Evidence of meeting #70 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Can I please request that we not have side conversations so that everyone can understand? With interpretation, it is very difficult to hear if people are speaking on the side. Please avoid side conversations.
Go ahead.
9:20 p.m.
Director General, Citizenship Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Briefly, practically speaking, it would take away some of the flexibility the department currently has to combine, as it usually does, the personal and virtual ceremonies. The virtual ceremonies would really be limited to those specified in the requested exception on humanitarian grounds. It's impossible to know ahead of time what that would amount to.
9:20 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
I haven't finished, Madam Chair. I have a lot to say about this amendment.
9:20 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Thank you.
In the federal government, there is usually a single window through which the public can file complaints about any of the departments. I would imagine that your department sometimes receives complaints from the public.
Since the introduction of virtual citizenship ceremonies, have you received any complaints from people who found the experience unpleasant and regretted not having taken part in the in‑person ceremony?
9:20 p.m.
Director General, Citizenship Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I'm not aware of any such complaints. There may have been some, but I haven't heard about them. In view of my responsibilities, I'd like to believe that if such a complaint were made, I would have known about it and received information about it.
9:20 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Have you received any complaints from people who wanted to attend the citizenship ceremony in person but who were unable to do so, and who refused to attend virtually because they did not like that option?
June 5th, 2023 / 9:20 p.m.
Director General, Citizenship Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
If a virtual ceremony has been scheduled for applicants, and they are emphatic about wanting an in‑person ceremony, I believe we do everything possible to accommodate them.
9:20 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I believe that's all for now.
9:20 p.m.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I want to go back to Mr. Dhaliwal's conversation that he had. I was going to ask him a question, because he has a lot of constituents in his riding for whom he does a lot of immigration cases, but I don't see him here. He must have just stepped out.
Do you want to come back to me when he comes back?
9:20 p.m.
Conservative
9:20 p.m.
Conservative
9:20 p.m.
Liberal
9:20 p.m.
Conservative
Damien Kurek Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I have two points.
One is very specifically related to the amendment, the carving out of an exemption here and ensuring that the responsibility is placed upon those who will be new citizens.
Obviously, there's a much larger conversation to be had—which we will not have tonight—surrounding the immigration backlogs and certainly some of the challenges. Although my office may not have as much volume, certainly there's a host that could be talked about. I won't go there.
However, I do want to specifically comment on what was said in the previous comments. I have received a fair amount of feedback from constituents and their families who have been frustrated with the move to Zoom ceremonies. It's certainly my hope that this would filter its way up. When I've heard from constituents, in many cases they've come from countries where governments do not welcome criticism, so sometimes they're unwilling to or feel that they may not be able to rock the boat, if I could use that expression.
As a member of Parliament developing a relationship with constituents and specifically navigating the intricacies of casework, especially those circumstances that end up in our offices, these are generally the ones that fall through the cracks.
Certainly, I've heard from a host of constituents and their families that they would have preferred to have an in-person option. Further, there have been a number of instances where I've heard from constituents that, when there have been requests to accommodate and specifically the desire for there to be that in-person option....
In fact, here is a very touching story. It was at the height of COVID. There was an outdoor celebration that took place, where they did the ceremony virtually and then had an outdoor celebration. They were really disappointed that they couldn't do it together, in person. They had an outdoor, distanced celebration that somewhat resembled a wedding or graduation. It was a very touching story. I was sent pictures. It was very moving.
It's certainly feedback that I've heard. If I'm one of 338 members of Parliament hearing that feedback, I have no doubt that there are additional members.
I just want to note that certainly those going through the process don't want to question the process of the country they're asking to become a citizen of. There's a hesitancy. Especially when you hear some of the stories of those who have come to Canada because they're fleeing persecution or whatever the case is, it's completely valid. Their past experience informs their perspective, although, in some cases, they learn how our free and democratic openness, the ability to criticize and the freedoms associated with fair elections—
9:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Perhaps you could come to the point on the amendment, please, Mr. Kurek.
9:25 p.m.
Conservative
Damien Kurek Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB
Absolutely.
That's where it's the ability to ensure that those voices are heard.
In relation to a question I had asked previously, I won't ask the officials to reanswer, but it would be very helpful to understand that feedback from, I assume, round tables and whatnot. It would be very helpful to understand what types of responses were given as we're confronted with having to deal with some of these circumstances. There could be that fulsome understanding to ensure that policy is actually reflective of what is in the best interests of the people of this country and not necessarily a particular agenda.
With that, I will close my comments for now.
9:25 p.m.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Through you, I'd like to ask a few questions of Mr. Dhaliwal because he does handle a lot of immigration cases. I worked with the gentleman on other committees. I know that he's a fairly honourable person. He wants what's best.
I'm curious. Do you have an example of compassionate grounds and how they function right now, and how this amendment would change that? If it's not accurate, then what would you do to amend it to make it accurate so that it makes it better?
9:25 p.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
First of all, I would like to explain why I left. I left because.... You do have good relationships with the other side when you travel together. When it comes to Mr. Hoback, he's one of those friends on the other side, and we have a very great relationship, as well as Larry Maguire. He was in the room, and I was telling him—