I call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number 71 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.
I have a quick note before we begin. Although this room is equipped with a powerful audio system, feedback events can occur. These can be extremely harmful to the interpreters and can cause serious injury. The most common cause of sound feedback is an earpiece worn too close to a microphone. We therefore ask all participants to exercise a high degree of caution when handling the earpieces, especially when your microphone or your neighbour's microphone is turned on. In order to prevent incidents and safeguard the hearing health of the interpreters, I invite participants to ensure that they speak into the same microphone that their headset is plugged into and avoid manipulating the earbuds by placing them on the table away from the microphone when they are not in use.
Today, we are beginning our study of the exploitation scheme targeting certain international students.
I would like to welcome the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.
Thanks a lot, Minister, for appearing before the committee.
He's joined by two senior officials from the department: Christiane Fox, deputy minister, and Michèle Kingsley, assistant deputy minister, operations. Welcome.
The minister will be with us for the first hour. The officials will stay for the second hour to answer questions.
Minister, you have five minutes for your opening remarks, and then we'll go into a round of questioning. The floor is yours. Please begin.