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.
November 25th, 2020 / 5:20 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I am happy to look into that and the issue around a plane ticket. The member is correct. This is one of those cases. These are paper applications. They're in Sydney. We're trying to work through them as quickly as we can, and we will certainly look into the issue of people being told about the plane ticket.
Mr. Mills, do you want to add anything?
5:20 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Operations, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Thank you, Madam Chair.
We have allocated resources to deal with the situation. However, as the deputy minister said, we are talking about paper applications and they are in Sydney, Nova Scotia. There were other priorities and we had to adjust our operations.
5:20 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
I'll be in touch with the deputy about these cases, because people cannot buy a ticket. It is very expensive and now, as we know, they can't get refunds. When they don't get their card, they can't travel and they don't get refunds, and that's a huge problem at this time.
I want to go quickly to a question about post-grad students. Is the minister saying that people with post-grad work permits that are expiring will have implied status or have their work permit renewed? They are not allowed to be renewed. Is the minister saying that they are now able to be renewed as a COVID measure?
5:20 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I guess it's one step at a time with students. We worked our way through making sure that you're still eligible for your time overseas to be included with the post-graduate work permit. We've worked through designated learning institutions. We're now at a point where we can welcome students back into the country with appropriate plans on the other side.
The next steps will be some of the issues that are now coming up on post-graduate work permits that are expiring. People have been affected by the pandemic and not been able to work as much as they would have liked or in their chosen profession. That's a problem that we're examining now.
5:20 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Okay, is the deputy saying that the minister's suggesting that they will not have their status expire is incorrect? What does it mean?
5:20 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Perhaps I misunderstood, Ms. Kwan, but I think what the minister said is that some type of implied status will be there while we work our way through what the most appropriate way to look at this problem is—Is it to extend the work permit? How big is it?—just as we're able to put things around it.
5:25 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Those with expired work permits will not be deported; they will not lose their status. They can just stay here and wait until the government has sorted out extending their work permit. These are for post-grad international students.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
With that, the first round comes to an end.
Based on the time we have left—we have to vote in the end, and we have a little committee business—we can have two minutes for each party. We have Mr. Saroya, and then Ms. Martinez Ferrada, Madame Normandin and Madame Kwan. Each member will have two minutes.
We can start with Mr. Saroya, please.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Saroya Conservative Markham—Unionville, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to the panel.
Deputy Minister, this is a typical day. I've seen two people on the decision-making of the immigration department. One of them is working here. The security is checked, everything is checked, but the decision has been pending for a number of months. The second one was a parent-sponsoring case going back to 2013. The whole thing is done, from what I understand from calling your office and calling the immigration office.
When will these decisions be made for these people? This is a typical day for us on the front line here.
5:25 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I think it depends on a number of circumstances. One is that we tried to put a priority on processing for those who are here or who can land. If cases were approved before March 18, to have them come here on March 18, whether people are in Canada and are able to stay in Canada.... Those have tended to be the priorities that we've placed, whether it's on family or whether it's economic.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Saroya Conservative Markham—Unionville, ON
Those people with the file sitting since 2013, I'm not sure what to tell them. Is there anything you can advise me to tell them? It's the parent application.
5:25 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
If it's a parent application, I'm very sorry to hear that it's been sitting since 2013.
5:25 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
There may be an issue around a specific case, and we are happy to follow up on that.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Saroya Conservative Markham—Unionville, ON
Okay.
Question number two is about the provincial nomination program. A number of people and a number of employers are here, especially in Ontario. Every restaurant, every transportation agency, Uber, you name it, is done by students and temporary foreign workers. In real life, is there anything the Department of Immigration can do to get them citizenship?
5:25 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
This is an interesting question, and the—
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I'm sorry for interrupting. The time is up, and I have to move on to the next person.
Now we have Madame Martinez Ferrada.
You have two minutes.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Soraya Martinez Ferrada Liberal Hochelaga, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
My thanks to the officials from the department for joining us today.
I would like to congratulate you for all the work that you have been doing since the beginning of the pandemic. It must have been extremely demanding for IRCC's activities.
I have two quick questions.
The 2019 annual report shows the highest number of family reunifications ever recorded, at 91,311 people. Is it possible to send the committee members a record of family reunifications over the past five years? We would like to see how this has evolved over the past five years. That is my first question.
Second, I would like to come back to IRCC's operational challenge. You talked about digitizing and modernizing your operations. I would like to give you an opportunity to tell the committee members how important this is for the future.
5:25 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I would be happy to forward the numbers to the committee.
Thank you very much for asking the second question.
We have a legacy IT system. That's the global case management system. It has served us well. In 2019, we managed to hit records in all our categories. However, it's a system that was built when VHS was cutting-edge technology, and we're in a Netflix world.
The pandemic has shown us that when you have digital files, and part of our operations are digital—