Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 27th, 2024

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Chair, what I am trying to say is this is an extrapolation. If the applicant includes family members on their application, we will process all of those members, so 3,250 applications will be processed, and spouses, kids and family members will comprise the number of people who come.

[Greg McLean, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Deputy Minister, the root of the question was why the number of applications is 3,250 when, seven years ago, we accommodated 30,000 people from Syria within four months. We had 40,000 from Afghanistan, although it took much longer, and a year later we're setting application spaces at 3,250 for what is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world right now. Why is the number 3,250?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Chair, the 3,250 applications are part of a special program that we have instituted for Sudan, but before we rolled out this program, we had already done much more in terms of bringing Sudanese people here.

If I may, 4,202 is the exact number of total permanent resident admissions since the conflict began. This is supplemented by another number—around 3,622—that includes protected persons such as government-assisted and privately sponsored refugees, for example.

[Greg McLean, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Thank you.

There also seems to be some discrepancy in the way we've treated our locally engaged staff in Sudan versus locally engaged staff in other Canadian consular activities around the world.

Our locally engaged staff were not brought here after the conflict in Sudan the way they were in other conflicts like those in Ukraine and Afghanistan. We have not treated these people according to the same standard.

Can you tell me why we've performed differently in this respect?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Deputy Minister, the time is up. You may give a brief response.

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Every program is tailor-made to get the most vulnerable people out, and this program, in addition to what we have done for protected persons, permanent residents and assisted departures, has actually helped the Sudanese to come here as permanent residents.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you.

I will now go to Parliamentary Secretary Chiang.

Mr. Chiang, you have four minutes.

[Paul Chiang, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank the officials for coming to speak to us.

I've heard from many people in my riding that the traditional definition of family that is often used by the government simply does not reflect the needs of the community or the reality on the ground in Gaza. Regarding the special measure that you put in for Gazans to apply to these with extended family here in Canada, can you explain why it is that way?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

For the purpose of this particular special program, we designed a program that has extended family members, which we are calling eligible family members. These family members, if I may, include children, spouses, parents and other close relatives.

There's a definition that we have provided in terms of eligible members, which is more than the classic definition that is captured in IRPA about extended family members. We have worked on that in such a way that we can have a bigger net cast on bringing more people and uniting the families.

[Paul Chiang, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Thank you, Deputy Minister.

I have constituents in my riding who are coming to me and saying that their family is stuck in Cairo. They cannot come out, and they have done the bio and everything like that, and they still haven't heard anything from IRCC.

What kind of timeline should I tell constituents in regard to getting the bio and getting safely to Canada?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

What we try to do in terms of the ability to process their application is that, if somebody is in Cairo, they can connect through submitting a web form or connect with us through IRCC and our presence in Cairo at the Canadian embassy. We obviously are processing those applicants in terms of priority processing, and, if your biometrics are done, we will go through to the next step and process them accordingly.

[Paul Chiang, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I would like to share my time with my colleague.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Madam Kayabaga, go ahead, please.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Thank you so much to my colleague for sharing his time with me.

Quickly, through you, Chair, in the last meeting, I requested the submission of some documents by the department where there's proof of other instances when we've requested people to show social media...physical signs as to why they have to provide them their application. I have not received that. I've not seen it, so, if that's been submitted, please let me know. If not, I will ask again that you submit that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

I have stopped the clock.

I just want to tell the honourable members, regarding the question that Madam Kayabaga asked, that the clerk has received some documents, and he will be circulating them to the committee soon.

Mr. Deputy Minister, please go ahead.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

No, I—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

I'm sorry, Madam Kayabaga.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Thank you so much, Chair; you're very efficient.

I have a question around the fee that people have to pay for processing. If people are in a situation like what Sudanese and Gazans find themselves in, is there a possibility of waiving the fee? Right now, I think an adult pays about $635 and children cost $175.

This fee has been waived for Ukrainians. Is it possible for us to waive it for Sudanese community members and Gazans as well? They're also fleeing a very tough situation.

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Mr. Chair, the minister has been able to waive the fees on biometric collection as well as some other fees. We can get you some information about how this compares in both the Sudanese and—

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Can we have that submitted?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Yes.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Madam Kayabaga, time is up.

We will go to my dear friend Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.

Go ahead for four minutes, please.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm going to share my speaking time with Mr. Mike Morrice, of the Green Party of Canada.

Since April 30, 2023, the Canadian government has been prioritizing temporary and permanent residence applications from everyone living in Sudan.

Is that correct?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Deputy Minister, please go ahead.