Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 23rd, 2020

[Manprit Aujla-Grewal]

Right now, the major trend is that individuals want to reunite with their family members. We're getting a lot of inquiries on individuals who want to reunite with their spouses or their parents.

There were a lot of questions regarding when the parent sponsorship program would come out, because there was a delay due to COVID. When it was announced, that alleviated some concerns.

Spouses are probably the biggest concern. Whether the individual is in Canada as a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident or an international student, or even an international student who's looking to come to Canada, a lot of the questions I get are around how they can bring their spouse.

The biggest issue I see right now is probably spouses.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

You're probably aware that last year the government introduced changes to the regulation of immigration consultants, and of course, as I imagine you know, this will involve creating a new regulatory body mandated by statute and making updates to the compliance regime and educational requirements.

Do you see those changes as something that will help you and your colleagues in your roles?

[Manprit Aujla-Grewal]

Yes, definitely, any increase in standard to the profession is a benefit.

I see an increase in the education standard, and that will definitely be positive. There were a number of smaller schools that were opening as well. With this new school, it seems to be more confined or contained. It looks as though it will be a better program. I think we're headed in the right direction.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

You're probably aware that family and spousal reunification, which you mentioned, is one of the government's priorities. The recent announcement on spousal sponsorship increases, of course, increased the IRCC staff assigned to spousal sponsorship cases by 66%. The government says this is on track to lead to 49,000 decisions by the end of the year.

Do you think those measures will help speed the process, and what other innovations should we push for?

[Manprit Aujla-Grewal]

I thought it was absolutely an excellent announcement and I am starting to see the files moving. However, the long-term goal has to be to add resources, because usually, if we're increasing processing of one stream or one line of business, I worry that another line of business will suffer. Which line of business will be suffering?

My concern is that it's great we're doing that, it's excellent. It was a really good decision, but we need to add resources so that other lines of business are not suffering, especially with the increase in immigration we're set to see. I personally would really like to see an increase in individuals processing those applications so we don't see, then, another line of business suffering from longer wait times.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Let me go back for a moment to the legislative changes for consultants. Of course, this arose as a result of some cases of fraud and abuse, including some here where I am in Nova Scotia. It affected the reputation of the profession, obviously.

Do you feel that this will allow your professional self-regulatory body to have more power to pursue unscrupulous consultants? What challenges did you see with the former system, in terms of what was there before to regulate the profession?

[Manprit Aujla-Grewal]

I would certainly love to see the reputation of immigration consultants increase. I welcome any changes. I think one of the problems with the previous regulatory body is they didn't have enough resources to pursue criminal charges or investigations. There was not enough of a punishment for those individuals who were engaging in illegal behaviours and taking advantage of immigrants.

I believe that a certain amount of funds needs to be allocated to the individuals who can pursue the allegations, such as CBSA. Once it's made clear that there will be criminal charges and that there are consequences for actions, I really think that those involved in that type of behaviour may think twice.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Now we will move on to Madame Normandin for two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you very much.

I will use this to put my question to Ms. Aujla-Grewal again.

You suggested awarding extra points to people who have already filed their sponsorship application for parents or grandparents through the Canadian immigration lottery program.

How can it be ensured that a first-time applicant would not be under the impression they have no chance of their application being processed in the first round?

Can you propose options for us to consider?

[Manprit Aujla-Grewal]

If I understand your question correctly, Ms. Normandin, I think what you're asking me is if an individual will be discouraged from submitting an application if it's only their first attempt. Is that correct?

I think IRCC is trying to find the right balance. It's difficult because the demand is far greater than the supply. I think we continue to try new things to see which one will be the best fit.

There are other items, perhaps, in the weighted draw that could be considered, such as the length of time you've been apart from your parents or maybe the age of your parents. Maybe other things could also be entered, but adding any additional variable could complicate it.

I think it's just trying to be as fair as possible. Because it's a lottery, if someone is not selected they may feel their luck isn't working. Perhaps we try this and see if this will be a little bit better suited.

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

In any case, it would be a good idea to consider the preliminary screening option based on certain criteria if we were to keep the lottery idea. Did I understand correctly?

[Manprit Aujla-Grewal]

I think pre-selection based on income could be difficult because there are a number of variables, such family size in Canada or abroad. A sponsor's family size in Canada can change based on if they have a new child or have a divorce.

I'm not quite sure that a system can be developed to capture the things that just naturally happen in life and change in family size. I'm not sure how much more we can request up front.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting, Ms. Aujla-Grewal, the time is up.

Ms. Kwan, you have two and a half minutes.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to just touch on the issue around additional resources for IRCC. Ms. Aujla-Grewal, I think you are absolutely correct to say that if we don't increase staffing resources we're going to be really caught out with the backlog. Otherwise, moving resources from one stream to another doesn't ultimately help the problem.

Is this something, then, that we should be wanting to see by way of additional resources? Do you have any suggestions of how much, by way of resources, the government should be putting into the system?

[Manprit Aujla-Grewal]

Unfortunately, I can't say how much because I'm not sure as to the numbers of staff at the offices. I think IRCC would be best suited to say that. Additional resources need to be added to the point where processing times are not being affected too much. I think that would probably be the best.

I'm not sure with regard to resources, but maybe with the use of technology now—we're all being forced to use technology—this will result in some natural efficiencies as well. Perhaps it won't even necessarily be such a great manpower.... It may be that even the use of technology and other efficiencies can be utilized.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Speaking of efficiency with technology, I know that for testing of citizenship, for example, we have not yet actually moved into using technology to do the testing. That's something people have been calling for and wanting to see. Is that an area that the government should explore and should in fact move in that direction to allow for testing to take place through such technology as Zoom and the like?

[Manprit Aujla-Grewal]

I think it could definitely be explored when we are exploring technology for so many other areas, such as hearings. We could also introduce it for spouses who require interviews. Yes, definitely, technology has to be something that is definitely considered. We don't know how long this pandemic will last, and we do need to try to get things somewhat back to normal, hopefully soon.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

With respect to cases or files that are sent back because something is missing—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting, Ms. Kwan. Your time is up.

Based on the time that's left for this panel, we have two minutes for the Conservatives and two minutes for the Liberals.

Mr. Saroya, you have two minutes.

[Bob Saroya, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Thank you so much, Madam Chair.

My question is for Bela Ravi in Sudbury. Sudbury is a beautiful town.

First, as you mentioned, what can we possibly do to keep the students and other workers in Sudbury? Second, you said your funding was cut. Have you received any more funding in the last five years from this government?

[Bela Ravi]

No, we have not. Our funding, in fact, has been going down over the years. I feel that to keep the students here, we have to show them that there are opportunities for them.

[Bob Saroya, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Absolutely.

[Bela Ravi]

Like Meredith said, maybe there could be a co-op or an internship working with the businesses. There is hesitance, which I have seen personally, to hire somebody who's from outside of Canada, but remember, these people have been trained here. As you said, they know the language and they know the culture—they know our weather for one thing, right?

[Bob Saroya, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Absolutely.

Would it be possible for you to give the committee in writing what sort of funding you need to make sure we can do our part to keep those students and keep the housing prices up and keep Sudbury beautiful?