Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 27th, 2024

[Greg McLean, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Well, I'll check that in the time, but I have questions to ask the minister about his allocation of resources here.

Clear and transparent rules, Minister.... Zain Haq is a temporary resident in Canada on a student visa and a repeat offender if he doesn't even attend his designated learning institution.

How many criminal offences does it take to make a non-studying foreign student eligible for a legitimate deportation order?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Again, the decision whether to deport or not is not mine to take, nor should it be. The individual circumstances of a case are not ones I would comment on publicly.

[Greg McLean, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Minister, you're intervening on behalf of a criminal who has been convicted in Canada, but you won't intervene to make the process better for Sudanese or Gazan refugees. This is a choice you are making. Canadians and people who are waiting to get into Canada want to understand why you're making these choices.

Can you please explain to Parliament, to Canadians and to this committee why you've allocated resources to keeping criminals in Canada rather than to getting refugees into Canada?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Minister, the time is up. You can respond briefly.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

I would say in response that you are weaponizing the situation in Gaza and Sudan—and indeed the families behind us—to make a petty political point.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you very much, Mr. McLean.

We will go to Mr. Ali.

Mr. Ali, you have five minutes.

[Shafqat Ali, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Minister and officials, for being here.

Minister, as you know, innocent lives are being lost in Gaza, Rafah and Sudan. Unfortunately, our Conservative colleagues are more concerned about Netanyahu's hypothetical arrest than calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and Rafah. Sadly, Conservatives are using this human tragedy for their political advantage, which is very painful. This meeting was dedicated to Gaza and Sudan, and they're coming with different questions and diverting. Conservatives have not once called for a ceasefire since this tragedy started, and this is the tragedy of the century.

I want to ask you what challenges you're facing in bringing people from Gaza or Sudan here under the measures you announced.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

I agree with the point that you're making, MP Ali.

There are people dying, whether it's Sudan or Gaza, and Canada is expected to act. It has acted decisively within its ability to act on international aid, both for Sudan and Gaza. We have landed hundreds if not thousands of refugees from Sudan since the offence broke out. We continue to make sure that up to 7,000 people will be able to come here.

This is about saving lives. It should not be a partisan activity. As you know, the war with Hamas, the devastation in Gaza, has grasped the attention of the world, with cause, and it has polarized many people who used to talk to each other, who used to get along. It has been devastating not only in Gaza and Israel with the dreadful terrorist attack on October 7—an attempt to exterminate a people—but also here in Canada with Islamophobia and anti-Semitism running rampant.

I think we need to estimate—because perhaps we've underestimated—the damage that this has caused us as a country and the divisive politics that come out of it. I don't need votes from this; I just need people to stay alive. I don't want the vote of someone who thinks that legitimate criticism of the Netanyahu government, which I share, equates to picking on Jews in this country and targeting them. If those people have that type of thinking, I don't want their vote.

[Shafqat Ali, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

Along with our colleague Salma Zahid, we had an opportunity to visit Palestine. We heard the stories on the ground of what the people are going through. It's from both sides. Human lives are being lost. It's a human tragedy. Here at home, Islamophobia, as you rightly said, and anti-Semitism are on the rise. Our Conservative friends are exploiting the situation rather than bringing people together. I agree with you that we should not be using this as a political issue. This is a human tragedy. We should, first of all, all come together to call for a ceasefire and try to make every effort to save lives in Gaza, Rafah and Sudan.

I want to change the topic towards the processing centre under the Indo-Pacific strategy. We announced in 2022 that funds were allocated. Three other locations are up and running, but Islamabad is still in.... We don't have updates.

If you could submit that in writing to the committee, that would be appreciated.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you very much.

Honourable Minister, the time is up, unless you want to respond.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

I know he cares about the issues that are happening in Islamabad. We've doubled our capacity there. We're looking to secure those visas, and we'll get to it. However, it's high time that we see that increase happen on the ground.

We can give you all those details at a later date.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you very much.

I will go to my dear friend, Mr. Maguire, for six minutes.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, you may have given us some of these numbers already, but how many Sudanese have applied for that family-based permanent residency pathway for people affected by the conflict in Sudan?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Bear with me, Larry. I gave that to my colleague, but I think the numbers and the programs do differ. In the short period between the launch, which was February 27, 2024, and now, May 20, there have been 2,542 applications accepted, which translates into about just short of 6,000 individuals, excluding non-accompanying dependents.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

How many are in Canada now?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Of those, since the program opened, there are none. As was always the case, as we work with partner organizations, we're looking to land some as early as later this year.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Thanks.

There was a gap between the time the conflict began on April 15, 2023 and the introduction of the family-based permanent residency pathways about eight months later in December.

Given the similarity of the program to some of the previous IRCC plans—they're pretty much the same—what was the reason for this long lag?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

In the context of a humanitarian catastrophe, I'm not going to offer any excuses for that. I don't think, by that same brushstroke, we should presume that nothing's been done.

During that same period, there have been 3,622 protected persons and resettled refugees of various categories, so it's not as if everyone was waiting for this program to get into place. It is very much an accompanying program for our response to Sudan.

I just don't want to leave people with that impression.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

With respect to your family-based permanent residency pathway, can you explain how you arrived at the figure of 3,250 for the cap on the applications?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

It's a rough estimate based on how many family members per application.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

The president of the Sudanese Canadian Communities Association told the CBC that he doesn't understand the rationale for the cap.

Have you been in touch with that association in regard to its concerns?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

The entirety of the program was devised and worked with and through umbrella organizations. I believe that includes that organization.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Have you spoken to them? If so, what was their...?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

In fact, we worked pretty closely with a number of those organizations to devise the policy in the first place.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

What I'll take from that is that you haven't.

Given the tragic reality that Sudan has become the world's biggest displacement crisis, what's the IRCC's projection for the uptake of the family-based permanent residence pathway for people affected by this conflict?