Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 5th, 2022

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

Just as a point of order, I want to clarify the language. It sounds like we're using some of the existing language, but are we saying to strike out the words “a response from the minister by letter, by May 20” and replacing them with the words “the minister appear before the committee to”, such that the sentence would read, “In light of the situation, the committee requests the minister appear before the committee to outline actions taken and further actions intended.”

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Yes, that is correct.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'll just suspend the meeting for two minutes to consult the clerk on something.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I call the meeting back to order.

Can I have all the members' attention, please? We have an amendment by Ms. Kwan on the floor. That's where we suspended.

Ms. Kwan, go ahead.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'm actually going to move a unanimous consent motion to withdraw my amendment. Then I would like to move a unanimous consent motion to move a different amendment and for adoption at the same time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Do we have unanimous consent for Ms. Kwan to withdraw the amendment that she proposed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

(Amendment withdrawn)

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

We are now back to the motion moved by Mr. Seeback.

Ms. Kwan, go ahead.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I would like to move a unanimous consent motion to amend and adopt the following motion. It should read as such:

Given that significant delays in citizenship applications (over two years) risking disenfranchising Canadians who are waiting for their citizenship in order to vote, and this issue is particularly urgent in light of the June 2nd Ontario provincial election, the government should move quickly to address this issue so that all Canadians who are eligible for citizenship and who choose to apply are able to participate fully in our democratic life. In light of the situation, the committee requests the Minister appear before the committee for two hours by May 27, 2022 to outline actions taken and further actions intended.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Ms. Kwan has moved an amendment to the motion proposed by Mr. Seeback.

Do I have consent from everyone?

Mr. Dhaliwal, go ahead.

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

If June 2 is the election and we're asking the minister to appear on May 27, there's hardly any time left between the minister's appearance and this election.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Mr. Dhaliwal, it says “before May 27”. It's not May 27; it is before May 27.

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

Then I'm okay with it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you.

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

I wondered if he wanted to add in a reference to the upcoming Surrey mayoral election as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Do I have everyone's consent?

(Amendment agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

Now we are back on the motion as amended.

(Motion as amended agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

Thank you for working collaboratively. I will work with the clerk to figure out the calendar, because things are changing. I will get back to you as soon as we have some confirmation on that.

Right now, based on the time, we cannot go into consideration of the draft report, because we have these services available until 1:30 and it takes 15 minutes to go from public to in camera.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Chair, I just want to make a request for consideration for the schedule. It's not a motion.

As we're scheduling, I find it really difficult for us to do a one-hour public meeting and then one hour in camera, because we lose so much time. The next time we consider a report, can we book the full two hours for it? I really hope we can get that report done, and then we don't have to keep switching in and out. We lose so much time, and we don't have that much time to lose.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I also want to avoid that, but we had it today, so I thought maybe we could complete the report, as we were not able to complete it yesterday. I also want to avoid that, because we lose a lot of time going from public to in camera.

Mr. Genuis, go ahead.

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

I totally agree. I think that at this point we want to just churn through the completion of that report.

The other thing I was going to mention while Mr. Seeback is here is in terms of the timeline of his legislation. Next week might be a bit too soon to deal with it—hopefully, we can get the report done early next week—but maybe it could be the week after that, because we do have an imperative to get going on that legislation. Given the nature of the bill, I think it would be nice to have a few hearings on it. We want to try to get through it quickly, but we want to give some time to hear from witnesses on it as well. Maybe now is a good time to have a quick discussion about what people want to do on that.

Maybe, Kyle, you want to speak to that too.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Just one second, please.

Mr. Genuis, thanks for raising that point. Legislation is always a priority for the committee. The clerk had a conversation with Mr. Seeback in regard to his availability to come and present. We are looking at May 17 or May 19 for that presentation. Then we can go to witnesses and clause-by-clause study.

What would be Mr. Seeback's preference on that? Could we have some quick input on that, Mr. Seeback?

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

May 17 would work for me. I don't know how many witnesses we're going to have. Ms. Kwan has said she wants to call some witnesses; I suspect the government does, and I have some as well.

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

I might also call in one witness.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe does as well.

I would think that it's going to take at least two meetings, by the sound of it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

You are saying that we would need two meetings for the witnesses.