Evidence of meeting #82 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 abuse.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Have they been offered that option, and do they always know that is available?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Temporary Foreign Worker Program, Department of Employment and Social Development
I will say that it's part of what should be offered—
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
I appreciate what should be offered versus what is offered, so perhaps you can table for the committee how often that is utilized—for interpretation to be provided—for both departments.
I raise this, Mr. Chair, even here. As we know, we are studying this issue, and I have invited a witness who is a migrant worker and whose English is not as perfect as it would otherwise be. It hasn't been confirmed that in fact interpretation will be provided for them.
I'm deeply concerned—
Liberal
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
I'm deeply concerned about that because language is absolutely key, and people need to feel comfortable that they can make this request, and it should be offered to them. If it isn't, sometimes they may actually not even ask for it. For someone who used to be an ESL...I can tell you, it's a real thing.
Liberal
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
As a last comment, in some of the work that we're doing in some of the rural parts of the country that really require workers, we're actually working with employers so that they can provide on-the-job-site language training for employees who come into their organization, in addition to what is required through the worker pathway. I just wanted to flag that.
We appreciate and understand the importance of people being able to communicate, to learn, but also to have the available—
interpretation
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
Thank you very much, Deputy Minister.
I will go to Mr. Maguire for two minutes and then to Mr. Ali for two minutes.
Go ahead, you have two minutes, please, Mr. Maguire.
Conservative
Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Thanks, Mr. Chair.
I have a couple of quick questions in regard to the tips. Does ESDC track who makes those calls? My concern there is whether they are actual workers or are are concerned citizens, advocacy groups or unions? Do you track who actually makes the calls?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Temporary Foreign Worker Program, Department of Employment and Social Development
Part of operating a tip line is making sure that it's confidential, so we don't require any information from the individual when we follow up on all of those tips.
In addition to that, we also have the opportunity and the concierge services for consulates to be able to contact us. We also engage with the migrant worker support organizations to receive information from them.
Conservative
Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Are you concerned about abuse in that, or is it that you just don't track them?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Temporary Foreign Worker Program, Department of Employment and Social Development
I think the confidentiality trumps the abuse perspective in this space, to ensure that these individuals feel that they are able to report information without reprisal.
Conservative
Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Are they currently meeting their internal targets of how much time it takes to investigate a claim of abuse? Is there a specific time? Can you just answer that?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Temporary Foreign Worker Program, Department of Employment and Social Development
As Christiane mentioned previously, different types of inspections will require different periods of time in order to be completed.
Conservative
Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Does the department ever consider the option of providing greater flexibility for work permits in circumstances where a farmer doesn't have enough work for that week? This occasionally occurs in the agricultural sector, with mother nature and crop development. Where the harvest is done for the year, could they temporarily work in another operation?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Temporary Foreign Worker Program, Department of Employment and Social Development
It's certainly something that we are investigating. As I said previously, the seasonal agricultural worker program already allows for worker mobility from farm to farm.
Liberal
Liberal
Shafqat Ali Liberal Brampton Centre, ON
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to the officials for your hard work. Over the time, you have not only addressed backlogs during COVID and high-level plans, but you've also been addressing immigration issues very efficiently. As I see in my constituency office, as compared with last year, the number of people approaching the constituency office to get help from IRCC has come down. I'd like to thank you for the hard work you're doing for Canadians.
I have a question. At the constituency office in Brampton Centre, many people come in who have applied for TR to PR. The response we get from the department is that there's no processing time limit on those. I was wondering if you could elaborate on what the maximum limit is, how long they should wait and how we can address this issue.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Canada's system is a managed migration system. As we saw last week, the levels plan dictates how many PRs we can accept on a given year. If there is high interest for people to come to Canada, which is a great thing, we are still bound by the limits of our levels plan.
The time frame can depend on the demand in a particular year. Potentially, it could depend on now using express entry to draw Francophone immigration, trades workers, and health workers. That has an impact.
That is why, sadly, sometimes people wait. I can appreciate that it's difficult, but it is part of the managed immigration system that we operate within the country.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
Thank you very much on behalf of the committee members and this chair.
Deputy Minister Fox, Assistant Deputy Minister MacPhee, and director general, Mr. Gionet,thank you for being here and for your contribution. The very best to you.
The meeting is suspended.