Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 18th, 2022

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

Yes.

[Christiane Fox]

I don't have it here, but we do have them, yes.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

I guess with my final time, my other question is this. I see in the estimates here that about $87 million was spent on providing temporary accommodations to unvaccinated, asymptomatic travellers during the time when quarantine hotels were the policy of this country. Were there ever any efforts made to ask those people who were participating in these quarantine hotels if they could pay for the hotels themselves?

[Christiane Fox]

I think that just given the public health risk there was a decision made for the government to pay for the hotels, and just given the levels that we're seeing now, the government has agreed to continue to pay.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

For irregular—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting, Mr. Lloyd. Your time is up.

Before we go to our next member, I want to clarify and let everyone know that when asking a question you should allow the other person to respond. If you speak over them, it becomes very difficult for the interpreters to interpret. Please allow the person to respond to your question and then speak. That is requested of all members.

Now we will proceed to Ms. Saks.

Ms. Saks, you will have five minutes for your round of questioning. Please begin.

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Through you, Madam Chair, to the officials, I had the opportunity to explore Roxham Road recently at the ethics committee. Roxham Road itself is actually a number of kilometres from the Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle border crossing.

Knowing that the volumes have dramatically increased in 2022 and are even higher than prepandemic numbers, do you believe that closing Roxham Road would be a responsible solution to the thousands of asylum seekers, including children, who are seeking safety in Canada, despite knowing the dangers when they cross at Roxham Road, despite knowing that they will be out in the cold on a road with maybe about four or five houses around them? Knowing the dangers of going through this avenue, they still take it, knowing that they are at a distance from the Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle border.

Do you think we should be closing it?

[Christiane Fox]

I think we have to have a system that works for the most vulnerable.

When we look at the asylum claimants, you're absolutely right: People are taking great risks to cross either at Roxham or at other border crossings. I think that Canada has to think about how we organize ourselves to protect the most vulnerable. Our view is that the points of entry are the safest way in which a person can make an asylum claim in this country and, as such, we need to build a system that can respond to that.

We are not closing Roxham Road right now. We need to efficiently deal with what we're seeing right now, which is the reality on the ground every day of a hundred or more who are crossing. Therefore, we have the systems in place. We're working with our partners at the RCMP and the CBSA. You're absolutely right that these are very desperate people coming through, so we try to provide those supports, and that's what we'll continue to do.

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Great, and thank you.

Just launching off on that, we know that asylum seekers are fleeing governments that persecute them, and they also face tremendous dangers in crossing the border into Canada. I think everyone in this room can recall the story about the family who died at the Manitoba border in the freezing cold even within the last two years. I've heard stories of women giving birth nearly at the border, even at the Roxham Road crossing. The dangers are real.

What measures do you think we need to take to make life easier for them when they enter Canada, so vulnerable, without them having to risk their lives in this manner?

[Christiane Fox]

Absolutely. What I would say is that we need to continue to offer supports in terms of that access to education, access to health care and access to shelter and housing. We recognize that there are a lot of pressures on housing just more broadly. However, that's why the government has continued to provide the interim housing program: because it's such an essential part of protecting people.

I think that access to education and study permits for those who need it and access to work permits are all ways that the government can continue to provide those supports to the asylum seekers, and not only for a short duration of time, but if we can provide open work permits, that allows them to contribute and that allows them to perhaps start thinking about the supports differently in terms of what they can do for themselves and their families.

I would say that everything we put in place with respect to education and work permits helps to build the stability that they so very much need in order to continue to do what they need to do for themselves and their families.

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Okay. Thank you for that.

Some of my colleagues were talking about the volumes. Let's keep it in perspective here. When I look at the numbers just for Quebec alone, if you look at 2022, which is only January to September, comparatively to even 2019 prepandemic, 2022 is tracking at almost 27,000 coming through Quebec, as opposed to 16,000 in 2019. That is almost an 11,000-person increase in a relatively short period of time. Particularly at Roxham Road, I've heard numbers as high as 400 and 500 a day coming through that border at peak times—less at other times, obviously.

With the number of asylum seekers crossing at Roxham Road increasing over the years, how can we improve the immigration system resources to ensure asylum seekers are efficiently resettled and integrated into the country and can contribute to our communities? You have alluded to some of those measures with visas and so on, but even at the border itself there have been some measures that have been put into place.

[Christiane Fox]

I think the investments that we've received in order to increase the efficiency for processing.... I recognize we're not there yet, and we need a lot of work to get there.

If we can have an efficient system that can deal with people upon arrival, so that they are in a position to be assessed by the IRB in a short time frame and then either become a protected person or can move to a permanent residency and, eventually, citizenship, that's the stability that we hope these people will go through as part of their journey.

I think that in order to do that—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting, Ms. Fox. The time is up for Ms. Saks.

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Ms. Saks.

We will now proceed to Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe for two and a half minutes.

Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe, you have the floor.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I just want to point out that I still haven't received an answer regarding the rejection rate among asylum claimants who've entered at Roxham Road or concerning the distribution of asylum claimants. So I hope the officials can provide me with that information later on.

On another matter, you mentioned a policy under which waiting time for a work permit would be reduced from 18 months to 1 month. From what I understand, it's a temporary policy. Is that because you're expecting an increase in the number of people wanting to cross the border irregularly?

[Christiane Fox]

Actually, it's really to assist people who'll be arriving from now on, but also those who are already in the system.

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

So you weren't expecting a volume increase in the next few months.

[Christiane Fox]

We monitor the volume of arrivals every day. As I indicated in my projections, we expect the numbers will be very high this year and are therefore working accordingly.

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

You had a lot to say about the negotiations for modernizing the third safe country agreement. How many meetings have been held at the department since 2019 to discuss modernizing the agreement?

[Christiane Fox]

I just took up my position in July, but I could give you a list of meetings—

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

Did all the team members with you today take up their positions in July?

[Christiane Fox]

No.

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

So some of them must have attended those meetings, right?

[Christiane Fox]

I think the last meeting was held in September.