Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 7th, 2024

[C/Supt Richard Burchill]

Thank you for the question.

I would agree with the commissioner about the reallocation of resources—for certain.

Roxham Road was one particular point where we amalgamated a lot of resources. Some of those resources were already dedicated to the federal policing border program. Some of those resources were pulled from other federal policing units to assist because of the volume and the work that was required to do that.

When the volume of migrants started to slow down at Roxham Road and we redistributed our resources, some of those were just redistributed back to their border integrity positions, but some of them went back to their substantive units, which would have been national security, financial crime and serious and organized crime. I would agree with him that that is what happened when Roxham Road closed.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

According to Stats Canada, in 2015 there were just over 300 cases of human trafficking investigated under the authorities of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Criminal Code, but it increased to 550 in 2019, and it has continued to be high. It's almost a doubling of cases. As the Liberal government has lessened prison time, international organization criminals are becoming more emboldened.

Can you not see that as the Liberals have implemented these soft-on-crime house arrests—these kinds of things—there is a correlation between those policies and the rise of human trafficking in Canada? Or are you just saying that's not the case at all?

[C/Supt Richard Burchill]

I guess I wouldn't be able to comment on the number of cases because I wouldn't be tracking, or we as an organization wouldn't be necessarily tracking, the stats on the cases. We'd be dealing with the investigations that we're presented with.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

You're telling me that, within the RCMP, there is no tracking of statistics, that you don't know if crime is going up or down or sideways. Are you telling me that you're flying blind on these things?

[C/Supt Richard Burchill]

No, I wouldn't say that. To clarify, I guess what I would say is that federal policing and border integrity because of our mandate at the border—

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

We've gone down this road before. You just told me that you didn't know if things have increased, but now you've just said that there are stats. Which is it? Do you know, or do you not know? I'm confused.

[C/Supt Richard Burchill]

Yes, if I could have an opportunity to answer the question....

With regard to the federal policing mandate, when we get referrals, as my colleague from the CBSA said, on human trafficking cases in the federal program, we do those investigations. However, because human trafficking cases are primarily “police of jurisdiction” files, investigations get done in other parts of Canada where we're the police of jurisdiction as well, but where there are other police of jurisdiction.

The carriage of our human trafficking program falls under the contract and indigenous policing programs. I can certainly commit to come back to the committee with the statistics that we have on human trafficking cases from both programs. I guess what I am trying to say today is not that we don't have stats, but just that I wouldn't be tracking stats for the purpose of responding to this committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you very much, honourable member.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

If he could provide those stats to the committee, that would be good.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Sure. Thank you.

Now we'll go to the parliamentary secretary, Mr. Chiang.

Go ahead, please, for six minutes.

[Paul Chiang, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here today.

One of IRCC's responsibilities when it comes to human smuggling is to detect and correct misinformation regarding Canada's asylum and immigration programs. What kind of misinformation are we seeing, and can you expand on the work that is being done to correct it?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Who is the question for?

[Paul Chiang, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

It's for IRCC.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Mr. Harris, go ahead, please.

[Scott Harris, Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

IRCC is working closely with our partners in the international protection space to ensure that we are working through their networks not only to contact individuals who are at risk and potentially requiring protection and/or asylum but also to ensure that they have access to information about that. We push that information out on our website. We also have campaigns in regions where we see that people may be vulnerable to those activities.

A good example, actually, is a measure that our mission in Mexico has recently put in place called checa tu visa, which allows people with documents that may have been provided by individuals who are malicious actors offering bad information or false permits to check with our officials to make sure that the documents or the promises made to them are legitimate and accurate.

[Paul Chiang, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Thank you for that answer.

When the minister was here, we heard him talk about the global migration crisis that we are seeing across the world. As you said, Canada is not the only country facing this crisis, but we must continue supporting asylum seekers.

Can you expand on the programs that IRCC has put in place to help asylum seekers?

[Scott Harris]

There are a couple of the things that I would just highlight there quickly.

First, we are making significant engagements internationally to address the conditions that lead people to seek asylum. In December, Minister Miller announced a $75-million investment in programming elsewhere in the world, such as Latin America, to deal with some of the conditions and factors that are in place in those countries and to support people.

Obviously, here in Canada when people do claim asylum, we have measures in place, and we work closely with our provinces and territories to ensure, as has already been mentioned at the committee, that housing supports are in place and that other supports are in place. We've expedited the processing of work permits—with respect to another question—to ensure that people can be settled as quickly as possible and as safely as possible while their claims are being considered.

[Paul Chiang, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Does IRCC have a role in going to other countries to speak about the migration or asylum-seekers issue, or do we just do it locally in Canada?

[Scott Harris]

We have a mission footprint around the world, so our staff are present in many missions across the world and actively engage with local officials, with local NGOs and partners, and directly with the community to ensure that good information is made available to them.

[Paul Chiang, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

We also heard the minister discuss the open work permit for vulnerable workers. It helps workers on employer-specific work permits who are experiencing abuse from their employers.

Could you expand on the program, how it has helped temporary foreign workers and in what ways the program can be improved further?

[Scott Harris]

Thank you. The open work permit for vulnerable workers or exploited workers is open to people who currently have a valid work permit and who have experienced abuse. They are able to come forward either directly or through migrant support agencies, which are also supported through our colleagues at ESDC to ensure that people have access to supports outside of their employer. They come forward and their claims are assessed. Once their claim is approved, they will be offered an open work permit. That can be extended for up to three years.

[Paul Chiang, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

In his opening remarks, the minister also stated that police investigations and prosecution can take time. Immigration officers are able to provide immediate support if they believe someone is a victim of smuggling or human trafficking. Can you expand on these supports that you provide the victims?

[Scott Harris]

Yes. Similar to what I've just responded, the IRCC role within both the strategy on human trafficking and the strategy on human smuggling is around providing immigration protection, so ensuring that people have an opportunity to regularize their status so they're not out of status in Canada and are able to work and to access supports in place. Some programs also offer access to the interim federal health programs so that people have access to health care resources, and in the case of the open work permit, we also waive fees associated with applying.

[Paul Chiang, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Could the officials from IRCC, CBSA and RCMP please explain the difference between human trafficking and human smuggling and the role that your department plays in combatting human trafficking and human smuggling?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Director General Anson, we'll start with you.