Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 17th, 2022

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

This is a question that requires partnership with provincial governments, which deal with a lot of that, particularly when we're dealing with international students, who are the subject of this study. There are areas where we can co-operate with some of the provinces, but institutions also have an important role to play.

I'm being shown that I've run out of time completely here, Mr. Dhaliwal. If you wish a follow-up, I would be more than happy to provide information on what supports we can provide for folks who are here for a lengthy period of time and who may not qualify for existing settlement services.

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

Thank you very much, Minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Minister. I'm sorry for interrupting you many times. It was just to make sure that everyone got a fair chance to ask you questions.

On behalf of the committee members, I really want to thank you for appearing before this committee and for taking time from your busy schedule to be here twice this week. We really appreciate that.

Thank you once again for presenting the levels plan in Parliament this week. I think we need immigrants to make sure that we can look into those labour shortage issues we've been having.

With that, I will suspend the meeting to allow the officials to do a sound check before we proceed with the next round.

Thank you, Minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I call the meeting to order.

For this panel, I would like to welcome officials from the Department of Citizenship and Immigration: Marian Campbell Jarvis, senior assistant deputy minister, strategic and program policy; Daniel Mills, senior assistant deputy minister, operations; Corinne Prince, acting assistant deputy minister, settlement and integration sector; and Pemi Gill, director general, international network.

On behalf of all the members, I would like to welcome the officials appearing before this committee for the second time in a week.

Our first round of questioning will start with Mr. Seeback.

Mr. Seeback, you have six minutes. Please proceed.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for the generous allocation of six minutes.

I've gone through and looked at some of the approval rates for student visas—for example, Angola at 12%, Burundi at 3%, Chad at 13%, Congo at 13%, Kenya at 26% and Ghana at 10%. I think you can understand where I'm going with this. We know that there is an issue with visa acceptance rates in African countries. The minister has said that we're trying to improve this.

I'm wondering if someone in the department can tell me what exact steps are taking place to try to deal with this extremely high rejection rate from predominantly African countries. What are the specific steps? What plan has been implemented? Is there a review, for example?

[Marian Campbell Jarvis, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic and Program Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

Madam Chair, thank you very much for the question.

The department has undertaken a number of efforts. I will turn to Ms. Gill to outline the specifics in Africa, because we do have quite a bit under way.

I would also note that the nature of the problem, and the challenge, has really changed as well. We've had tremendous volume and interest. The situations around the world are different in different contexts.

I'll turn to Ms. Gill to provide some of the specifics in the action plan.

[Pemi Gill, Director General, International Network, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

Thank you, Madam Chair, for the question.

The department is very much committed to facilitating the mobility of bona fide students. The most common reason for refusal is that the applicant was not able to show the officer that they were able to support themselves while in Canada and thus demonstrate that they would be leaving Canada at the end of their stay. Oftentimes, this is seen inasmuch as the applicant is not able to show that their studies are affordable for themselves and their family. We note that in Africa in particular that is often a core reason for refusal, and is a space that the department is working to improve.

In terms of specifically what the department is doing, we are looking for opportunities to improve outcomes. Programs like the student direct stream and the Nigeria express stream are ways for clients to demonstrate that they have the funds and therefore demonstrate that they would be able to support their studies in Canada.

In addition to that, we do active promotion and outreach within the continent. In 2021, we had over 20 webinars and sessions with potential clients to make sure they understood the legitimate requirements for coming to Canada and understood what was required to be submitted. We also provide training to our employees. All of our decision-makers do unconscious bias training. In addition, for Africa we also have them do cultural studies such that they have an awareness of the local culture and the socio-economic conditions within various countries.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

I want to pick up on one of the things that you said. It seems to me that you actually track reasons for rejection because you said the number one reason for refusal, particularly in African countries, is students not being able to support themselves.

Do you track the reasons for rejections of student visas?

[Pemi Gill]

That is correct. For student permits writ large, globally, the most common reason for refusal is that they're not able to demonstrate that they can support themselves while in Canada. That leads to the conclusion around not being able...the dual intent of not departing at the end of their stay as well.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

I'm going to ask you to please table what the reasons for rejection are, the statistics on that, and if possible to break those out for franco-African nations.

[Daniel Mills, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Operations, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

I will gladly send the committee the refusal rates per country, as you asked.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Just to be clear, it's not the refusal rates—we have those—but the reasons for the refusal.

[Daniel Mills]

I will gladly send that information.

There are some technical difficulties on our end. That's why I answered for Ms. Gill.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

That's fine.

A curiosity that I have is with respect to Nigeria. We know that the acceptance rate has gone from 40% in 2015 to 12% in 2020.

I know there's now a Nigerian student express stream, but there's also an English-language proficiency requirement for that, the IELTS test. My understanding is that Nigeria has English as its educational language, including in post-secondary institutions, so why would there be the requirement to take this test in order to take advantage of that stream?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting, Mr. Seeback. Your time is up. Maybe you will get an opportunity in the second round to get your answer.

We will now proceed to MP Ali.

You will have six minutes for your round of questioning. Please proceed.

[Shafqat Ali, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to the officials for being here.

My question is about the student direct stream program, which appears to have been very successful. The committee heard from the High Commissioner of Bangladesh about the desire to have that program available for students from Bangladesh.

Can the committee expect a rapid expansion of that program to many other countries?

[Marian Campbell Jarvis]

Thank you, Madam Chair, for that question.

Indeed, the student direct stream has been really beneficial in providing students with faster processing because they're providing more detailed information. It is something that we're actively looking at—at the expansion—and considering next steps on that.

[Shafqat Ali, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

Thank you.

Could you assist the committee in understanding the difference in the financial requirements between the Nigerian student express stream and the student direct stream for Nigerian students?

[Marian Campbell Jarvis]

Thank you, Madam Chair. It's an excellent question, and I'll turn to Ms. Gill in a moment for some of those specific details.

One piece that's really important to note is that we engaged in the Nigerian express because we could see that it was an important market and this country had different conditions than other partners in the student direct stream, so a special dedicated effort was undertaken there.

Ms. Gill, perhaps you would like to give some of the highlights to respond to the question more specifically.

[Pemi Gill]

Certainly I can do so.

All international students, regardless of which stream under the international student program they are applying through, must demonstrate that they have proof of financial support for their first year of studies. That includes both tuition and living expenses.

In the SDS program, students show that by demonstrating that they paid the first year of tuition with their education institution in Canada and the GIC of $10,000. In Nigeria, we were unable to have a financial institution with a product comparable to a GIC. Given what my colleague Marian Campbell Jarvis said, that this is a key market for us with a significant volume of student applications, we are exploring alternate pathways to improve outcomes for Nigerian students.

The Nigerian student express stream allows for students to demonstrate that they have the full suite of funds for their first-year tuition and living expenses; however, it's not a GIC, and we don't ask them to hold it in a bank. It is simply proof of it that is verified with the local financial institution. It has, in 2021, shown remarkable improvement in acceptance rates for international students out of Nigeria. Nigerian students who applied through this program in 2021 had an acceptance rate of 50%.

[Shafqat Ali, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

Thank you.

My next question is regarding a co-op and work permit. Students are often required to engage in a co-op or internship program as an integral part of their program of studies. Yesterday I met with students representing the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations. One of their requests was to allow international students to participate in co-op programs without requiring them to apply for a separate work permit.

If the committee were to recommend the elimination of that requirement, do you have any suggestions as to how we might frame those recommendations to be readily implemented by the department?

[Marian Campbell Jarvis]

That is something that we, too, have heard from some of our stakeholders.

I would note that part of the challenge arises when students have not sought the work permit at the same time as the study permit, and that's why they sometimes have challenges as they go forward.

We are thinking about issues facing international students, as the minister outlined, to support the delivery of his mandate commitment on the pathway to permanent residency and some of the ways that we can facilitate important markets. As the minister noted, we'd be very interested in recommendations that the committee may offer us in that regard.

[Shafqat Ali, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

Thank you.

Madam Chair, how much time do I have?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

You have 45 seconds.

[Shafqat Ali, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

I'll go quickly.

We compete for international students by offering high-quality education and by creating a path for permanent residents and citizenship after they complete their studies. The committee has heard from witnesses about immigration officers rejecting study permit applications on the basis that the officer is not satisfied that the student will leave Canada after completing their studies.

If this committee were looking for a way to eliminate or substantially reduce the rate of refusal based on the intent to stay in Canada following the completion of studies, would you have any recommendation on how this could be accomplished?