Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Oct. 24th, 2023

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Thank you for communicating to me the issues of importance to a number of your riding's members. It is very difficult to operate, to take any decisions right now, in Gaza. Those humanitarian corridors, if they are at all open, close quite quickly or they're not opened at all.

We are doing our utmost to safeguard Canadians and family members. I have asked my team to be as flexible as they can as to the concept of family members, and to do their utmost in getting people out. I hesitate to speak publicly about it, but I think if there are people worried about their loved ones in Gaza, they should know that the Canadian government is doing its utmost to expedite things.

As to some of the work that we need to do, you mentioned a permanent resident who has a sponsor in Gaza. This is work that we are continuing, and again, operating under very difficult conditions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Go ahead, Madam Kwan.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I would urge the minister to extend the measures that have been offered to, for example, Ukrainians. It is not any different. People are in crisis and they need these measures to be in place. We need to hear the government say publicly that it will, in fact, do that.

I do appreciate very much the minister's taking on the cases that I've advanced to his office, but we need a broader policy.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Yes, and I would also add the operational nuance that some of the host countries where these people will go first need to be consulted, and we need to be on the same page with them as to how to proceed. Again, it is extremely tricky, given the circumstances.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Go ahead, Madam Kwan.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

That's understood, which is why I said it's for families who have applications in place already: They already had applied for their families to come to Canada before the war. Then, of course, extended family members would be able to do so as well—

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

I'm extending the decision.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Minister Miller, the floor is with Madam Kwan.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

—and for those who are already here in Canada, extend their visa so that they're not sent back when their visas expire during the war.

I'm going to leave this now because I'm two and a half minutes in.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Just to clarify, we can do that. We can extend the visas.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

The Pakistani government is escalating pressure on Afghan refugees and is warning that, come November, they'll be deporting Afghans without status back to Afghanistan. Our community contacts say that Pakistani people are receiving letters from the government, indicating that it will be illegal even to provide a home to Afghan refugees, and that those who continue to do so will face consequences, including fines or arrest. Persecuted Afghans are being targeted, arrested, and forced to pay bribes.

What plans is the minister making to help bring to safety the Afghans who put their lives and those of their families at risk to serve Canada^

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Go ahead, Minister Miller.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

We are doing our utmost. As I mentioned in my answer to MP Zahid about people we made commitments to, a good number of them are in Pakistan. The threat that you have highlighted is real, and it's one that we are working as hard as we can to make sure that we safeguard the people we have made a commitment to and, perhaps, extend further protection, if we can, to people who are actively being threatened to be deported to Afghanistan. Sadly, we can't do everything, but we are doing our utmost.

I do, again, hesitate to speak publicly about this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Go ahead, Madam Kwan.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I have a stack of files—I had been writing to the minister, and to former ministers, prior to your taking this post—and they have just been sitting there. Actually, I brought some of those files here with me. I'm going to hand them over to you at the end of this exchange. Hopefully, your officials can look into these files and provide an update to my office, because we have heard nothing from successive ministers, and that's not good enough.

I'm going to move on to the next piece, if I may.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Minister, would you like to say something?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

I can take the stack of files.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

As part of the Roxham Road agreement with the Biden administration, the government promised to take in 15,000 migrants from the Americas on a humanitarian basis, but the government has stripped 4,000 of those for the temporary foreign workers stream. Is the Biden administration aware of this and are they in agreement with this change?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Mr. Miller.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Yes, they know this, and they've known this from the beginning of the Prime Minister's commitment in March.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

If they knew this, why wasn't that part of the announcement to say that the 15,000—4,000 of which would actually be for the temporary foreign workers' stream...? It's deceptive. I'm sorry to say it, but it's deceptive not to provide that information on a transparent basis, Minister.

I'm very sorry that you have to take this file now at this juncture, but your predecessors were not forthright, and the Prime Minister was not forthright with Canadians, with that information.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

That is your opinion, MP Kwan.

The officials were very clear at the outset that there would be an economic portion related to this. We had until September to flesh out the details. To the credit of the civil service that help me with my job, they've been working for months to get out something that would be acceptable, and we've worked with the U.S. to make sure that they're on board.

In my communications with both Ambassador Cohen and Secretary Mayorkas, they are thrilled that we are actually helping them as a safety valve for a problem that is much larger for them at their southern border.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

With the exception that the minister must know—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you, Madam Kwan.

Your time is up. It's already at six minutes. If you want to make a quick comment, I can give you the floor for 30 seconds.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

The minister must know, though, that the change in the policy has put a lot of people in danger and is further pushing them into darker places to get to safety. That cannot be acceptable.