Evidence of meeting #44 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 claim.
A video is available from Parliament.
1:55 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Has the RCMP submitted requests to United States authorities to arrest people who have committed offences of this kind?
1:55 p.m.
Supt Martin Roach
As I was saying, the legislative framework in the United States is different. We do, nevertheless, keep in touch.
1:55 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
I understand. So you haven't yet found a way of accomplishing that.
Are you worried when you see more and more of these white vans arriving at Roxham Road?
1:55 p.m.
Supt Martin Roach
There are quite a few, but it's important to know that the dynamics have changed a lot over the years. Among these people there are also some charitable organizations giving assistance.
1:55 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
In short, it can sometimes be complicated to tell which is which.
Excuse me for rushing you a bit. I don't want to be rude, but I don't have a lot of time.
Mr. Wex, could you please explain what the process used to be for an asylum claim from the United States, before the safe third country agreement was signed?
1:55 p.m.
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Immigration and Refugee Board
Do you mean in the United States?
1:55 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Before the safe third country agreement was signed, what was the process followed for people from the United States to make an asylum claim?
2 p.m.
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Immigration and Refugee Board
My understanding—and I stand to be corrected—is that the process would be the same. There wouldn't be an agreement that would necessarily require that the individual be returned to the United States for processing—
2 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I'm sorry for interrupting. The time is up for Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.
We will now proceed to Ms. Kwan.
Ms. Kwan, you will have 90 seconds, and then we will end this panel.
2 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Thank you.
To build on that, prior to the safe third country agreement, people crossed over at the regular border crossings. Is that right?
This is for Mr. Wex.
2 p.m.
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Immigration and Refugee Board
Yes. That's definitely my understanding, in the vast majority of cases.
2 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Thank you.
With respect to the IRB's projections and the numbers you anticipate coming in.... To process the IRB asylum applications, what sort of funding do you project you will require in order to process them in a way that will not create the extended delays and backlog that we previously had?
2 p.m.
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Immigration and Refugee Board
Right now, as you're aware, we're funded most recently to 50,000 claims per year. We're expecting about 75,000 claims to come in this year. That's an additional 25,000, which will add six months to our processing times.
For every 10,000 that there's a difference between our intake and our processing capacity, it will cost the IRB about $45 million or $50 million per year. That's basically our funding formula. The math can be done.
Right now, there is a delta of more than 10,000.
2 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Thank you very much.
When I was first elected back in 2015, there was a huge backlog in the IRB. There were a whole bunch of problems, including the lack of resources in a financial sense, as well as in staffing levels at the IRB. The IRB went through years of hiring people only on a part-time basis.
Has that now ended? Has the IRB hired people on a full-time basis and on a permanent basis to address the processing of applicants?
2 p.m.
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Immigration and Refugee Board
Thank you very much for the question.
With the monies received in budget 2022, we will be able to make permanent about 1,000 FTEs at the IRB who were previously funded by temporary funds through budgets 2018 to 2020.
We are going through the stabilization exercise now. For the past few years, over 50% of our organization has been temporary. The government investments now will allow us to stabilize the organization, which is very important for recruitment, retention, morale and productivity.
2 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Thank you.
With that, this panel comes to an end.
On behalf of all the members of this committee....
Go ahead, Mr. Maguire.
2 p.m.
Conservative
Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
This is extremely interesting testimony. I know there are a number of questions that my colleague and I still have. I'm going to table these with the clerk and ask that the witnesses provide us with answers to them.
Thank you.
2 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Thank you.
Thank you to all the witnesses for appearing before the committee. Whatever information the committee has requested, it would be great if you can submit that. If there is anything you were not able to discuss because of the time limit, you can always send us your written submissions.
Mr. Maguire, the clerk will send that information to them.
2 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Thank you.
With that, this panel comes to an end.
The meeting is suspended, so that the clerk can do the sound checks for the other witnesses. Two witnesses will be appearing virtually.
Thank you.
2:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I call the meeting to order.
Thank you to all of the witnesses for appearing before the committee.
Today we are joined by Mr. Stéphane Handfield, as an individual, a lawyer from Handfield et Associés, avocats. We are also joined by Mr. Yannick Boucher, the director of strategic development and research, representing the organization, Accueil liaison pour arrivants. Our third witness today is Madame Marzieh Nezakat, manager, refugee settlement and integration program of the Multilingual Orientation Service Association for Immigrant Communities.
Once we have remarks from all three witnesses, we will go to our round of questioning. We will begin with Mr. Handfield.
Mr. Handfield, you will have five minutes for your opening remarks. You can please begin.
2:10 p.m.
Stéphane Handfield Lawyer, Handfield et Associés, Avocats, As an Individual
Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation.
I've been a member of the Barreau du Québec since 1992. I was a member at the Immigration and Refugee Commission for 11 years. From 2012 to 2015, I was a lecturer at the Cégep de Saint-Laurent in the administrative techniques program, more specifically in the immigration consultancy program.
I am a member of the Association québécoise des avocats et avocates en droit de l'immigration and the Association des avocats de la défense de Montréal. I practice exclusively in immigration law at Handfield et et associés, avocats. I also work as an inspector on behalf of the Barreau du Québec's professional inspection service.
I contributed to Démantèlement tranquille, published by Éditions Québec Amérique in 2018. I also wrote two works published in 2020 and 2021, respectively, by Wilson et Lafleur, Immigration et criminalité au Canada: quand l'expulsion devient inévitable, and Fatima: le parcours d'une réfugiée.
With any issues connected to the reception of refugees, it's impossible to ignore the safe third country agreement.
Under the agreement, anyone who comes to a Canadian-American border crossing will have their asylum claim deemed ineligible and sent back to the United States, unless they are covered by an exception provided in the agreement; this could, for example, involve an unaccompanied minor or having a family member who lives in Canada.
However, if this person crosses the border irregularly, that person will not be covered by the safe third country agreement and the asylum claim will be considered eligible. That's why so many thousands of people have decided to cross the border irregularly in recent years in order to request Canada's protection. Since January 2022, 99.3% of these arrivals are in Quebec.
Under the safe third country agreement, people are not entitled to appeal to the refugee appeal division in the event of denial of the asylum claim if the claim was made at a land border crossing for regular entry. However, if they cross the border at Roxham Road, they are entitled to appeal the denial of their asylum claim by the Immigration and Refugee Board.
In short, all these factors combined to encourage asylum seekers to cross the border irregularly because their claim will be deemed eligible, they won't be sent back to the United States, and they will have a right of appeal in the event their claim is denied.
The government is aware of the situation, which has lasted for years.
From January to October 2022, more than 30,000 people crossed the border at Roxham Road. If the trend continues, there will be 50,000 by the end of the year. The previous record was set in 2017, when 18,836 asylum seekers crossed the border in this way.
In early October 2022, the mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, said that he expected his city to receive over 100,000 migrants expelled from the state of Texas. He said that approximately one third of these migrants wanted to go to other destinations. We have good reason to believe that one of these destinations will be Roxham Road. In Portland, Maine, there are hundreds of migrants dreaming about Roxham Road.
It's the system, not the people, who need to be condemned. In many instances, these people are being exploited by unscrupulous human traffickers. It's important to know how to welcome them, and even more important to know how to integrate them appropriately and effectively, within our capacity to do so.
In view of the housing crisis, the shortage of openings at day care centres, the shortage of family doctors and teachers, and the challenges of francization, combined with the fact that the immigration system is full of cracks, some people have been talking about a potential humanitarian crisis. Many asylum seekers will also, in spite of themselves, become homeless.
The number of asylum seekers crossing the border at Roxham Road will also have an impact on claim processing delays, and also on the work of the refugee protection division members. It's an issue of interference and deteriorating working conditions for them.
The time has come to firmly shut down this irregular and unofficial access point at the sadly famous Roxham Road.
It's important to underscore the fact that the government of Canada has the power to unilaterally suspend the safe third-party country agreement, under article 10 of this agreement which states: "Either Party may, upon written notice to the other Party, suspend for a period of up to three months application of this Agreement. Such suspension may be renewed for additional periods of up to three months. Either Party may, with the agreement of the other Party, suspend any part of this Agreement."
The status quo is therefore not the answer. All that is needed is a bare minimum of political will. It's high time to do something.
Thank you for your attention.
2:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Thank you.
We will now proceed to Mr. Boucher.
Mr. Boucher, you will have five minutes for your opening remarks.
November 25th, 2022 / 2:15 p.m.
Yannick Boucher Director, Strategic Development and Research, Accueil liaison pour arrivants
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Good afternoon.
We really welcomed today's initiative to draw Parliament's attention to the situation of those who have chosen Canada as a safe haven, as was just mentioned.
As other speakers before me have outlined, the issues and challenges experienced by asylum seekers throughout their settlement trajectory have many implications, human, economic, and, most importantly, structural. I'm referring here to access to employment, housing, legal services, health care, early childhood services and the like.
As an organization that has been on the front lines of immigration and integration for 38 years, today we will present a synthesis of our observations on the ground regarding the realities asylum seekers face in Quebec.
Our objective is to recommend four courses of action that would greatly facilitate the integration of asylum seekers: First, promote access to quality jobs, particularly by granting work permits upon arrival; second, facilitate access to health and psychosocial services for asylum seekers housed in federal hotels in Quebec; third, develop an awareness campaign on the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP); and fourth, develop transitional housing models to facilitate access to housing.
First, to promote access to quality jobs, we believe it's important to support initiatives that value the skills of asylum seekers and make employers aware of their potential in an unprecedented labour shortage environment. We mustn't forget that the term “asylum seeker” is a status that says nothing about the career trajectory of these individuals.
With support from Services Québec, our organization will be holding the first job fair for asylum seekers this coming December 13. It's a great opportunity for them to break away from informal employment networks that make them vulnerable. It's very important that we point that out.
While we would like to applaud the establishment of a new temporary measure to expedite the issuance of work permits, some questions remain. According to public policy, to obtain a social insurance number, individuals must have their refugee claimant document. Can they get a social insurance number without their refugee claimant document, knowing that claimants can wait up to a year to get an eligibility interview to obtain this document? This interview used to be done on the day the claimant arrived or within 24 hours. That's a year's wait, and it contributes to them working under the table rather than for our businesses in need of workers.
These long processing times take a toll on the psychological health of asylum seekers. We have observed an increase in anxiety and distress due to administrative procedures, particularly those related to legal services, which are currently under pressure in Quebec. They must therefore face uncertainty in addition to the trauma related to their experience in their country of origin and the long road that led him to Canada.
We'd like to point out that asylum seekers housed in federal hotels in Quebec need health and psychosocial services, much like those housed under the provincial initiative Programme régional d'accueil et d'intégration des demandeurs d'asile (PRAIDA).
Furthermore, we recommend that a campaign be developed to raise awareness among frontline health care workers of the Interim Federal Health Program, which is not very well known in Quebec. This program fills a service gap by providing insurance coverage. We also recommend that reference tools be created for administrative officers to help them better understand medical coverage. Such tools would make it easier for them to understand IFHP procedures.
Greater consistency between the IFHP and the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec would also facilitate processing and prevent some professionals from giving up on the IFHP because they find the reimbursement process too cumbersome. Service providers' lack of awareness of the IFHP has a direct impact on the health of asylum seekers, which is already precarious.
Finally, we feel that developing transitional housing models for six months to one year as a complement to PRAIDA's temporary housing would support asylum seekers in their search for housing. Quebec is the only province to offer temporary accommodations upon arrival. However, how can someone obtain housing in three weeks without any credit history or references from previous landlords, all in the midst of an affordable housing crisis?
Rising homelessness among asylum seekers is a visible and tangible sign of the difficulties they face in gaining access to affordable housing in Montreal. Transitional housing models can provide a buffer when asylum seekers come out of temporary accommodations to make it easier for them to understand how rentals work and also help them establish a tenant history.
I will stop there.
I'm willing to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you.
2:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Thank you.
We will now proceed to our third witness, Madam Nezakat.
Please begin. You will have five minutes for your opening remarks.