Evidence of meeting #8 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 work.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:05 p.m.
Bloc
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
I was telling you about the new criteria and asking if they are in effect at the moment.
I would like to know if it's possible to obtain a written copy of the guidelines given to officers for the application of these criteria.
4:05 p.m.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
Yes. The guidelines are published and we can get you a copy, for transparency purposes. Most importantly, all criteria are applied in an impartial, fair and transparent manner.
4:10 p.m.
Bloc
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
That's great. Thank you.
My next question is about the members.
There were no in-person hearings until August 3. The virtual hearings of the various IRB divisions resumed on June 29. I sent the written question to the department, and I understand that all members received their full remuneration during the crisis.
I'd like to know whether they were asked to use up their unused vacation and sick leave.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
I'll turn the floor over to representatives from the department so they can provide a more specific answer.
4:10 p.m.
Bloc
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
Ultimately, I'll ask them when it's their turn.
I'd like to hear from you on the issue of people working in the restaurant industry and low wages. There's just been a directive that applications for labour market impact assessments, or LMIAs, and work permits for people in the restaurant industry will no longer be considered because unemployment is too high right now and they want to use the local workforce.
I'd like to know if you've discussed suspending the processing of these applications with Minister Qualtrough.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
I'm working with Ms. Qualtrough on this matter.
The labour shortage is a challenge for all provinces, even for the Quebec Experience Program. IRCC deals with sectors where there are labour shortages, such as health and agriculture. We have a plan to address the labour shortage.
4:10 p.m.
Bloc
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
Currently, work permit and LMIA applications from people in the food service sector are no longer being processed.
Does the minister agree with me that it's possible to have high unemployment and a labour shortage at the same time?
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
We've made the permit application system more flexible for foreign workers. This is a project in which my department and that of my colleague Ms. Qualtrough are participating, along with our partners in Quebec. This increased flexibility in the system allows these workers to change jobs when necessary. For example, in the agricultural sector, there are jobs and a lot of labour, despite the pandemic. This is a good example showing that IRCC is there—
4:10 p.m.
Bloc
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
Mr. Minister, please allow me to interrupt.
We were told that processing of work permit applications had been discontinued. The question had arisen at the time about foreign agricultural workers. If the unemployment rate became too high, consideration was given to discontinue the processing of these applications.
I'll repeat my question. Does the minister agree that we can have a labour shortage and a high unemployment rate at the same time?
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
As I said, IRCC is addressing the labour shortage. We have made our system more flexible for foreign workers, working with all provinces and employers in critical sectors.
4:10 p.m.
Bloc
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
Some work permit and labour market impact assessment applications were discontinued. Was this a way to relieve the pressure on IRCC?
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I'm sorry for interrupting, Madame Normandin. Your time is up.
We will now move on to Ms. Kwan.
Ms. Kwan, you have six minutes, please.
4:10 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Thank you to the minister for coming to our committee.
I'm going to follow up on the question around dual intent. The ministerial enquiries division has confirmed that the information newly posted on the government website about dual intent is essentially an internal memo to provide clarification to assist in interpreting dual intent, but it is not considered an actual policy.
Will the minister consider suspending the use of paragraph 179(b) for sponsorship applicants applying for a TRV with dual intent, and will the minister consider issuing a special TRV, similar to that of a super visa for parents and grandparents, for spousal sponsorships?
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
Ms. Kwan, as you know, I have said that I remain open-minded to exploring flexibilities where necessary. The important thing to recall is that we do have a pathway that allows individuals who are qualified under the family exemption class to come and reunite with their relatives here in Canada. That is not prohibitive of those same individuals also seeking permanent residency status.
4:15 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
The reality is that many of the people seeking to come and visit are blocked. In fact, the fact that they have family members here.... The closer the ties they have, the more likely, actually, is the reality of their being rejected. The notion of dual intent does not really work in practice, because it's still subject to the interpretation of the agent in interpreting that.
Family members are seeking for the government to suspend the use of paragraph 179(b), in addition to providing them with a special TRV. I hope the minister will actually consider that, because it's not working. Dual intent is not working.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
Ms. Kwan, I understand, and as I said, we'll keep an open mind. Each case is evaluated on the merits, but I understand your position.
4:15 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
The 14-day processing for extended family reunification that the minister announced is not being met. In fact, Faces of Advocacy has been updating the minister regularly. As it stands now, they have self-reported over 100 people who are not getting their application processed. When my office inquired about it, in fact, we were told that the deadline is not going to be met, because the system is overwhelmed. The minister's own staff actually said to an MP office to not bother inquiring, because the unit is overwhelmed. What is the minister going to do about this?
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
First, Ms. Kwan, I would express my gratitude to you and to all the advocacy groups who have been advancing the cause of family reunification. As a result, we've created a pathway that has reunited thousands of families, and that's a good thing. That's notwithstanding the challenge of the pandemic. Where we have complicated cases, including incomplete applications, we work with all members of Parliament, including your office, to try to troubleshoot them. Our goal here is to reunite as many families as possible—
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
—without compromising the health and safety of Canadians.
4:15 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Minister, I'm just going to interrupt. On the 14-day application issue, it is not because they are missing documents. In fact, what we learned from IRCC is that they don't even know if the application exists in the system. If they don't know, they have no way of expediting or looking into these applications. When you phone IRCC, the agent says, “Look, we're just overwhelmed. Don't phone us.” That is the reality. I ask the minister to look into that.
On the issue around processing certificates of PR, we have yet another problem as well, where certificates of PR expired during this pandemic period and people cannot get them renewed. The IRCC agent has told us that there's no system for them to deal with this effectively. Consequently, people are stuck in limbo, unable to get to Canada. Will the minister also, then, address this issue and actually maybe just honour the expired certificates of PR so people can get on with life?
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
Ms. Kwan, you and I are very united in this cause. That's why we've introduced flexibilities around the COPRs by allowing them to be extended because of the disruption caused by COVID-19. That's what our plan does. It seeks to maintain the commitments to continue to grow this country through immigration, including through our express entry and family reunification programs for PR.
We've mitigated and we will continue to work through those cases where there needs to be work done.
4:15 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
I have three constituency cases right now where people's expired certificates of PR are blocking them from getting to Canada. In fact, there's one person who's an essential worker, and the employer is a hospital. She's a registered nurse. The hospital has delayed her start time from November 2 to December 7, and now to January 4, only because they cannot get the certificate of PR renewed.
I'll contact your office with these cases and hopefully they can get resolved, but hopefully not just these cases. Just honour these certificates of PR so you can then really move forward.
I'm going to move on to another area: post-grad students. International post-grad student work permits are not renewable, and many of them are expiring or have expired. I believe the minister has received a petition with 16,000 names on it. Will the minister take the unprecedented step to extend their work permits as a COVID measure?
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
We recognize that international students are a group of immigrants who need support. That's why we were very pleased to revive the pathway that allows international students to pursue their education here, in conjunction with schools and provinces, so that it's done in a safe and orderly way. We're also allowing students who were here before COVID-19 arrived to extend and restore their status. We encourage them to start that process as quickly as possible.
I also just want to clarify that no international student is going to be removed by virtue alone of having an expired visa. We will allow a period of time for them to restore that status, because we recognize that COVID-19 has caused disruption.
4:20 p.m.
NDP