Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 3rd, 2022

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I'll be sending a letter, then, with detailed information on this case to the minister. As well, though, I would urge that additional support be given to those who are in the refugee camps in Ukraine. They need assistance to get to safety. It is absolutely paramount that Canada opens its borders to welcome them as well.

I'm glad to see the minister announce that biometrics will be collected in neighbouring countries for those fleeing Putin's war today. Will the minister do the same, as witnesses at the Afghanistan special committee suggested, for Afghans? These are unprecedented times and therefore call for unprecedented action.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

We've been working to try to set up that kind of arrangement for some time. If we could secure biometrics in-country, that would be ideal. One of the challenges we run into, though, remains securing safe passage for individuals outside of Afghanistan. To the extent that they could get outside of Afghanistan, absolutely we would be willing to provide biometrics in third countries.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

NGOs at the Afghanistan committee actually offered to provide on-the-ground assistance to the government to help people get to a third country, including those who are retired military personnel. I would urge the minister to look into those options and to work with NGOs on the ground to do exactly that.

Will the minister expand the extended family sponsorship measure announced this morning for Ukrainians to Afghans as well?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

We are working to extend family reunification models for folks who worked as interpreters and who have made it to Canada previously. I'm interested in how this is going to go with the family sponsorship pathway. I think we have a bit of work to do.

I'm not prepared to make a new announcement today, beyond the one I made just a couple of hours ago, but it strikes me that family sponsorship is an innovative opportunity for us to bring people to Canada and, as I said before in a different context, to ensure that they not just get here but also are supported. I'm very interested to see how this plays out. I think it provides an opportunity for further consideration in the future.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I can tell the minister that allowing for extended families to be sponsored to come to Canada is a successful immigration measure. Some may say that I'm not that successful, but I am a family member who was sponsored by an extended family to come to Canada more than...well, many years ago, let's just say. I think this needs to be put in place, not just at a time of humanitarian crises but regularly for immigration measures. I urge the minister to undertake that. Time is of the essence. We need to move forward with Afghans as well and not wait to see how a pilot goes. They don't have the time to wait.

Will the minister increase the levels for privately sponsored refugees and expedite processing so that Canadians who are able to and wish to help in this humanitarian crisis are able to do so?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

I am interested in leveraging the private sponsorship model and increasing humanitarian levels, as evidenced by the recent immigration levels plan. At a certain point in time, we run into the ability of our department to process an unlimited number of people seeking to come to Canada as refugees.

My interest is in leveraging whatever tools we have to bring people here in large numbers, to do the right thing for the world but also to maintain a focus on both economics and family reunification. It's a tricky exercise when you're trying to establish that levels plan and meet all of the needs of our communities, but the answer to your question is, yes, I'm interested in continuing to grow our private sponsorship models in Canada.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

On the issue around—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Ms. Kwan, I'm sorry for interrupting. Your time is up.

We will now proceed to our second round.

Mr. Redekopp, you have five minutes. Please proceed.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Thanks, Madam Chair, and thanks for being here, Minister.

I just wanted to mention that I met with Edward Galabaya in my office last week. He was very thankful about being allowed to stay in Canada. I appreciated your last-minute help, but hopefully in the future your department can respond a bit more quickly in cases like this.

I want to talk about the student direct stream. I wrote to you on December 2 last year about including Bangladesh in the student direct stream. It's proven that this is a much more reliable pathway to increase approval rates for students. It's been three months and I've not heard an answer from you.

The High Commissioner of Bangladesh appeared at this committee in February and implored us to make a recommendation that his country be included in the SDS. You have many Bangladeshis watching these proceedings right now. The high commissioner is very engaged in this. Students in Bangladesh are very interested. They're the brightest and the best that Bangladesh has to offer, and it is willing to share them with us. They bring great benefits to our country.

My question for you is this: Do you support Bangladesh being included in the student direct stream, and will you immediately instruct your officials to make this happen?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

First of all, I'm not going to immediately make directions or instruction in this committee, but I am very open to expanding the student direct stream to different countries. I think where it has been implemented it has been shown to have an incredible success rate.

The reason I don't want to do things immediately is that we see it's successful because of the legwork that goes into its implementation before the announcements are made. We want to make sure we give our officials and department staff the opportunity to partner with financial institutions and organizations on the ground in different countries, so that we don't make an announcement that is set up for failure. If we do the legwork first and figure out that we can find partners who will allow us to have the programs succeed, I'm certainly open to it.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

What sort of a timeline are we looking at? Pakistan was added in 2019. Are we talking about a week, a month, a year, 10 years? What's the timeline?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

I don't have a specific date for you, I'm afraid. In the second half of the meeting, if you wanted to speak with the officials about some of the steps that would be involved to achieve that kind of progress, I think they would be able to describe for you what would go into it, to give you a better sense of what's involved.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Regarding Ukraine and these new programs you have put in place, you have said that there's no limit to the number of applicants who are going to be able to apply from Ukraine. Does that mean that your overall numbers for the year are going to be increasing?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

No, and I think there's a really important distinction. Our immigration levels plan refers to permanent residents. What we're doing is a very innovative thing with the response to Ukraine. We're leveraging a temporary stream but extending the time for which people are allowed to remain in Canada to up two years, then providing them with an open work permit. It's a different program that doesn't impact our overall immigration levels.

One of the reasons we chose this pathway is because it leverages one of the most powerful streams that exists in our immigration system, which is used to process up to two million people a year who may come as tourists, for example, and it won't have an impact on our immigration levels plan.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Maybe to look at it a different way, you said you're going to shift the resources from different countries or from different streams—I'm not exactly sure. Are some countries going to be losing out in the short term because of this shift?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Not specific countries. Think of it this way: The people who are working to process temporary residency visas today are some of the same people who will be processing applications under this new express authority to travel to Canada from Ukraine. To the extent that there are people who have applications to come visit Canada as a tourist, there could be some impact.

I think we can mitigate these impacts over time with further investments to backstop the changes we have made, and by not pulling them out of certain other programs I think we can protect against a significant impact on some of the permanent residency streams. If we had the same people processing these new applications as were processing temporary residence visas, work permits and study permits.... There will be some impact, but we're doing everything we can to mitigate the extent of that impact.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

In response to Mr. Dhaliwal's questions about resources, you mentioned that biometric kits were being moved to eastern Europe.

What is the capacity of our embassies and consulates in eastern Europe to process these applications, and how much time will the biometrics burden add to the processing time?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

It won't necessarily add anything, because we can process biometrics in parallel to the processing of the application for the new travel document. The average processing time for a biometrics assessment is a few days, maybe five days or so. That can be done within the period in which the other application is being processed, but just to give you a sense of the scale of what our capacity is—

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Could I interrupt? I think there's another important question.

There are Russians who are forced to fight for Putin, and they are now surrendering as prisoners. What is the plan for these guys who might want asylum in Canada?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Right now the program we have announced applies to Ukrainian nationals who are fleeing the war. To the extent that new facts emerge, we have to be very cautious in how we proceed, because we want to make sure that we're not sparing any effort.

We can revisit this question when we have more time, but this is a phenomenon that has emerged literally in the last number of hours and days. I would hate to prejudge what—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting, Minister. Your time is up.

We will now proceed to Mr. El-Khoury.

Mr. El-Khoury, you will have five minutes. Please begin.

[Fayçal El-Khoury, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Minister, thank you very much for generously agreeing to meet with us to provide the committee with explanations and information during this difficult time.

Minister, there are many desperate people around the world. Their hope rests on your shoulders in this difficult time, because they are experiencing a difficult life in Ukraine, Afghanistan and other countries in the world. Thanks for your effort.

Mr. Minister, can you clarify the objectives for which additional funding of $15.8 million is being requested to process temporary resident visa applications for workers, students, and visitors?

Could you also give us some details about the Canada‑Quebec accord in the case of Ukraine?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

First of all, I want to thank the hon. member for his question and his concern for vulnerable people around the world.

Your questions were for the expenditures relating to operating costs and for the Canada-Quebec Accord. It's important that we understand that the system can do what it's funded to do.

In my remarks, I indicated, for the operating expenditures, a much larger figure even than you cited, Mr. El-Khoury. It's $118 million for IRCC's operating expenditures for the kinds of lines of business that you've seen.

I described in detail during our last meeting some of the impacts of the pandemic on our processing capacity at the department. We're starting to see the results of these kinds of expenditures. In addition to hiring 500 new staff, to increasing our levels plan, in addition to the $85 million that will be invested as a result of the economic and fiscal update and the digitization measures, we're starting to see that these investments are taking hold in a very meaningful way.

In the first two months of this year, there were 100,000 approvals for permanent residency, which is an extraordinary pace. We're seeing that people are going to be able to come here, including from Ukraine, and apply to receive open work permits that will allow them to work more effectively.

I know you'll have more questions. I want to address your question about the Canada-Quebec Accord on immigration. The supplementary estimates profile $46.8 million into this agreement.

Quebec has an immigration program that is unique in Canada. Elsewhere in the country, the system depends on investments in immigrant settlement agencies. In the province of Quebec, the situation is different; Quebec controls the selection of newcomers and provides financial support to settlement agencies to help newcomers settle.

Under the Canada‑Quebec accord, Canada transfers funds to the Province of Quebec for immigration services.

It's a unique situation that we have when it comes to Quebec's control of their own immigration system, and our job is to fund it. It's essential that they have the ability to set their immigration levels in accordance with their demographic weight, plus 5% under the accord, so they can maintain control and set their immigration levels at a stage that works for them.

[Fayçal El-Khoury, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Thank you. That's excellent.

Mr. Minister, if the Racialized Newcomer Women Pilot initiative was successful, would you welcome such a program to help other marginalized groups?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

There's a huge opportunity to do this. One thing we've learned over the last number of years across government departments is that when we started applying gender-based analysis plus to all of our spending decisions in government, the intersectionalities a person lives with impact the outcomes they experience with government programs. When we start to look at what impacts these investments have on francophone Canadians, on women, on racialized women, on people who live with these different needable characteristics about themselves, we can target investments that improve the social outcomes they experience.

I think this program is a recipe for success. If we start to apply it for people who live with different intersectionalities, we can enhance the quality of life they get to enjoy when they arrive in Canada, and increasing the quality of life for Canadians is what government is all about.