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.
1:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I think there is information sharing about safe ways to seek haven in this country. I think that we continuously demonstrate a record in this country of accepting asylum claimants, and I think we share information around a safe way to do that.
1:40 p.m.
Conservative
Dane Lloyd Conservative Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB
Are you spending any money to share this information with people coming from countries that we have identified are the source of irregular claimants? Is there any money being put into sharing that information so that people will choose not to come in the first place?
1:40 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I think there's always capacity building that we do in terms of sharing information about the proper channels to be followed.
1:40 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
In terms of investment, it's part of our international protection systems, our information flows, that could have some of this but would have other types of—
1:40 p.m.
Conservative
Dane Lloyd Conservative Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB
How much is the government spending to educate people to try to deter them from coming to this country irregularly?
1:40 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I don't have that dollar figure. I think it would be part of the broader—
1:40 p.m.
Conservative
1:40 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
There is work done in terms of information and capacity building in other countries, absolutely. It's not zero dollars.
1:40 p.m.
Conservative
Dane Lloyd Conservative Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB
Okay, it's not zero dollars.
How much of the $1.3 billion in new funding that's been announced is dedicated to reducing the Immigration and Refugee Board wait times that you admit take over two years?
1:40 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I'd have to get the exact breakdown of how much the IRB is getting. I'm sure they can—
1:40 p.m.
Conservative
Dane Lloyd Conservative Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB
Can you please provide this committee with that information?
1:40 p.m.
Conservative
Dane Lloyd Conservative Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB
Do you agree that, if we were to cut down this two-years-plus claims process to a process that took a matter of weeks or possibly months at most, this would prove to be an effective deterrent to bogus claimants who come to this country?
1:40 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I think it's hard to answer that question. I would say that we want to have an asylum system that is efficient, nimble, flexible and responsive to the demands we get. I think right now we don't have that, so we have to work with our CBSA and IRB colleagues to improve this system and the processing so that we don't have these delays.
1:40 p.m.
Conservative
Dane Lloyd Conservative Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB
What efforts are being undertaken to reduce those wait times right now?
1:40 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I would say that a good example of it is that, given the fact that it was 18 months to get a work permit, the department has just put in place a public policy to reduce that time to one month—
1:40 p.m.
Conservative
Dane Lloyd Conservative Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB
That's for the work permit. I understand, but what is being done to reduce the two-years-plus wait time for hearing these asylum claims?
1:40 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I think that would be better placed with the IRB. I can't speak to what their efforts are specifically on—
1:40 p.m.
Conservative
Dane Lloyd Conservative Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB
Do you know if any money is being put forward to reduce these wait times?
1:40 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Yes, there is. Absolutely.
1:40 p.m.
Conservative
Dane Lloyd Conservative Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB
Can you please provide this committee with information on additional resources that are put towards reducing asylum claim wait times, as well as the number of full-time equivalents that have been hired to reduce this backlog?
1:40 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Absolutely. I can say that budget 2022 has $1.3 billion. The fall economic statement of 2020 had $780 million. Budget 2019—
1:40 p.m.
Conservative
Dane Lloyd Conservative Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB
But you don't know how much of those big numbers is being spent on these specific measures that I've asked about. Is that correct?
1:40 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Do you mean the breakdown of the processing specifically?