Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 10th, 2023

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

Thank you very much for alluding.

I know we're in the last few minutes, Madam Chair.

Is there anything, Mr. Emery, that you would like to share with this committee?

[J. Randall Emery]

No, thank you.

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

Madam Chair, how many more minutes?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

You have two minutes and 30 seconds.

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

I feel like this witness, in all fairness to him, did take the time in a very short time frame to come in front of this committee, and he did share some thoughts. I have reason to believe that he comes with his transparency, as I mentioned, and his candour. One fact that the witness, Mr. Emery, did talk about, and that spoke to me, was the fact of always having broad consultations. I think that not only we, as members of Parliament, have public consultations but also the government has public consultations.

I was just in the Yukon, actually, Mr. Emery, a couple of days ago, where we were doing consultation on immigration in Canada and how this should look going forward. This is always, in my view, a very important conversation.

I know that I'm a few minutes from ending, Mr. Emery. I really want to say thank you. Thank you. I'm sure it was not easy for you to come in front of Parliament in this kind of ask. We appreciate, again, the time that you made in your busy schedule, your commitment to addressing immigration and certainly your passion for lost Canadians.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Mrs. Lalonde.

We'll now proceed to Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe for two and half minutes, and then we'll end this panel with Ms. Kwan for two and a half minutes.

Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.

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

Thank you, Madam...

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Excuse me, Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.

Madam Chair, my understanding is that we started at 4:34 and that we would end this meeting at 5:34 for this first hour. Has something changed?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Because we had some disruptions, we're just finishing this round with Ms. Kwan. Then we will end this panel, and we will proceed with the second half.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.

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

Actually, I don't have much to say.

Mr. Emery, I understand, basically, that you had communications directly with all parties except the Bloc Québécois. There should be some checking to do on both sides, because my impression is that several people from several parties are involved. Thank you for coming here, in any case. It must not have been easy, as Ms. Lalonde said so well. Thank you for participating in the Committee's consideration of Bill S‑245, and I wish you a good trip home.

Madam Chair, I will not be using the rest of my speaking time. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you.

We will now proceed to Ms. Kwan for two and half minutes, and we will then end this panel.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

From my perspective, I think that it's important that we actually get back to doing the work before us, and that is on Bill S-245. The implication of lost Canadians is significant. There are many people whose lives have been disrupted, and they have waited for 14 years to see if changes to the law could be made. We have an opportunity before us today through Bill S-245. It is my hope that we can focus in on the work before us, get the clause-by-clause done and refer the bill back to the House accordingly, so that we can move forward. I know that, most importantly, the people whose lives have been impacted want to see this work done.

Madam Chair, from my perspective, I just want to say thank you to the witness for shedding light on this. I don't have any further questions for the witness. I do hope that we will be able to get back to doing this important work.

Thank you so much, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Ms. Kwan.

With that, this panel comes to an end.

On behalf of all the members of this committee, Mr. Emery, I would like to thank you for appearing before the committee and taking the time out on very short notice.

I will suspend the meeting so the witness can leave, and we can have the witnesses for the clause-by-clause take their seats.

Thank you, Mr. Emery.

The meeting is suspended.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I call the meeting to order.

We will start with clause-by-clause consideration of Bill S-245, an act to amend the Citizenship Act regarding the granting of citizenship to certain Canadians.

Today we are joined by the witnesses from the Department of Citizenship and Immigration. We are joined by Nicole Girard, director general, citizenship policy; Uyen Hoang, senior director, legislation and program policy; Alain Laurencelle, senior counsel, legal services unit; Allison Bernard, senior policy analyst; and Jody Dewan, senior analyst.

Thanks a lot for appearing before the committee. I want to thank you for coming again and again, and thank you for your patience and understanding as we get through clause-by-clause on this bill.

Go ahead, Ms. Lalonde.

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

I would like to bring an amendment once you're ready to start.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Okay.

Go ahead, Ms. Kwan.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I was just going to get on to the order to move the amendments. I guess you will call members from the order in the package before us to get on to the speakers list then, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Yes, we ended at NDP-3 as amended. We're now on G-4.

Go ahead, Ms. Lalonde.

(On clause 1)

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I would like to move that Bill S‑245, in clause 1, be amended by deleting lines 16 to 19 on page 1.

The explanation is that these lines could be interpreted as shifting the application date of the first-generation limit from April 17, 2009, to June 11, 2015.

When Senator Martin appeared before this committee, she acknowledged that this provision was something that legislative drafters told her should be included for clarity, but she did not know the technical reason why.

We believe that the way this is written amounts to a drafting error. Pushing back the application date of the first-generation limit would result in significant unintended consequences. Therefore, this amendment proposes to remove those lines of the bill.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you.

Mr. Kmiec.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I move to resume debate on the potential breach of privilege motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

The debate was adjourned on that, so—

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

On a point of order, I kind of know where you were going, Madam Chair. However, that was a previous agenda item. Now we have a new agenda item.

What I'm proposing to do is to change the agenda item to resume debate on the potential breach of privilege motion that I moved at the end of the previous section. Because it is a different agenda item that we are covering, I'm proposing to change the agenda item to resume debate on the potential breach of privilege motion that was before the committee earlier.