Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 18th, 2022

[Christiane Fox]

I'm sorry.

So first you want to know the rejection rate, and, second, you want figures on the distribution of asylum seekers in Quebec compared to other major cities. Is that correct?

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

I'm actually talking about all the major cities. I want the numbers on the distribution of asylum seekers in the largest cities in Canada, including in Quebec. I imagine you'll pass them on if you find them.

[Christiane Fox]

I'd say that the vast majority of people who enter Canada irregularly cross the border at Roxham Road. It's about 90%.

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

Great. Thank you very much.

How long does it take to process asylum claims made by people who enter at Roxham Road? On average, how long does it take to make a decision?

[Christiane Fox]

There's a major claims processing backlog. Consequently, it can take up to 18 months. So one of the measures we introduced to—

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

Just a moment. I'm talking about asylum claims, not work permits. From what I've heard, some people who've been here for four years have only now received a response. These are two different things.

[Christiane Fox]

Yes, pardon me. I thought you were talking about work permits.

Yes, it can take years. It also depends on how complex the cases are.

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

There must be an average. You should normally have those figures.

[Christiane Fox]

With your permission, I'll ask my team if they know the average processing time.

Generally speaking, it's roughly 26 months for the IRB.

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

So the average is 26 months, but some people wait a lot longer than that.

You said the waiting time for a work permit is currently 18 months.

[Christiane Fox]

Yes, but we just made a major operational change this week. Work permits previously weren't issued until the file had been forwarded to the IRB, which is why processing time was 18 months. We anticipated the decision. Now we'll be able to grant a work permit once the medical exam is done and we have the biometric data. So waiting time will be shortened from 18 months to approximately 1 month, and we'll even try to do it faster. We were obviously aware of the problems that arose when people had to wait 18 months for a work permit.

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

However, we don't yet have any evidence that this works.

[Christiane Fox]

No, we don't, because the public policy just went into effect on November 16, but that's the way it'll be done from now on.

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

There aren't yet any numbers showing that it really works.

[Christiane Fox]

No, we don't have any yet.

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

I'm really interested in this 26-month processing time. I'd like to ask your team to verify whether it takes 26 months to process an asylum claim from a person who enters at Roxham Road. That seems low to me, but I trust you.

How were asylum claims by people entering from the United States processed before the third safe country agreement came into force? What was the process before 2004?

[Christiane Fox]

I'll have to check with my team. We'll be able to give you an answer later because we'll have to do a little research on how the process worked prior to 2004.

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

I can't believe that no one in the department knows what the process was for a person entering from the United States and claiming asylum claim before the safe third country agreement was implemented. Excuse me, but you need to get on top of your files at some point.

No one in the Department of Citizenship and Immigration knows how asylum claims from the United States were handled before 2004. Is that what you're telling me?

[Christiane Fox]

It's more because the IRB previously handled that, not IRCC, since the duties were separated. However, we can provide you with the details on the process.

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

You should be aware of all that. You say you're having working meetings to modernize the agreement, but it'll be hard to modernize it if you don't know how it worked before the agreement came into force.

What I want to know is whether the process worked well before 2004 when someone who wanted to claim asylum from the United States.

[Christiane Fox]

You've raised a good point, and we'll be sending the committee an answer.

You shouldn't overlook the fact that the global context has changed enormously. As a result, even if it worked well in 2004, that doesn't necessarily mean the same system would work just as well in 2022.

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

That's absolutely true, but you have to know how the system previously worked in order to determine that. But what you're saying is that your team doesn't know how it worked. That's a major problem when we know you're attending meetings in order to modernize the agreement.

All things considered, if you want to modernize the agreement, doesn't that simply mean you're unhappy with it?

[Christiane Fox]

What we're seeing now on Roxham Road justifies the need to continue the talks. The trends show there are a lot of problems, particularly the large number of people irregularly entering at Roxham Road.

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

When you say the talks have to continue—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting, Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe. Time is up.

We will now proceed to Ms. Kwan.

Ms. Kwan, you will have six minutes. You can please begin.