Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 5th, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Okay.

We have an amendment on the floor. We will take a vote.

(Amendment agreed to: yeas 6; nays 5 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

The amendment is adopted, so we have the motion as amended on the floor.

Mr. Maguire, did you want to speak?

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

I never thought I'd be in a position to talk about this as much in such an important position.

Boris Nemtsov, as my colleague has just indicated, was shot on the bridge by the Kremlin as a leader of the Russian opposition. I was there with one of my Liberal colleagues, Scott Simms, who was filling in for Larry Bagnell when we were on the Standing Committee of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region, or SCPAR. This was about 2018 or somewhere in there. Maybe it was earlier. Tom will probably know more about the exact date of that shooting.

I had the opportunity, with Scott, to walk up on the bridge that night, which was six months after this gentleman had been shot. The flowers were still being laid every night on that bridge in honour of this young man who gave up his life as a Russian leader. The guards were there to make sure that no other extraordinary events were taking place on that bridge, but they could not stop the Russian people from placing those flowers, those memorial cards and those gifts on that bridge. There were so many that they would take them away each week so there would be room for the people who were still bringing them six months after this shooting.

I beseech my colleagues to do more than what is in this resolution—this motion—tonight. I wanted to let them know that I and my Liberal colleague were there and very much in favour of supporting...what happened to that young man in Russia that night. I think it's actually imperative that Canada do far more than just turn a blind eye to this.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Mr. Maguire.

Mrs. Lalonde, go ahead.

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

Just to put on the record, Madam Chair, I want to be very strong on this. When I mentioned the unfortunate revocation of this person's citizenship, I didn't mean that it was unfortunate that it was revoked. It was fully deserving that it was revoked for Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi in 2018.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Is there any further debate?

We will go to a vote on the motion as amended.

(Motion as amended agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0)

The motion as amended is adopted.

Before we adjourn the meeting, I need some guidance on the scheduling.

Ms. Kwan, go ahead.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much.

I would like to ask that the two motions we passed today, the first with respect to inviting the minister and officials to come and the second in terms of doing the study, be the next items that we deal with for this committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Yes, I want the committee's guidance on how we want to schedule that.

Before we rise for the summer break, we are left with four meetings—June 12, June 14, June 19 and June 21. Right now, we have scheduled a meeting for June 19 with Marc Garneau for one hour, and the DND officials for one hour. That was scheduled.

Today we have passed two motions. The first one was passed in regard to inviting the Minister of Immigration and the Minister of Public Safety. We need to have two meetings. The second motion that was passed also states to have two meetings. That means that if we need to study these two motions, we need four meetings. Should we cancel that meeting on June 19 with Marc Garneau and the DND officials and schedule these four meetings?

In regard to the ministers' availability, in the first motion that we passed we are asking the ministers of immigration and public safety to appear before the committee. To schedule that, I'm not sure whether anyone would be able come in on Monday or not.

I would like to get some guidance from the committee on how you would like me to proceed.

Mr. Redekopp, go ahead.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

I think the priority from my perspective would be the initial motion that we passed, where we invite the two ministers. That would be the priority. I would hope that could be done next week. I think we can cover off lots of the issues in those two meetings.

I'm debating about the other two. It would be great to have Marc Garneau come in. He's already scheduled. There's a chance we won't have the meeting on the Wednesday, potentially, Friday being the last day of Parliament. Anyway, potentially it won't happen. There are odds there. If we base it on last year, that meeting wouldn't happen. We wouldn't be able to complete that anyway.

The other problem—I throw it out there—is that even if we complete those two meetings, we still have to write a report. That wouldn't happen until the fall, at which time we may have forgotten a lot of what we heard. That would be an argument for doing it then.

Those are just some of my thoughts. I'm not necessarily saying one thing or the other. I'm just thinking out loud, if you will—maybe that's a dangerous thing to do.

I think, for sure, the priority should be the two ministers in the first motion that we approved tonight.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Mrs. Lalonde, go ahead.

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

Considering there's maybe a perspective from my honourable colleagues about our timeline in the House before we rise, I would say right now that we should focus on sending the invites, Madam Chair. I don't think any of us can control what days the ministers are able to come. We know how sometimes restricting any decisions that we make is restricting our ability to be more broad.

I would say to the committee, let's send the invites and see the response.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Based on the input from the members, I think the desire is to go through the first motion first. We will have to send an invitation to two ministers. We are requesting one hour from each minister and one hour from each minister's officials.

Just in case, if we cannot get any ministers, should we just schedule the officials on Monday, if they are available? We will have to check what the availability is for the officials for one hour with IRCC and one hour with Public Safety. Or would the members like to have the minister and the officials together for each meeting?

Go ahead, Mr. Dhaliwal.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

It does not matter which sequence they come in, as we'll talk to all of them. The departments will probably even be the best to start with, because they will be able to lay out all the information that we need, and then members of Parliament will be able to put questions to the ministers.

To me, this takes priority. It doesn't matter what sequence it takes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

We'll have Ms. Kwan, and then Mr. Redekopp.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I am fine with having officials come first. If we can arrange for the ministers to be here and the ministers can come after, I'm fine with that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Go ahead, Mr. Redekopp.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

At the end of the day, what's important here is.... Whatever is best to get the students studied is the way to go. If we can move this forward and get at this issue of the fake acceptance letters we have been discussing, whatever makes it happen more quickly is the way we should go on that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Would members like to keep this meeting on June 19 as scheduled with Mr. Garneau and the DND officials?

Go ahead, Mr. Redekopp.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

One other thing I was going to mention is that if it turns out that there's nobody available on Monday, I'm quite certain that we could get the students to come in. I'm sure they would be very interested in coming to testify and speak to us too, so that's another thought.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

We have decided we will go with the first motion first. We will have to deal with that.

Let me get the invitations out to the ministers. I can't really say what their availability is unless we send the invitations and get some answers from them. I can update the committee as we hear from them.

Yes, Mrs. Lalonde.

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

I personally think we should send the invitations. Ministers should come first. That has always been the procedure of the House. Let's continue. Let's see what the response will be.

I cannot control anybody's schedule. My understanding is.... I'm not sure until when we will sit in the House, according to my honourable colleagues.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you to all of you.

I will work with the clerk, and we will see what the availability is. Based on that availability, we will schedule the next four meetings—four or three, whatever the number is—and I will update the members.

Yes, Ms. Kwan.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Could the clerk also send to all of us the number of witnesses we'll be able to invite and the deadline for when we have to submit the witnesses for that study of two meetings?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

That's for the second motion. We'll work on that.

Let us get the invitations out to the ministers. If I get any updates by tomorrow, I will update the respective vice-chairs and let everyone know.

With that, I really want to thank all members. This week has been tough and long. Thank you for your co-operation, your patience and your hard work. We have been able to get through the legislation. I really appreciate your making changes to your schedules and being here for many hours together. It has been good spending time together. Thank you.

With that, the meeting is adjourned.