Evidence of meeting #25 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 changes.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:50 p.m.
NDP
12:50 p.m.
Director General, Strategic Policy and Planning, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Thank you for the question.
Currently, there are no specific occupations in mind.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Thank you.
We will now proceed to our second round. Mr. Benzen and Mr. Ali will have three minutes each, and then we will have one and a half minutes from Mr. Trudel and Ms. Kwan.
We will proceed with Mr. Benzen.
You can proceed, please. You will have three minutes for your round of questions.
12:50 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
I'm sorry, Madam Chair. I don't mean to interrupt.
Very quickly, are we going to have enough time to give instructions to you on how to write the letter?
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Ms. Kwan, thank you for your question.
We were asked by the finance committee to do this study. If you want to propose sudden changes, then we will write a letter with the amendments to the ministry of finance. If we don't propose any changes, then we don't report back.
12:50 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Thank you, Madam Chair, for that clarification.
I do have some proposed changes. Given that we have limited time, we have to do this today. I would suggest that we actually go to that discussion now.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Okay, we have to stop our round of questioning and talk about that.
Go ahead, Ms. Kwan.
12:50 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
On that note, I do have some suggestions on both provisions.
On the first provision related to the categories of groups on the express entry procedures, I am troubled by the fact that there is no parliamentary oversight as to what these groups will be. There's no process as to whether these groups will be fair or how effective they will be in selecting people who would provide economic contributions to Canada. I know that there's this broad notion that they would have to provide some sort of contribution. We just heard from officials as well that they actually don't know who these groups might be at this point in time. We have no inkling of that.
I think it would be very important for us to request that FINA includes, by way of an amendment to this provision, that the government list out the groups that they are intending for this to affect.
Also, it's important to ensure that there is a transparent selection process to determine who will get on the list of occupations that are needed. Without a transparent selection process whereby industries are able to provide formal submissions on which occupations are in need, and without an objective committee to determine the needs of these occupations, the process could become fodder for lobbying industries. That's not what we want.
I think we need to have established criteria and a transparent process. I would like to make that suggestion by way of amendments for FINA to incorporate into this provision.
With respect to the second provision, I am troubled—
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I'm sorry for interrupting, Ms. Kwan. I just wanted to let the officials know that if they would like to leave, they can leave.
On behalf of all the members, I would like to thank all of the officials for appearing on such short notice and for all of the work that you do. If you desire to leave, you can. Thank you.
We will proceed with Ms. Kwan.
12:55 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
On the second provision, which relates to the fee, we're talking about allowing the government to not reimburse applications under four categories, which are authorization to return to Canada, determination of rehabilitation, restoration of temporary resident status and temporary resident permit. It's to not reimburse a portion of the fees if they don't meet service standards, retroactive to June 22, 2017.
I think that is wrong. The government set these standards and they need to meet them. We already know that there's been an exceedingly excessive backlog in processing delays. Now the government's trying to find a back door to say that even if they have processing delays, they are not going to be responsible for that and, by the way, applicants are still going to be on the hook for it. I don't think that should be allowed.
I would propose that we instruct FINA to strike this out. They should not be allowed to have zero accountability in processing. That's what this is. It's zero accountability in processing delays. We should not be allowing for that, Madam Chair.
It would be my suggestion for you, Madam Chair, to incorporate that into the letter to FINA. If I need to move those changes as a motion, I will.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Is it the desire of the committee that in my capacity as the chair of this committee I write a letter back to the chair of the finance committee and incorporate the changes as said by Ms. Kwan?
12:55 p.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
The deadline to do that is May 27, so I will draft the letter and send it to the chair of the finance committee.
Thank you.
Is it the will of the committee to adjourn the meeting?
12:55 p.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.