Evidence of meeting #37 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 applications.
A recording is available from Parliament.
2:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I'm sorry for interrupting, Mr. Redekopp. Your time is up.
We will now proceed to Mr. El-Khoury.
Mr. El-Khoury, you will have four minutes for your round of questioning. You can please begin.
2:50 p.m.
Liberal
Fayçal El-Khoury Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I welcome the witnesses, and I thank them for agreeing to testify before the committee.
My first question is for Mr. Rai.
Mr. Rai, IRCC uses an advanced analytical method to process visitor visas and to screen applications for study and work permits, as well as spousal sponsorship applications submitted in Canada.
Can you tell us what the benefits of this tool are for applicants?
2:50 p.m.
Director, Regency Immigration Solutions
Without having knowledge of what kind of algorithm they're using to make these decisions, it's very hard to say. Is it just something generic, a form that they go through, or are they actually using some sort of AI to make these decisions? It's very hard to answer that question without having more specific knowledge, which I don't have on that subject. I'm sorry.
2:55 p.m.
Liberal
Fayçal El-Khoury Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC
Mr. Shekarian, from what you know of the situation and from your experience as a lawyer in this field, what is your opinion about the online application portal? Do you think it helps to speed up the processing of applications?
2:55 p.m.
Lawyer, Shekarian Law Professional Corporation, As an Individual
Of course it would. It's a good thing. We should have done it a long time ago, but it's one thing to launch an MVP, most viable product, and another to have the resources to be able to back up all the troubleshooting and manage everything that can go wrong with the system, so doing everything online.... Of course, we have to do it, but we have to make sure that we dedicate enough resources to the system to troubleshoot it.
Right now all the applications are online. IRCC is pushing for it, but just look at the CBA listserv or the CILA listserv. There is everyday frustration from many lawyers across this country, saying, “This portal doesn't work”, “That doesn't work”, “I don't know what to do with that error message”, and nobody is responsive.
2:55 p.m.
Liberal
Fayçal El-Khoury Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC
Mr. Madani, do you have a positive view of the tool to select applicants according to the economic needs of this country? What do you think about it? Are you able to tell us more about it?
2:55 p.m.
Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant, Regency Immigration Solutions
I think any country has a right to choose the countries they desire for their economy. We currently have a huge pool of people in Canada who are starting to leave because of the restrictions of express entry and because they don't qualify for permanent residency.
IRCC has the tools to make this happen for the people who are here, who have been established here, who have placed roots here. For students, there could be easy programs implemented for them to become permanent residents. If people have work experience here in Canada—one year of work experience—express entry can be easily manipulated for them to become permanent residents, but we are not using the existing tools that we have.
At this stage, we are just trying to advertise that Canada is the best. Everybody knows that. People want to come here, but when they get here, we have to have options for them to stay here permanently. Whether they are low-skilled workers, whether they are high-skilled workers, these people deserve a chance to be part of our fabric, part of our society, because they contribute.
Sometimes it is not relevant when we bring in people who don't have any connections to this country—
2:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I'm sorry for interrupting, but the time is up for Mr. El-Khoury.
We will now proceed to Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe for two minutes.
Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe, you can please begin.
2:55 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to acknowledge once again the quality of the testimony we have heard today during this two-hour committee study session.
Mr. Khayyam, this is my first question to you.
If we could only put one recommendation in the report that we are writing on the current study, what would be your top recommendation?
2:55 p.m.
Lawyer, Omni Law Professional Corporation, As an Individual
Thank you for your question.
I can only suggest that the existing problem be looked at differently. Lately I was looking at how cities manage traffic flows. There is a whole branch of mathematics that looks at this, and they observed that adding lanes to a highway increases traffic congestion. It's called Braess's paradox. I'll send in more details to the clerk.
When we added the TR to PR pathway, we added another lane. We have almost 80 programs in Canada, and congestion seems to be increasing. I think more people want to pull onto the highway ramp. The backlog seems to have grown very quickly since some of these programs have come into being.
The counterpart to that paradox is that removing a main road could result in speeding up the traffic flow. That doesn't really make sense. It sounds counterintuitive, but that seems to be what's happened in a number of cities. Maybe we can think about that, and look at the problem through that lens.
What would be the main road? I don't want to say what that could be, but it could require some thought on what would happen. Work permits are probably the biggest road, but maybe it could be express entry. Maybe eliminating a category for a short period or converting a category into another program—changing the size of the vehicle, so to speak—could—
3 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I'm sorry for interrupting, Mr. Khayyam; time is up for Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.
3 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I want to go back to my last question to Mr. Rai and his colleagues.
In order to facilitate processing in the different streams, what is also required with the adjustments to the immigration levels? Sometimes with [Inaudible—Editor] level numbers there, people's files just sit there and collect dust. Do you have any comments about adjusting the immigration level numbers every time measures are introduced? How can we facilitate the processing of the backlog?
3 p.m.
Director, Regency Immigration Solutions
I think this will continue on from your answer from the previous question.
3 p.m.
Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant, Regency Immigration Solutions
Obviously, adjusting the numbers definitely needs to be implemented.
There is obviously a reason the government is capping these numbers. Are we saying we are not able to process enough applications? Is that why we have only 400,000 people per year? Is that what we are saying, or do we have the capability to do up to a million people, but we just don't want to because there's not enough staff?
Yes, those numbers should be increased to be able to facilitate and add additional routes for people that are here in Canada.
Going back to the previous point I made, we have a huge pool of people already here. We are turning our backs on these people, and they are leaving. They are leaving because they don't have paths. If we have increased numbers and actually add people who are qualified, that will definitely help people.
3 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
One of the issues in terms of the backlog and the delays is that often when IRCC processes an application, someone might omit some information or forget to submit a document. IRCC will then reject the application. Individuals will then have to start the whole process all over again, which is a waste of resources for everyone. It puts them at the back of the queue, and they have to work their way up. It just—
3 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I'm sorry for interrupting Ms. Kwan, but your time is up.
With that, our panel comes to an end. On behalf of all the members of this committee, I want to take a moment to thank all the witnesses for appearing before the committee. You have provided some important input in regard to our study on processing times. If there is any information you would like to provide to the committee, please feel free to send a written submission to the clerk of the committee, and that will be circulated to all the members.
I want to let all the members know before we end that on Tuesday we will have a subcommittee meeting from 3:30 to 5:30. Only members who are on the subcommittee will be attending the meeting.
Have a great weekend, and I'll see you on Tuesday.
The meeting is adjourned.