, including potential problems with flagpoling. For example, a NOC B worker could be allowed to accept a different NOC B position without having to obtain a new work permit. Similarly, I also urge more flexibility with post-graduation work permits. They should not be limited to one post-graduation work permit per lifetime.

My fourth point relates to refugee claimants. As you know, travel restrictions have essentially closed the border to claimants from the United States. Justice McDonald of the Federal Court of Canada recently held the safe third country agreement to be unconstitutional, and it's disheartening that this government has appealed that decision. Notwithstanding these extraordinary times, Canada has a strong humanitarian tradition that must be protected.

My last point relates to having a collaborative approach. Part of the reason I was interested in this area of law is that it is generally non-confrontational. To deal with minor issues, I can easily call a CMO at the IRB, a superintendent at the POE, an inland enforcement officer or a lawyer at the DOJ.

Dealing with the IRCC, in contrast, is a constant struggle. When an IRCC officer makes a clear mistake, there is no easy mechanism to get it fixed. In my view, the request for reconsideration system is broken and MPs are far too often put in the difficult position to act as intermediaries.

Bad decisions by visa officers are often easy to appeal to Federal Court—as I have experienced doing recently—but judicial reviews expend a huge amount of time and resources for both the applicants and the government.

The dual intent guidance issued last month is a step in the right direction; however, it does not go far enough in emphasizing flexible decision-making. An immigration ombudsperson may be a possible solution. In my view, there may also be a tech solution to facilitate better communication with visa officers to address minor issues.

In short, I would urge IRCC to adopt a more collaborative approach. I believe there is great merit in continued consultation with stakeholders.

Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts. I welcome any questions you have.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Mr. Clarke.

We will now move on to Mr. Holthe.

Mr. Holthe, you have five minutes for your opening remarks. The floor is yours.

[Mark Holthe, Lawyer, Holthe Immigration Law, As an Individual]

Honourable members, thank you for inviting me to speak to you today to share my thoughts on the impact of COVID-19 on Canada's immigration systems.

I'm currently serving as the national chair of the CBA, but while I'm here, I've been invited to speak in my personal capacity—so basically not the chair—and any comments I make are mine alone. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share them with you.

The pandemic has caused significant disruption within the delivery of immigration services, but it has also shined a light on areas that desperately need improving. One of those areas is the need to modernize the entire immigration processing network. The complete digitization of the immigration system must be paramount. The IRCC has made great strides with temporary residents and express entry; however, all paper-based applications must be transitioned online as soon as possible.

Some of the hardest hit cohorts over the course of this pandemic have been those in paper-based queues. This committee has heard considerable testimony regarding the hardship faced by families, spouses and partners, parents and grandparents, and even the most vulnerable cohort of all—the children. We have heard the stories of families trapped abroad with their internationally adopted children, unable to come to Canada because of visa office closures.

This pandemic and the necessity for social distancing is not going away any time soon. Because of the overreliance on overseas missions and their antiquated methods of processing visa applications, countless people have suffered. We must find a way to modernize the issuance of visas. I know that security concerns are paramount; however, why must a PR visa be imprinted in a passport in the first place? Why can't a letter with a scannable bar code not suffice? Why can't biometrics be completed at the port of entry when landing?

We place far too much emphasis on overseas missions to administer the immigration programs in relative isolation. We need all PR applications to be fully digitized so that they can be processed anywhere within the network—exactly what has been happening with express entry and the temporary resident applications for years.

I commend this committee for their desire to make things better for those who suffering. Although there have been many proposals put forward, I want to share with you my top three list of major concerns that I think should be addressed first. These are areas that need immediate attention. After all, that's the purpose of this committee in the first place: to identify immediate needs and find solutions. The systemic problems will have to get addressed when they get addressed, but my recommendation is not before these top three.

The first systemic problem is obviously family reunification. I echo what my colleagues have said. The application of paragraph 179(b) should be exempt for any family member seeking to be reunited with immediate family. Paragraph 3(1)(d) of the act itself specifically states that one of the objectives of IRPA is “to see that families are reunited in Canada”.

Spouses' TRV applications need to be facilitated, not, as we've heard in previous [Technical difficulty—Editor] treated as a “kiss of death” in many cases. Families trapped abroad with internationally adopted children should never be turned away by this country when a facilitation TRV or TRP is sought.

The solution for this would be to create another super visa program for those spouses, or create clear, unequivocal program delivery instructions confirming that paragraph 179(b) just doesn't apply and, instead, put an emphasis on the generous application by officers of subsection 22(2), the dual intent provision.

The second systemic problem is that there are the PR applicants trapped outside with expired COPRs. They have quit jobs, pulled kids out of school, liquidated assets and waited on travel letters that never came. This cohort must be landed in 2020. There is no excuse for this not happening. If they can travel, they should be facilitated. Just issue the travel letters to those who are ready and able and apply the necessary resources that are going to be needed to get this group through. They're a relatively small cohort, but no less worthy of facilitation.

The third systemic problem is the plight of our foreign workers on the front lines. There's got to be a pathway to PR for this extremely vulnerable population. They've been exploited long enough, and a program must be created that targets them. The provinces could step up, but this is really a federal responsibility. The express entry program could be adjusted to allow increased points for front-line work experience; however, because of the fixation that IRCC has with skilled work experience to the exclusion of low-skilled work, a new program would need to be created. This program would be similar to the guardian angel program. We could call it the “Canadian front-line experience class”, the CFEC.

We must look first to those already in Canada to reach the ambitious goals announced in the recent levels plan.

Thank you very much. I look forward to answering any questions you may have.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Mr. Holthe.

We will now move on to our third witness for this panel, Fadia Mahmoud.

Madam Mahmoud, you have five minutes for your opening remarks.