Evidence of meeting #42 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 safe.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
Certainly, I don't have a specific number of people who've made a failed asylum claim and are still within Canada. We don't monitor the number of people who exit Canada voluntarily.
Deputy Minister Fox, if you have any specific data, I would be happy to yield the floor.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
No, we don't have that specific data. We can see what CBSA could provide to the committee. I'll loop back with them and get back on that. As you said, there's no exit tracking.
Conservative
Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
You're referring to the information that the Canada Border Services Agency will want to send you. That's information that's available, isn't it?
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I'll check with the agency to see if the information is available and what information it can forward to the committee.
Conservative
Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
Pardon me, Ms. Fox. There was a sound problem and I didn't hear your answer. Would you please repeat it?
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Yes, of course.
What I said was that I don't know exactly what kind of information and details the agency can provide, but I'll follow up with it. Then we will send you whatever information it can provide.
Conservative
Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
My question was really specific: we know that, as of the end of January, 25,804—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Thank you, Mr. Paul-Hus. Your time is up.
We will now proceed to Mr. El-Khoury.
Mr. El-Khoury, you have five minutes. Please begin.
Liberal
Fayçal El-Khoury Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister, thank you for generously accepting, as you always do, our invitation to appear before us to outline your ideas on how to improve the system within your department and to provide satisfactory answers to the questions from members of the committee.
First of all, allow me to assure my colleague Mr. Paul-Hus that the questions asked by the members on this side of the table tend in the right direction, not the opposite direction.
Conservative
Liberal
Fayçal El-Khoury Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC
You said we asked questions that tended in the opposite direction, but I assure you they go in the right direction, Mr. Paul-Hus.
Minister, would you please clarify how you view the issues associated with the conditions facing asylum claimants who enter at Roxham Road?
We'll hear your answer and it will be clear for everyone.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
Certainly. When a person enters irregularly though Roxham Road, they are given a document acknowledging that they've made their claim for asylum. They are able to start to seek access to certain services. But let's not pretend that this reality is without challenges. There are very real challenges for our provincial partners in Quebec, in this instance, and for municipal partners. That's why we've actually developed programs to cover the cost of health care and to contribute to the cost of housing. We've set up facilities through leasing arrangements with temporary accommodations on site, and we continue to work with communities at a provincial and municipal level to ensure that the capacity of their shelter system, for example, is not overrun.
We need to make sure that we continue to treat people with compassion to uphold our reputation as a welcoming and compassionate country in the world, but also to make sure that we don't have the costs of this very real-world challenge simply downloaded onto provincial and local levels of government. These are not easy challenges to sort through, but it's our responsibility as a government to meet the domestic and international legal obligations that we have, which include to treat people with respect and compassion and to provide a fair and fast final resolution of asylum claims that are made when a person comes to Canada and seeks to remain on the basis of persecution that they may be fleeing.
Liberal
Fayçal El-Khoury Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC
Thank you, Minister.
I have a second question for you.
Even though you weren't minister at the time, can you tell us more about the $500 million in aid that was granted to Quebec between 2017 and 2022 to ease the pressure on that province?
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
Thank you for your question.
It's very important to understand that the federal government has made contributions to improve the quality of life of people arriving in our country.
It's really important, and I'm trying to dig out these specific figures in front of me just to make sure that your number is the same as my number.
What we end up doing is essentially working to understand the capacity that different governments will have. We do this in particular with Quebec, as a result of the influx of irregular asylum seekers, to make sure they have the capacity to cover many of the costs associated with housing and that we cover much of the cost associated with health care.
In terms of the kinds of resources we're talking about between, I think you said, 2017 and 2020—I have in front of me between 2017 and 2022—just with respect to Roxham Road there were contributions to the tune of $269 million towards accommodation, security, health and transportation costs.
We're going to continue to manage the challenges associated with large numbers of people until we can reach a permanent solution that will allow us to respect both Canadian and international legal obligations that we have and also continue to treat people in a fair and compassionate way.
There are difficult problems that come with irregular migration, but we all know that difficult problems are a part of our professional choice when we put our names on the ballot, and to work with others who have done the same at provincial and municipal levels of government to serve the interest of communities is something we will continue to do.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Mr. El-Khoury, your time is up.
We will now proceed to Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.
Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe, you have two and a half minutes.
You can begin, please.
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Since I have only two and a half minutes, I'll try to ask brief questions so I can get short answers.
If you want to modernize the agreement, Minister, that means it isn't currently satisfactory. Otherwise, why would we want to renegotiate it?
Liberal
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
That's fine. We'll fix it.
However, I don't want to lose my speaking time, Madam Chair.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I think there is some translation issue. I have stopped the clock.
Is it good now? Okay.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
It's good.
We'll start again from the beginning, won't we, Madam Chair?
I'm going to ask you a brief question, and I'd like you to give me a short answer, Minister. If you want to modernize the agreement, that means it isn't currently satisfactory. Otherwise, why would we want to renegotiate it?
Liberal
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
So you're telling us you've been negotiating the agreement for four years, since the start in 2018, and this is 2022.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
It's not me personally, but our governments have been working together to identify a path forward for several years.