Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Dec. 12th, 2023

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

A point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

There is a point of order.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

There is no reason for the point of order that was just raised. It has been decided that we will continue the meeting until 6 p.m. Can we continue and not waste our time on points of order that serve no purpose?

I know Mr. Drouin wants to go to his Christmas party, but it is time to work and he is paid for that.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

That is not the case at all, Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe. I am going to meet with the dairy farmers of Canada.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

You do not have the floor, Mr. Drouin.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Neither do you, Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Let me say that I have the floor right now. As the chair, I have made the decision. The hard stop is at six o'clock, so there is no more discussion on that, please.

Let's go to the speakers list, unless there is a point of order.

Go ahead, please, Ms. Kayabaga.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Thank you. This is on the point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

You are on the speakers list. Either way, you are the first one to go.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

All right. Thank you.

I had asked to see a copy of MP Kwan's original motion.

Mr. Chair, first of all, I want to thank the analysts for the work they have done on this. They are the ones who drafted this press release, so if it didn't capture what MP Kwan was trying to put into the motion, I think we need to review these two. I'm still waiting for that to be distributed. I don't know when we're going to get that. I've asked the analysts and the clerk.

I want to make comments, Mr. Chair, but I'm still waiting for her original motion to be distributed to us. It's hard to make that decision if we're not able to compare both.

I don't know if you want me to read the press release that we have here, while we wait for the analysts to send us the other one. However, I do want to get a copy of her original motion so that we are able to compare. The argument here is that the points that MP Kwan had made in her request were not captured in this press release. There is a grave accusation that's being made on the previous chair that she omitted that, and that there would be an investigation on this motion that's on the table. I want to remember exactly how the conversations went, and for us to do that, we have to see both motions—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Ms. Kayabaga, instead of you taking another two minutes, I will ask the clerk to distribute that, before I get back to you. That will be faster.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

I would like to get that, but I'm not done speaking, Mr. Chair. I'd like to continue to—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

I know. That's what I said.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Are you going to come back to me?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

You have the floor. It's your call. If you want, I can give the instructions—

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Please do give the instructions, but I'm not done commenting on it yet.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Okay. The clerk will distribute that in a couple of minutes, then. The discussion is over on that part, but you still have the floor.

The meeting is suspended.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

I call the meeting back to order.

Ms. Kayabaga, the floor is yours, but first I want to confirm that you got the press release, as well as the original wording of the motion.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Mr. Chair, you're going to get confirmation that I did get the motion.

I want to read Ms. Kwan's motion that was moved on June 19, 2023, which I think was meeting 72.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Please go ahead.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

It reads:

That the committee report to the House of Commons the potential breach of privilege—

I'm sorry. Is this the motion for today, or is this the motion that was moved in June?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Ms. Kayabaga, the floor is with you. As the chair, I have given you the floor to talk about and have a debate on the motion.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

I was just asking a question, but I'll continue.

The motion reads as follows:

That the committee report to the House of Commons the potential breach of privilege resulting from the issuance of a press release by the committee on June 14, 2023 which altered the language that was adopted in the motion unanimously on June 7, 2023 by editorializing the content of the motion, adding additional information that was not part of the original motion, and outright omitting information, including the specific call to waive inadmissibility on the basis of misrepresentation; the motion specifically instructed the committee to issue a news release to “condemn the actions of these fraudulent ‘ghost consultants’ and call on the Canada Border Services Agency to immediately stay pending deportations of affected international students, waive inadmissibility on the basis of misrepresentation and provide an alternate pathway to permanent status for those impacted, such as the Humanitarian and Compassionate application process or a broad regularization program” and this was not accurately reflected in the content of the issued press release.

Mr. Chair, the motion I just read out was tabled on June 14, but was read out on June 19. Its purpose was to respond directly to the committee's press release which condemned the actions of ghost consultants in India who have exploited the immigration system and preyed on international students.

I will also read out the press release, issued in Ottawa on June 14, 2023, so everyone knows what was in it:

[...] the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration will begin a study looking into the circumstances that have led 700 international students from India to be found inadmissible to Canada and to understand how this could have been prevented. Consultants hired by the students to help with their applications submitted fraudulent documents claiming to be admission letters from Canadian designated learning institutions. The “ghost consultants” created an exploitative scheme that has left many students, graduates and postgraduates—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Can I ask the members to please keep it quiet and listen to the honourable member? Ms. Kayabaga has the floor.

Ms. Kayabaga, go ahead.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

I will start the sentence over again because a lot of people were not listening any more:

The “ghost consultants” created an exploitative scheme that has left many students, graduates and postgraduates facing removal orders on grounds of misrepresentation and a ban from entering—