Evidence of meeting #19 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 information.
A recording is available from Parliament.
1:10 p.m.
Director, Anti-Racism Task Force, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Madam Chair, I'd like to thank the honourable member for his question.
We are very interested in the committee's recommendations.
1:10 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Ms. Xavier, perhaps you can answer the question.
I'm not talking about the committee. You are appearing as witnesses before the committee, and you have the right to provide your personal opinion on proposed solutions, if you wish. That will help us produce our recommendations. I'm not sure whether one of the witnesses has an opinion on the possibility of recording interviews. Is that something that might be helpful?
1:10 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Madam Chair, I'd like to thank the honourable member for his question and suggestion.
We are not here to provide our opinions, but we will certainly take into account any recommendation put forward by the committee and examine whether it can be put into practice. We will determine whether it is consistent with the department's mandate.
1:10 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
I have another question for you. I'll go about it a different way.
Do you think the department would be able to implement a mechanism for recording interviews?
1:15 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
My recommendation would be to conduct an assessment to figure out whether it's doable. I wouldn't want to say outright that it is, because I don't have enough information to confirm whether that's true. For example, we would have to determine whether the data could be stored securely, so that it didn't end up in the wrong hands.
1:15 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
We would have to do some analysis to get a better sense of how it could be done.
We are open to considering the committee's recommendations and exploring what would be possible.
1:15 p.m.
Bloc
1:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
We'll now proceed to Ms. Kwan for two and a half minutes.
Ms. Kwan, please begin.
1:15 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Thank you.
The officials said they are now analyzing policies and programs within IRCC in relation to systemic racism. Could the officials provide the committee with an outline on how this work is being done? For example, would things like the economic conditions of a country be part of the considerations related to this work? I would like to get an understanding of how this work is being done and what the timeline is.
Also, could the officials advise us as whether, when the report is completed, it will be made public?
1:15 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Thank you, Madame Chair, for the request.
I just want to make sure I understand the question. As was mentioned, we are doing a lot of work to analyze and review our policies and programs and our client service delivery to ensure that we're removing barriers related to systemic racism. That is ongoing work in progress, and whatever work that is under way related to that we will be able to provide to the committee. I believe there's a request for it to be provided when it is completed, but this will be ongoing work. It's not just one moment in time, but part of what we're committing to.
1:15 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Thank you.
Maybe I can ask, then, for the officials to table with the committee all of the various different kinds of work you're doing to address the issue around racism and system racism within IRCC.
If I could actually get information from the officials, I would like to know to what extent applications are being refused because of the economic conditions of a country. If we could get that broken down by streams, I would appreciate it. I don't know if they collect the data, but if they do, I would like to get that data.
I would also like to get information on the backlog. The response from the officials, as I understand it, is that paper applications are still stuck in the system, and those are not being counted in the backlogs. I wonder if the officials can advise the committee on how many offices are still dealing with a paper backlog in the mailroom. Could we get that information listed by country and offices? If they have the information on how many applications are still stuck in that circumstance, I would appreciate it.
Madam Chair, after this I do have one other point of order issue that I would like to raise before the committee adjourns.
1:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Your time is up right now. We have two more people for this third round of questioning. We will have five minutes with Mr. Redekopp and five minutes with Mr. Dhaliwal to end this panel.
Go ahead, Mr. Redekopp, for five minutes.
1:15 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Ms. Xavier, I want to read our exchange from March 24. I said as follows:
The high commissioner appeared at this committee, asking for the country of Bangladesh to be admitted into the student direct stream. I specifically asked the minister on March 3 if he could make every effort to have Bangladesh enter into the direct stream program for foreign students, and his answer was that he was certainly open to it.
For the associate deputy minister, it's been 20 days or so. First of all, has the minister talked to you about getting Bangladesh into the student direct stream?
Then I said:
Can you confirm that Bangladesh is in the process of being considered for SDS right now?
Your response was:
I cannot personally confirm it, but I can double-check.
To recap, I wrote the minister in December on this issue. He hasn't responded. I asked the minister at this committee and I didn't get a response. Then I asked you on March 24, and you said that you would double-check. I've been waiting 152 days, and of course Bangladeshi students have been waiting much longer than that.
I'm going to try once again: Can you confirm for this committee that Bangladesh is in the process of being considered for SDS right now? Failing that, can you confirm if the minister is going reply to my original letter of December 2, or not?
1:20 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Madam Chair, thank you for the question and the intervention provided.
I'm happy to report that Bangladesh is indeed being considered for the SDS program. On March 24, 2022, IRCC informed the High Commissioner of Bangladesh in a letter that the internal evaluation of SDS was completed in the fall of 2021 and that the department is reviewing the results of that evaluation. The SDS program, as you all know, is a program that helps expedite processing. IRCC remains open to continue to finishing that evaluation and to be able, hopefully, to see Bangladesh become one of our SDS streams.
1:20 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
Thank you.
If you could please provide us a written response about when that is likely to be completed, that would be very helpful.
Madam Chair, I would like to give the rest of my time to Mr. Deltell.
1:20 p.m.
Conservative
Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Good afternoon.
My question is for Ms. Xavier.
Ms. Xavier, earlier you were answering Ms. Lalonde's question about the immigration process vis-à-vis certain countries. You said that the integrity of some consultants was questionable.
Can you tell us more about that? Can we be confident that consultants act with integrity?
1:20 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Madam Chair, I'd like to thank the honourable member for his question.
Naturally, we hope that consultants working in the immigration sector are well intentioned. In fact, many of them are very dedicated and hard-working, and have the skills to do the job.
That said, we are also aware of what are called ghost consultants operating around the world and in Canada. Our concerns have to do with those consultants. That's the reason why the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants was created through legislation—to help regulate consultants.
1:20 p.m.
Conservative
Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
That means consultants acting on behalf of the Canadian government or in accordance with the rules established by Canada have already been licensed by the government. Is that right?
1:20 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
That is my understanding, yes.
1:20 p.m.
Conservative
1:20 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
As I understand it, that is the process.
1:20 p.m.
Conservative
Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
My question is not about understanding; it's about the facts. Are consultants licensed by the Canadian government to practise their occupation, yes or no?
1:20 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I'm not familiar with the exact process as to how consultants are licensed. I would prefer to follow up with you afterwards so that I can confirm the facts and provide exact information. That's why I'm hesitating.
1:20 p.m.
Conservative
Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Thank you. I appreciate your honesty.
I think it's worth looking into because, if you put your trust in someone, it has to work both ways. You said you had a college for consultants, so it's important to make sure that it does in fact exist, to weed out miscreants and crooks who are taking advantage of Canada's generosity.