Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 7th, 2024

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

Again, this is not an issue that is limited to Mexico. That 11% you are citing is erroneous; the number is closer to 30%. It is very important to correct that record. We can give you all the information in order to correct that. It is much lower than it is—

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Will you provide it to this committee?

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

Absolutely.

It is much lower than the acceptance rates we see at the Immigration and Refugee Board with respect to other asylum seekers. Undoubtedly, the volumes are disconcerting when it comes to people coming in from Mexico.

I would add one qualification, which is that claims made at the airport are probably understating the number of people coming to the airport, because there are people who come here and then spend 14 days or more and then make the claim afterwards. They are not necessarily, to the best of my understanding, tabulating that. However, I don't want to downplay the severity of the issue.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

But this is a separate number from the 14,000.

I want to remind you that in 2016, the government put out a news release. It's right on the Prime Minister's website. It refers to the visa requirement being lifted. It goes on to say in one of the paragraphs, “Closer collaboration between Canada and Mexico on mobility issues will also help encourage travel between the two countries while preventing any increase in asylum claims or other irregular migration.” That obviously hasn't happened if the numbers have gone from 250 to well over 14,000 claims being made in just one year, and at the IRB there are tens of thousands of claims from just one country of origin. It begs the question of why you haven't acted since August to reimpose the visa requirement on Mexican nationals.

Also, what prevention measures were used between 2016 and 2024, and why haven't they worked?

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

First and foremost, I think you'll agree with me that the fact that you haven't seen visa requirements imposed doesn't mean there hasn't been action taken or that we are not seized with the severity of the issue. My colleagues here live that on a daily basis. That's a different consideration.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

The numbers aren't coming down.

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

Clearly there is a challenge. When it comes to asylum seekers generally, we're facing historic flows. We're not immune. Every country in the world that people want to go to is seeing massive numbers of people coming to it in an irregular fashion.

You asked what action was taken. In December I cancelled a public policy with respect to certain visas we had put in place after COVID to deal with a lot of the backlog. That policy was cancelled, and there are now stricter terms in place for visas generally. That should impact the aggregate number of asylum claims, although I do recognize that it is not directly related to our relationship with Mexico, which, again, is very important and every decision has to be made in the correct fashion.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Minister, the cancellation of policies that have to do with the COVID pandemic doesn't go back to 2016. There was no pandemic in 2016.

I asked you a two-part question: Why haven't you acted since August, and what were these measures that are still on the Prime Minister's website? It says, “Canada to lift visa requirements for Mexico”, and it goes on to say, “while preventing any increase in asylum claims”. The government said that. It was 250. It's in the tens of thousands, and you admitted that now 70% of them are being rejected.

Why haven't you reimposed a visa requirement on Mexican nationals?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Minister, we are already 30 seconds over. Please give a brief answer.

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

Again, it doesn't mean that we are not taking the steps necessary to change that reality, but I'm not going to tell you in advance when it will occur. I think as a responsible member of Parliament you can appreciate precisely why.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you, Mr. Kmiec.

Thank you, honourable Minister.

We will go to Mr. El-Khoury for five minutes.

Please, go ahead.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome to our committee, Minister Miller. I would also like to welcome the public servants.

Minister Miller, I was delighted to hear you announce last week that the federal government will provide $100 million to Quebec under the interim housing assistance program. This funding will help the province prepare affordable housing and take in asylum seekers. Minister Fréchette called the funding a step in the right direction.

Could you explain to this committee in detail the funding that our government provided to Quebec?

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

Thank you, Mr. El‑Khoury.

As I've said publicly, the Quebec government does more than its fair share to take in asylum seekers. In addition, compared to other provinces, Quebec has a more structured and organized approach to taking in asylum seekers. Clearly, the flow of migrants varies from province to province. Ontario and Quebec face the highest demand. For both provinces, the proportions are higher than their percentage of Canada's population.

Last week, we announced $100 million to help Quebec house asylum seekers. This comes on top of another $50 million announced from a different budget and $60 million to $70 million from that program. The interim housing assistance program dates back to 2017. In response to the flow of migrants, the federal government decided that it needed to get more involved in housing asylum seekers. Is this the perfect solution? No. Perhaps other solutions would be more suitable, including tightening up the border a bit.

Regardless, Quebec has received a great deal of money so that it can keep taking in asylum seekers. In addition, over 10,000 asylum seekers have also agreed to move to other provinces, obviously with the consent of those provinces.

The issue is significant. Work remains to be done. We aren't out of the woods yet. However, despite the heavy political rhetoric, from a humanitarian perspective, these people need proper housing.

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

In recent weeks, we've heard many Quebeckers say that we should be doing more for asylum seekers. They have asked the federal government to increase funding for the interim housing assistance program. As you said, this has just been done.

Our government has done more than provide funding through this program. Can you talk about other ways that we've helped Quebec while abiding by the terms of the Canada–Quebec Accord relating to Immigration and Temporary Admission of Aliens?

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

This funding is vital for the entire country, especially for Toronto and the surrounding cities. They're facing a huge influx of migrants from Quebec. These migrants arrive in Montreal but don't stay and move on to Toronto. The area is a magnet for these people, who come to see their loved ones and who are in survival mode.

The Canada-Quebec accord is a key tool in our relationship with Quebec. When it was signed, the goal was to maintain Quebec's demographic weight within Canada. The accord gives Quebec a great deal of power, choice and responsibility. I'm sure many provinces are jealous. In 2015, when our party came to power, the amounts allocated were roughly $365 million and a few crumbs. Today, the figures have more than doubled. It's significant, because immigration is on the rise.

The funding under Quebec's control hasn't increased. The province has this money regardless of its immigration thresholds.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you very much, Mr. El-Khoury.

We will go to Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe for two and a half minutes, please.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister Miller, Romain Schué conducted an excellent investigation that aired on Radio‑Canada this fall. It showed that Mexican cartels control various forms of trafficking at borders, including human trafficking. Do you agree that Mexican cartels control borders in part because Mexican visitors don't need visas to enter Canada?

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

I can't enter the mind of a criminal. Clearly, criminals take advantage of the vulnerability and volume of people who come to Canada. It's a known fact that people are abused and exploited. However, regardless of a person's reason for coming to Canada, a passport or visa requirement won't stop an individual determined to do this sort of thing, obviously.

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

Mr. Burchill, in your opinion, is the lack of a visa requirement for Mexican visitors to Canada related to the control exerted by the increasingly present Mexican cartels at the Canadian and American borders?

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

I would say that, in general, people—

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

My question is for Mr. Burchill.

[Chief Superintendent Richard Burchill, Acting Assistant Commissioner, Federal Policing Criminal Operations, Royal Canadian Mounted Police]

Thank you for the question.

I wouldn't necessarily draw the correlation that any immigration patterns are responsible for organized crime per se in this particular regard. What I would say is that, as mentioned, these folks who are coming over are vulnerable. Organized criminals of all stripes, Mexican cartel included, will exploit that.

The numbers are not something that we track, whether it's the number of migrants or the number of investigations that we have, but what we can say is that organized crime writ large of all different stripes is involved in human trafficking and human smuggling, and we can say that in Canada, from our investigations across the country, there is Mexican organized crime involved in this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you, Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe. Your time is up.

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

Is my time up already?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Yes. That was two and half minutes. Thank you.