Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 24th, 2022

[Caroline Xavier]

No. What we're saying is that we know that as an organization we continue to have work that we need to do with regard to the training we're providing our officers in terms of anti-racism and unconscious bias. This needs to continue to be a priority for us. We need to continue to explore the outcomes of these decisions and whether or not what the stakeholder has mentioned is definitely something of concern.

[Bob Benzen, Conservative, Calgary Heritage, AB]

That's excellent.

In response to the Pollara report, one of the things you started was this new quality assurance program. You picked four countries to start off with—Colombia, Brazil, Panama and Costa Rica.

Why did you pick those four countries for the pilot program? Why are there no African countries in this group?

[Caroline Xavier]

I'm going to ask Pemi Gill to answer your question.

[Pemi Gill]

As part of our quality assurance work we do quality assurance across all processing from all countries. Pilots have been done to improve the types of QA done. There has been continuous improvement to ensure that results are accurate in informing future improvements. There is quality assurance done on cases out of Africa as well. As I said, for our global network it is undertaken.

[Bob Benzen, Conservative, Calgary Heritage, AB]

In particular, why were these four countries chosen?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Mr. Benzen. Your time is up.

We will end our panel today with five minutes from Mr. Dhaliwal.

Mr. Dhaliwal, please begin.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to the officials for appearing here.

Madam Chair, I have one of the highest constituency loads. It's very frustrating to see my staff getting frustrated, particularly when it comes to the super visa and visitor visa applications from India. There was a deadline of September 7, 2021. I think there were over half a million applications. The department failed on that particular issue because none of those applications got processed and then they started accepting on a new portal after September 7, 2021.

It's my understanding that there are now over half a million applications.

Some of the discrepancies I'm seeing are that some people are applying now and getting the results in two weeks. People are waiting for their parents to get to them for [Technical difficulty—Editor]. I wonder how they're going to manage this mess that has been created in New Delhi.

[Caroline Xavier]

Family reunification continues to be a priority for the Government of Canada. It plays a significant role, as you've outlined, in attracting, retaining and integrating immigrants who contribute to our successful country. We recognize that there are various applications in the backlog. We know that the volumes are high. This is where the funding that we've been provided will help us to address that backlog.

As the minister mentioned, with regard to the parent and grandparent super visas, as you mentioned, these also continue to be part of the applications we're processing. We recognize that in some cases it may be perceived that others are getting a response sooner. That may be because their application came in a digital form, while others perhaps were in a paper form.

Having said that, it doesn't excuse it. This is where the work we're doing with regard to improving the backlogs and addressing the more aged applications is part of the next steps we're taking.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

That is not the case, Madam Chair. Since September 7, 2021, all those applications for temporary resident visas are on the new portal. They're all electronic applications. There should be no excuse.

The reason I am saying it is that, time and time again, people are on our doorstep. They're frustrated. They're desperate to get their loved ones here. I didn't hear an answer from the official that solves that problem. I want to see what the tangible steps are that the department will take to make sure it gets to all those applications that it accepted ASAP.

[Caroline Xavier]

I totally understand the frustration. I'm not trying to not answer you. I'm going to ask Pemi to give you some additional details that will be more concrete to give you some information.

[Pemi Gill]

For the post-September 7 temporary resident visa application, right now the processing times are approximately 59 calendar days. That's as of February 2022.

We recognize there is a significant backlog predating that, which has built up during COVID as a result of the border restrictions for entry into Canada.

The approach we have been taking is to focus on the newer cases in the immediate term and continue to make progress on the backlog of pre-September cases as well. We recognize that for some of our clients who are in urgent need of travel, sitting in the backlog is not beneficial. For those clients, we would recommend that they submit a new application, particularly given how dated the application is.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

I can tell you, Ms. Gill, that 59 days is not the answer. I have hundreds of applications that are post-September 7 that have not even been touched. From September to today is not 59 days.

I have talked to IMED myself, and they had no answer there either. I don't think you are providing information that is correct. There are hundreds of applications that I can bring to you that were not processed in 59 days, even though they were post-September 7 applications.

[Caroline Xavier]

If it's helpful, we would be able to submit those statistics to provide factual information in our system, so that we can demonstrate what the numbers actually are.

If that's okay with the chair—

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Madam Chair, I would like that submission to include prior to September 7 and also post-September 7, the exact number of days it took to process the applications and the expected numbers that will be processed in the next month or so.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Ms. Xavier, if you can provide that information to the clerk of the committee so we can circulate that information to all the members, I think it will be very helpful as we continue our study on this topic.

[Caroline Xavier]

We'd be happy to do that, Madam Chair.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

On a point of order, Madam Chair, I want to raise something about our agenda for next week. I have a motion on notice dealing with immigration and the Ukraine conflict. We have also signalled that we're soon going to be putting on notice a production of papers motion related to this study.

I don't like to move those motions when we have witnesses. I think it's better if we have time set aside for them.

I see that the agendas have already been put out for the two meetings next week, so I wonder if it is your intention to set aside some time for consideration of those motions. If not, we're going to be in a situation of needing to consider moving them when witnesses are present, which isn't ideal.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I will have a discussion with the clerk to see what has been scheduled—how many witnesses—and then based on that discussion, I will inform all the members what we can do.

If the will of the committee is that we need to set aside some time for the committee business, then we can do that.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Okay. Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

With this, our panel for today comes to an end. I will take this opportunity to thank Ms. Xavier, Ms. Gill and Ms. Boisclair for appearing before the committee and providing important information. Thanks for all the work that you do on behalf of all Canadians.

With regard to the requests that have been made in regard to the data, if you can submit that to the clerk of the committee, that would be very helpful.

I have one last thing I want to bring to the attention of all the members. The draft report for the acceptance rates of international students will be circulated to all the members by 3 p.m. today. Thanks to the analysts for their work in preparing that draft report. I'm looking forward to going through that.

Is it the will of the committee to adjourn the meeting?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

The meeting is adjourned. Thank you.