Good morning, everyone. Welcome to meeting number seven of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.
Members and witnesses may speak in the official language of their choice. Interpretation services are available for this meeting. You have the choice, at the bottom of your screen, of floor, English or French. If interpretation is lost, please inform me immediately and we will ensure interpretation is properly restored before resuming the proceedings. The “raise hand” feature at the bottom of the screen can be used at any time, if you wish to speak or alert the chair.
Today we are resuming the study on recruitment and acceptance rates of foreign students.
On behalf of the committee, I would like to welcome the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.
Welcome, Minister. Thanks for coming for the second time this week.
The minister is joined by officials from the IRCC. I would like to welcome 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.
I would like to make a few comments for the benefit of our witnesses today.
Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. When you are ready to speak, you can click on the microphone icon to activate your mike. As a reminder, all comments should be addressed through the chair. Interpretation in this video conference will work very much like in a regular committee meeting. When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you are not speaking, your mike should be on mute.
Witnesses will have five minutes for opening remarks. During the rounds of questions, I will raise coloured time cards to the screen to indicate when one minute is remaining, then 30 seconds, and then a stop sign asking you to wrap up.
With that, I would like to welcome Minister Fraser. He will begin our discussions in this panel with five minutes of opening remarks, followed by a round of questions.
Welcome, Minister. The floor is yours.