Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 15th, 2022

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I asked this question in the last Parliament, and I'll ask it again now. In 2020, there were PGP, or parents and grandparents, applications where expressions of interest were taken. Out of that, 10,000 applications were processed in 2020, and 30,000 in 2021. Can the officials tell me how many more applications are left in that stream, where people expressed that interest, so that I can see how long it would take to fill in that gap?

[Daniel Mills]

Thank you very much.

We're having IT issues, so the sound quality was not great for me.

I believe the member was talking about applications in the parents and grandparents stream. In fall 2021, we sent out an invitation to submit applications for the month of December. The department received the applications, and we're currently looking at them. Please be aware that we already had an inventory of applications for parents and grandparents that we will need to address before we process these new applications received in the fall.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Madam Chair, could the senior assistant deputy minister table the number of people who expressed interest and who are already taken care of, and how many are waiting in the queue out of that expression of interest they had in the fall?

Next, I noticed the new number of 431,645 who will be taken this year. When I look at the numbers from last year, particularly in the family class, usually the number of immigrants who come in under family class is around 25%. There was a shortfall last year. Only 20% were welcomed under the family class.

How is this gap going to be filled when we only invited 24% this year?

[Daniel Mills]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

That's a two-part question.

First, last year, it is true, the number of people who arrived in Canada was lower than our projection. But one thing we have to take into consideration is the fact of COVID and travel restrictions, not just in Canada but also around the world. In our landing inventory, or in our inventory of people who were allowed to travel but who decided not to, we had a lot of people.

At one point, the department tried to link the number of decisions we make the number of admissions. In some cases, people might decide to take more time to travel before resettling in Canada. This affects the overall annual percentage. We're monitoring this very closely and are confident that for 2022 we will successfully meet the target proposed yesterday.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting. The time is up.

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

Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe, please begin.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I really need to be transparent here. Several witnesses criticized the department at committee for its lack of clarity and transparency.

We do not have the same numbers at all for 2020, Deputy Minister. What I have says that targets were not met for Quebec. Quebec had a target of 43,000 to 44,500 immigrants, but the federal government was able to process only about 25,000 cases. For economic immigration, Quebec's target was around 26,000 immigrants admitted, and 14,000 to 17,000 were admitted. For skilled workers, the target was 22,000, and only 12,000 were admitted.

We definitely do not have the same numbers. I'd like you to explain why this situation occurred in 2020.

[Daniel Mills]

I am sorry, please accept my apologies.

Earlier, I was talking about the 2021 figures. I had not realized that the member was talking about the 2020 figures.

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

We're on the same page now.

How did this happen? Quebec's target was 43,000 to 44,500 cases, but only 25,000 were processed.

[Daniel Mills]

You have to take into consideration that we didn't achieve immigration targets across Canada for 2020. So this doesn't apply only to Quebec, but to all of Canada. As mentioned earlier, the main factor behind this is COVID‑19 and travel restrictions.

When the pandemic began in March and April 2020, both domestic and international operations were hit hard. This was primarily because department staff did not have everything they needed to work remotely. So for a time, we had to equip our employees to—

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

In that case, why didn't you process the—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

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

We will now proceed to Ms. Kwan. We will end this panel with two minutes from Ms. Kwan.

Ms. Kwan, you have two minutes for your round of questioning.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

IRCC is keeping private any public policies related to special immigration measures being taken for Afghan refugees. Advocates in the sectors, of course, say that this is a critical time for them to have this information. Otherwise, how would they know what is being applied, and under what circumstances would those who are in grave danger know about these different immigration measures?

This is my question to the officials: Is the minister still exercising his authority to bring in special procedures secretly?

[Marian Campbell Jarvis]

As I think the minister outlined, there are special immigration measures being taken in the dynamic environment that we find ourselves in. He also outlined the commitment that he is advancing to bring 40,000 Afghans safely to Canada.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I'm sorry, but I'm being very specific. I'm not talking about general immigration measures. There are some specific actions that the ministry is taking that are not made public. People do not know what those specific actions might be, what it would look like or whom it would apply to. Is that still being done by the ministry right now?

[Marian Campbell Jarvis]

We'll take the feedback that we've been given, note that and relay that to the minister.

Thank you.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I would like to get a response then from the minister or from the department with respect to that. This is a critical issue, and the public needs to know; advocates need to know, and families need to know, so they can be aware of what special measures under what special circumstances that would apply to.

I'm not talking about the 40,000 refugee resettlement measure. I'm talking about other measures the minister is making decisions on around public policy that's not made available to the public.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Ms. Kwan, your time is up.

With that, our panel comes to an end.

I would like to thank Mr. Mills and Ms. Campbell Jarvis for appearing before the committee today, and for all the work they are doing in these challenging times on behalf of all Canadians.

Before we adjourn, I would like to remind all the members of the committee that the prioritized witness lists for the study of differential outcomes are to be sent to the clerk by Friday at 4 p.m. Please make sure that the lists are submitted to the clerk. As well, the draft calendar has been circulated to all the members. You will see, in the draft calendar, that the minister has confirmed that he and his officials will be available to appear for this important study on March 24.

Is it okay with all the members that we schedule a meeting with the minister and the officials on the study of differential outcomes for March 24? Okay.

With that, thanks once again. Thanks to all the members for co-operating and keeping in mind the time constraints. Thank you once again to our officials.

The meeting is adjourned.