Evidence of meeting #12 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was afghanistan.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Fayçal El-Khoury Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
My first question is for Ms. Boisclair.
Ms. Boisclair, IRCC has taken measures to eliminate potential biases in the processing and review of immigration and citizenship applications.
Do you have any other recommendations that may help resolve this issue?
Farah Boisclair Director, Anti-Racism Task Force, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Thank you for the question.
There is a suite of things that need to be done.
One of the things we did early on in the anti-racism task force was to articulate what anti-racism work looks like in different parts of the organization. It's a range. It ranges from policy through program review and developing an anti-racism lens. For example, we've developed [Technical difficulty—Editor] analysts and policy development.
These specific actions have been integrated, for the executives and leaders across the organization, into their performance agreement plans, which are tied to their performance ratings. That's one of the things we've done.
Liberal
Fayçal El-Khoury Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC
Given that IRCC has over a dozen ongoing projects with fairness and equality objectives, can you give us a few details on those projects?
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Once again, I think this is a good question for Ms. Boisclair. I will let her answer it.
Director, Anti-Racism Task Force, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
We have established a number of measures, including a review of employment systems. We are very excited about and look forward to conducting this review, which will begin in the spring.
Another one that's important is making sure our recruitment processes are targeted, so that we find racialized talent to occupy all levels of the organization.
The work we have done on data collection—the Pollara group included—is us being intentional about looking at and understanding the problem of systemic racism so that we can bring thoughtful solutions to the table. That information collection informs our strategies moving forward.
Liberal
Fayçal El-Khoury Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC
That's great, thank you.
Ms. Xavier, can you give us details on the quality assurance abroad program that was implemented in 2021?
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Thank you for the question.
As you said, we have a program that helps us confirm that decisions were applied consistently, especially those made abroad. We could provide you with data on that. That will give you a bit more information on what we have learned through those reviews of decisions made.
Ms. Gill, do you have anything to add on this?
Director General, International Network, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Thank you.
To add to that, we take oversight of decision-making very seriously at IRCC. Quality assurance exercises are undertaken annually for decision-making. Our officers have all undergone unconscious bias training and are trained on immigration legislation. In addition to that, there are cultural studies for certain case types. For example, for our caseloads out of Africa, all of our decision-makers do cultural studies in advance of starting their decision-making.
With that, we also then have the oversight of quality assurance exercises for their decisions.
Liberal
Fayçal El-Khoury Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC
Ms. Xavier, could you give us more details about the task force created in July 2020 whose members are working full time to provide the department with a strategic direction on personnel management, policy and program delivery?
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Thank you for the question.
The task force was created in July 2020, and Farah Boisclair will lead it.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I'm sorry for interrupting, Ms. Xavier. The time is up for Mr. El-Khoury.
We will now proceed to Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.
Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe, you have two and a half minutes.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Ms. Xavier, I would like to go back to the conversation we were having earlier.
If employees who witness racism report it to their superiors, who sometimes apply pressure to prevent promotions following disclosures, as was discussed earlier, how can we talk about independence in the processing of those cases?
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Thank you for the question.
Like I said earlier, there are a number of ways to report wrongdoing. The employee can talk about it with their immediate supervisor, or bring the case to the attention of the senior officer in charge of internal resolutions, for instance, who is independent from the department. They can also report it to the Office of Conflict Resolution, another body that is independent from the department.
In addition, the employee can ask their union for help, depending on the position level, as we are trying to work in partnership with the union, which also has an independent role.
The employee can also reach out to someone in a position at another level, be it the director general or the deputy minister, and not just [technical difficulties].
Bloc
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Can you not hear me?
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I hear you fine.
Can you hear me, Mr. Brunelle‑Duceppe?
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
I can hear you fine now. The sound was cut off for a brief moment.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
One second. Let's check.
Madam Clerk, there seems to be an interpretation issue.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
That's great.
I understand that a number of measures are available, and that's good. That is part of your willingness to change things. A number of structures have been put in place to resolve this issue. We know that not all employees in your department are unionized.
Since the measures and structures that have been implemented are specific to the department, don't you think that creating the position of an immigration ombudsman would help resolve all the problems? That ombudsman would be completely independent from the department.
That would help you a lot in your initiatives, wouldn't it?
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Thank you again for your comment and the question, Mr. Brunelle‑Duceppe.
As the minister said, we are open to improvement. I repeat that we are very open to the idea of improving the existing mechanisms.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
I understand what the minister said, but I would like to get your own opinion on the creation of an ombudsman position. I would really like to know what you think.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I am not here to talk about my opinions.
However, I can tell you that this is an option we could consider going forward if it interests our minister and the government. We will certainly take the committee's recommendations into account, and they will help us improve the ongoing processes at the department.