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.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
My understanding is that there are five cabinet ministers, including the Prime Minister, who can approve these, so I'm a bit surprised that you have no idea of how many you have personally approved.
The reason I ask, of course, is that we have Canadians who see that a number of very elite Americans have been granted these exemptions and have not had to quarantine. I'm surprised that you're not aware of how many you have personally approved.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
That's not what I said, Ms. Dancho. I said that I would defer to my officials for a precise number rather than giving you an estimate.
Catrina Tapley Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Minister, Mr. Mills has that number for you.
Daniel Mills Assistant Deputy Minister, Operations, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Thank you, Madam Chair.
In mid-November, we approved some 1,300 exemptions to travel to Canada.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Thank you very much to the officials for that answer.
Minister, can you tell me how these conditions are enforced by your government? There seems to be a lot of concern that they're not being enforced very well and that a lot of elitists have access to these and others don't, particularly those who are looking to reunite with their families.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
I'm sorry. The sound was not very good, Ms. Dancho. Could you repeat your question?
Conservative
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
If there is going to continue to be sound...I just want to verify that the last 20 seconds will not be taken off my time.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
You are at one minute and 45 seconds right now, and we have an additional 20 seconds for you.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
I'm going to move on from this, since I'm not quite getting the answers I was looking for from you, Minister.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
By all means, please pose your question again, Ms. Dancho. Because of the technical difficulties, I could not hear the first part of it.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
I'm going to move on to the next section of my questions, and maybe we'll circle back.
I wanted to ask you about the ambitious target you announced a few weeks ago, the 401,000 permanent residents for next year. You've hinted in the media that you may grant those who have temporary resident status, such as asylum seekers, permanent resident status to provide for this 400,000 you're hoping to bring into the country next year.
Can you tell the committee how many asylum seekers you're planning to grant permanent resident status to?
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
Over the course of the next three years, as you know, we hope to welcome 401,000, 411,000 and 421,000. We've also set up some objectives to welcome a number of resettled refugees in the range of 36,000 per year over the next three. We will strive very hard to reach those goals.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Right, but how many asylum seekers are you planning to grant permanent resident status to—specifically asylum seekers? I ask because you've hinted at health care workers. I'm wondering if you can specify how many you're planning.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
This builds on the announcement I made last summer in Quebec regarding the “guardian angels”, who made exceptional contributions on the front lines of our hospitals, and health care workers. I think we will continue to look at those immigrants who are already within our borders and try to broaden the pathways to permanent residency where we can, particularly in those essential sectors where contributions have been vital to providing the health care that Canadians need.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Thank you.
I want to ask you specifically in the context of Quebec. We know that the vast majority of asylum seekers irregularly—many say illegally—cross the border into Quebec at Roxham Road. Are you going to be providing jurisdiction to Quebec to decide who those permanent residents will be from the asylum seekers?
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
As you know, Ms. Dancho, the federal government retains the jurisdiction when it comes to refugees, but we work very closely with the Quebec government. That also includes the guardian angels program, where I have a very good rapport with my counterpart, Minister Girault. We will continue to work in close collaboration with them to achieve this important work of providing a safe harbour for the world's most vulnerable.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Minister, the reason I ask—and since you've confirmed it now—is that I'm wondering if that process encourages more individuals to irregularly—or illegally—cross the border and circumvent the streams that we're seeing have massive delays. I'm wondering if you're creating a very dangerous precedent for folks to go around the backlogged immigration streams and just walk across the border. Are you concerned about that at all?
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
On the contrary, Ms. Dancho, we've invested in our borders to ensure that we have one of the best asylum systems in the world, and that includes reinforcing integrity at the borders.
Far from encouraging, we discourage irregular migration. We have made significant progress on that front, and that is also in close collaboration with the Quebec government and—