Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 29th, 2022

[Christiane Fox]

Well, yes, I think there are always risks in Afghanistan, and that's something that's always been top of mind. However—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Your government would have been aware that—

[Christiane Fox]

Yes, I think so.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

—there was a need to resettle people.

When did your department provide advice to the government regarding the potential need to resettle Afghans with a relationship to Canada due to the potential fall of their country?

[Christiane Fox]

In any sort of crisis and emergency management situation, the department would be working in lockstep with other security agencies to map out exactly what some of the potential avenues are, what some of the policy responses are. We would have provided advice around those issues.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

It's my understanding that the IRCC in Islamabad issued a notice to some Afghan nationals sometime in July, suggesting that they apply for a temporary public policy to resettle to Canada. Is that correct?

[Christiane Fox]

Yes.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Okay.

On what date did your department begin to select Afghan nationals with a relationship to Canada for evacuation to Canada?

[Christiane Fox]

I'd have to get back to the committee with regard to a precise date.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

The reason I ask these questions is just to follow up, Minister, on the line of questions from my colleague, Mr. Redekopp. You made some fairly aggressive assertions around your department's response and the adequacy of the response. You did admit that perhaps the department should be doing biometric data selection, etc., ahead of time and that it would have helped resettle people.

Given your deputy minister's comments on providing advice to the government ahead of time, do you think it would be unfair to say that perhaps the government dropped the ball in the timeline on selecting Afghan nationals, given what you said about how some of this biometric data, etc., could have been done ahead of time?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

No, I don't think it's a fair assertion to say that any ball has been dropped. I think there are times when I wish we could get people here more quickly. I will always wish that.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Do you think more people could have been brought to Canada and not been in the situation that you outlined—which is that now we're having significantly more difficulty evacuating them—had your government acted on the advice of the department and perhaps not called a federal election in the middle of this crisis?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

I actually think that that federal election was one of the most important moments in terms of the success of the Afghan mission.

With respect to getting animated with one of my colleagues, the difference between—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Thank you, Minister. Thank you.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

—the Conservative and the Liberal commitments on the numbers we were willing to take was extraordinary, we committing to 40,000, and the Conservatives committing to zero.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I asked a yes-or-no question.

Thank you.

Ms. Fox, given the minister's assertion, did the department feel that the federal election.... With the federal election and the government being in caretaker mode, was your department hampered in its efforts to resettle Afghan nationals during the fall of Kabul during the 2021 federal election?

[Christiane Fox]

I would say that the caretaker convention allows all departments to react to any health and safety emergency no matter whether an election is called or not. It allows us to continue that important work regardless of an election.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Did the caretaker mode hinder the department's ability to make timely responses on the criteria by which the government was selecting persons for resettlement or evacuation to Canada?

[Christiane Fox]

Again, I would say that during the caretaker mode ministers are still ministers and deputies still have access to their ministers in order to move the department's urgent business on all fronts.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Do you think it was appropriate or did you provide the government with advice regarding the appropriateness of calling a federal election during the fall of Kabul given the resettlement priorities that were precipitated by the fall of Kabul?

[Christiane Fox]

The public service doesn't give advice to the government on when to call an election.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Were any concerns raised about the call of an election during the resettlement crisis?

[Christiane Fox]

As I said, we have an ability to continue to govern in any period of an election to deal with a health or an emergency situation and we continue to provide services and programs throughout.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Minister, do you believe your predecessor, Minister Mendicino, did a good job in this situation?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Yes, I do. I believe he did a good job when he committed initially to bring in 20,000 Afghan refugees and then to influence the Liberal Party's platform to double that commitment to 40,000.