Evidence of meeting #21 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 families.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Director of Policy, CanadaVisa
I'm not a constitutional law expert. I'm not sure if that's even possible.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Let's forget about the Constitution and just think about the possible effects. The people are selected by Quebec, but Ottawa is holding things up.
Do you think the delays would be shorter if Quebec managed everything?
Director of Policy, CanadaVisa
It's a very difficult question to answer. It's a hypothetical question because, constitutionally, I don't see a path forward on it. If there were flexibility among the two levels of governments to explore that possibility, maybe I could give you a more definitive answer.
At the end of the day, there's a constitutional roadblock. The second roadblock would be in Quebec's capacity to process on the admissibility side. Keep in mind that IRCC, in its various iterations, has been doing it since Canada's founding, and they have expertise. This would be a new domain for Quebec to develop expertise in as well.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Unfortunately, the expertise they currently have causes delays.
I thank you for that.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe, your time is up.
We will now proceed to Ms. Kwan for two and a half minutes. Please begin.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
I want to ask a very quick question. Do witnesses agree that the government should expand the Ukraine special immigration measures to Afghanistan? Please give a quick answer, because I have only two and a half minutes.
That goes first to Mr. Faizi and then Mr. Khan.
Director of Policy, CanadaVisa
What aspects from the Ukraine program would you want extended to Afghanistan?
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
All of it. It's to apply to Afghanistan those special immigration measures that the government has made available in applications for people from Ukraine.
Director of Policy, CanadaVisa
It's seriously worth exploring. I imagine what you mean is providing them with an emergency authorization to come to Canada quickly, and then a work permit upon arrival.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
That's correct, along with the extended family sponsorship measure.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
All right. Thank you.
I'm going to move on quickly.
Mr. El-Assal, you raised the issue of the lack of transparency within IRCC, and all of the problems associated with it. Would you support the call for the government to put in place an independent ombudsperson to examine IRCC's functioning and the policies related to it?
Director of Policy, CanadaVisa
I alluded to this in my second recommendation. I think it would be good for the department. I know that perhaps there would be a bit of apprehension, but the reason that Canada has such a great immigration system, generally speaking, is that we always look to raise the bar.
I know that we have significant challenges right now, but this would be an opportunity for us to address the challenges we're facing during the pandemic and to get external oversight and expertise to set the bar even higher.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Thank you.
I probably only have 30 seconds.
Ms. Veronis, would you comment?
Associate professor and research chair in Immigration and Franco-Ontarian communities, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
I concur also, for the same reasons that were already mentioned.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
I'm going to give my last bit of time to Mr. Khan to make final comments. You have 10 seconds.
Former Afghan Interpreter, As an Individual
You mentioned about the Ukrainian process being applied to the Afghan process. Giving the documentation to come to Canada, as well as the RAP program, as well as having the Afghans do the biometrics in Canada or in any third country, would be our proposal as well.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Thank you.
We will now proceed to Mr. Genuis for two and a half minutes, and then it will be two and a half minutes for Mr. El-Khoury to end this panel.
Mr. Genuis, you can please begin.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Thank you so much.
I want to add my voice to the others who have expressed their affirmation and recognition for the courage shown by Afghan interpreters who served alongside Canadian soldiers.
Admittedly this is a little outside the scope of the immigration issue, but I wonder if you'd like to reflect, for the benefit of Canadians, on what you see as a possible future for Afghanistan. Many people are very concerned, of course, about what we're seeing in Afghanistan. What are the possibilities that things could start moving in a positive direction and that there could be political change again?
Former Afghan Interpreter, As an Individual
Is that political change in Afghanistan, or in Canada?
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
I'm sorry. I have thoughts on that subject, sir, but that wasn't the intended direction of my question.
A lot of people are wondering if there's a reason to hope, in light of the very challenging situation in Afghanistan. What do you think about the possible future of Afghanistan and where things could go?