Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 15th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

You have one minute left.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Quebec selects all of the immigrants that wish to settle in Quebec.

It's difficult listening to my own translation in my ear.

For international students, I think this is really important, because I think they offer one of the greatest opportunities for us to increase the number of francophone newcomers.

We intend to increase the number of francophone newcomers, and I think that welcoming international students is the best opportunity to do it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

You have 30 seconds left. I'm sorry for interrupting.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Again, we have seen real positive experiences with the student direct stream in countries like Senegal and Morocco, which have seen an increase in the approval rates.

There are still challenges when I look at some of the numbers in certain other countries—I'm thinking about Côte d'Ivoire, for example—which we can continue to look at, but when I look at the approval rate for francophones and anglophones coming from within those regions or certain countries, the difference is not enormous. To the extent that we can continue to work to close that gap, I think it's essential that we do, because I think it's good for our country, and I think it's good for the province of Quebec.

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

One thing is clear: the rate of refusal is higher for francophones than anglophones.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting, Monsieur Brunelle-Duceppe. The time is up. We will have to proceed to the next member.

Ms. Kwan will have six minutes for her round of questioning.

Ms. Kwan, you can begin, please.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thank you to the minister for coming to the committee.

I want to follow up on the Afghanistan resettlement issue. Two years to resettle 40,000 Afghanistan refugees is a long time. For some, they may not be able to make it, due to the urgency of the situation. Many people are saying that they are having difficulty in accessing or being able to produce the various documentations that IRCC requires.

My first question is this: Will the minister agree to waive the documentation requirements for Afghans fleeing persecution, including the need to obtain biometrics, until they're safely on Canadian soil?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

We don't have plans, currently, to waive the requirement of biometrics. I think this is really important, because 80% of the pieces of information we learn about that render someone inadmissible—for security purposes, for example—come from biometric requirements. I think it would be inappropriate for us to waive that requirement, given the circumstances that we're dealing with. That said, we are doing whatever we can to expedite the resettlement.

I would point out—I don't think time will allow, Madam Chair, and I want to respect my colleague's time—that the timelines we're talking about to resettle 40,000 Afghan refugees far exceed the performance of virtually every other country in the world. I think there are some mistaken conflations between the opportunity we had to settle large numbers of refugees from Syria as opposed to Afghanistan. The circumstances were very different. If time allows in a subsequent question, I'd be happy to clarify why that's the case.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Maybe the minister can submit that information to the committee in writing. However, I don't accept that, because I believe that the government can waive the requirements. That's not to say that they won't have security checks; when they are on Canadian soil, once they are safely on the ground here, you can then proceed with all of that work.

I'm going to leave that with the minister to ponder, and I urge him to reconsider.

Will the minister waive the refugee determination requirements for Afghan refugees, especially for those under the group of five private sponsorship stream?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

For a bit of clarity, for folks who are inside Afghanistan, we established an extraordinary measure through the special immigration program so that we do not require a refugee status determination for those who've qualified because they have served Canada in some capacity and qualify for our programs.

I would point out, as well, that if you're operating through the private sponsorship streams for the sponsorship agreement holders—if you're working with a sponsorship agreement holder—there's no requirement for a refugee status determination, which I think is a pretty important feature.

The member has asked about the G5 and community sponsorship pieces—

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Yes, and that's exactly the point. Is the G5 refugee determination requirement...? Why require that for the G5?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

I haven't taken any solutions off the table. I sense, when I look at the data, that the success rate and the ability to process applications more quickly and with a higher degree of success.... If we focus on the sponsorship agreement holders, we tend to see far more people being approved far more quickly.

To the extent that there are other solutions that members would like to put on the table, of course, I'll consider them in good faith and I have not taken any solution off the table.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you, Minister. I've written to you about this and I haven't had a response, so please respond and please take action.

There are a number of internationally educated nurses who have worked hard to meet Canadian standards and are licensed to practise here in Canada, but are unable to do so because they do not have an open work permit and their PR application is stuck with lengthy delays.

Will the minister immediately issue a bridging open work permit to those waiting for their PR application to be processed, and expedite their PR applications?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

For people who have PR applications and who are health care professionals, we are already expediting applications. There's a unique issue around internationally educated nurses that I think we can make progress on, but the reasons why one person may be delayed could be very different from why other people are delayed. Some of them have come through different programs where they are specifically approved to come to Canada to work as caregivers, for example; others may not be.

People who are here in Canada now can simultaneously make an application for permanent residence to come in through a different stream. However, we need to continue to work with provinces, which have jurisdiction over the regulating bodies that manage the qualifications a person is required to have in order to practise in their given field. That's something that I'm looking forward to continuing in my conversations with every province in Canada, because I think it presents an excellent opportunity to increase the number of health care workers in Canada.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

The issue is not the qualifications. They have met all the requirements. Their problem is that the only thing that's impeding them from practising their craft and their profession is immigration. That is the issue. I've written to the minister about that. Please read that letter, respond to it and address the issue.

With respect to caregivers, there have already been significant delays in processing. Many have waited for almost two years without any update on their files beyond a confirmation that their application has been received. There aren't even processing standards for this stream. As of January 17, 2022, IRCC has indicated that the home child care provider pilot is closed to new applicants.

Yesterday's announcement on levels does not address this issue. What will the government do to ensure that more caregivers get into the stream?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Madam Chair, I believe we're out of time. I'll answer very quickly.

We processed more than 6,000 files last year. We're in the middle of a pilot program for caregivers, for both child care providers and personal care workers.

I think that, because of the limitation on time and the need to respect other members' time, I'd have to follow up with the member to provide a fulsome answer.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I wrote to the minister on this issue as well.

Minister, please read the letter and respond to me in writing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Ms. Kwan. Your time is up.

Based on the time we have with the minister, for the second round we will have four minutes each for Mr. Redekopp and Mr. Dhaliwal. Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe and Ms. Kwan will have two minutes each.

With that, we will start our second round with Mr. Redekopp.

You have four minutes for your round of questioning.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Minister, I witnessed remarkable callousness from you and your officials toward immigrants and refugees who are trying to come to Canada. My office has contacted your ministerial inquiries unit on multiple cases for immigrants where the correction of simple paperwork errors or a bit of compassion would actually save the lives of people from overseas trying to come into Saskatoon.

I wrote to you directly about Bawa Bhalla, a Canadian citizen, his wife Anterpreet Kaur, and their infant daughter Brahmjot, who is also Canadian. You're refusing to allow Madame Kaur into Canada on the basis that she's not expecting to leave the country. Well, that's exactly the point. She needs to come to Canada to be with her Canadian husband and her Canadian daughter. She has a legitimate path to permanent residency.

I want to know why you guys have so harshly refused Madame Kaur's application to be with her Canadian husband and daughter.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Just to clarify, I won't get into the specifics of individual case files. There are obviously privacy concerns, and I don't have the file in front of me in any event.

I think the member raises a really good point. There are people who would make excellent permanent residents based on their connections to folks who are already here. One of my mandate letter commitments that we're working on developing the policy to support right now is to establish a temporary resident visa for people who are awaiting a decision on their spousal reunification files.

When I hear about these cases.... They're in my constituency, too. Families being kept apart because they can't qualify for a TRV on the basis that they won't return home is something that we have to take a look at. I'm glad that I've been mandated to do it. I look forward to working with members of this House who've seen this concern in their constituencies.

I think we have an opportunity to make a major correction that will improve the quality of life for a lot of people who want to come to Canada.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Another example is Manpreet Kaur's case. As you're aware, Manpreet Kaur and her husband are permanent residents who live in my riding of Saskatoon. She wishes to return to India to say goodbye to her mother before she passes away, as she's very sick. As of today, her PR card is 66 days overdue and she can't leave the country. You just said that they're typically one to two weeks behind. Here's a case where it's 66 days.

Your department's reply said, “the application cannot be processed faster at this time.... There is...no urgent procedure for new PRs.... If your applicant wishes to find out how long it may take to process their first PR card, please visit the processing times page. We hope this information is helpful.”

It's not helpful. What would be helpful is to have the PR card done in a reasonable time.

Is this a systematic failure based upon incompetence, or are you maliciously blocking PR cards for people who want to see their dying parents?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Look, I will pass on commenting on whether there is malicious intent behind any of these files.

I can reassure all members of this House that any challenges we are facing are due to the circumstances tied to the pressures that COVID-19 has put on Canada's immigration system, including on PR cards, which typically require somebody to show up for an in-person appointment. Many of the offices have been closed down and there hasn't been that opportunity for face-to-face engagement.

That said, I think there's a huge opportunity to make progress on this specific piece. When I referred to a one- to two-week inventory in a mailroom on PR cards, that is the result of the $85 million that was recently announced. When that is fully deployed, it's going to allow us to reduce the inventory to that reasonable amount of time.

I don't think that under normal circumstances a 66-day wait is appropriate for a PR card. That's why we're making these investments, so we can get back to what's reasonable after the pandemic has had such a dramatic impact on our day-to-day operations for these kinds of in-person appointments.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Is there any plan to get back to in-person offices? When will that be happening in, for example, Saskatoon?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

The specific locations will depend on the public health situation in a given jurisdiction. The answer for Saskatoon may be different from Halifax, which may be different from New Delhi.

We have tried to pivot to virtual services wherever possible and equip staff to work from home. There are some offices globally where that capacity does not exist.

Madam Chair, I saw the warning that we're just about out of time, so I'd be happy to elaborate further on a subsequent question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you.

We will now proceed to Mr. Dhaliwal.

You have four minutes for your round of questioning. You can begin, please.