Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 7th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

We have quorum.

I call this meeting to order. We are meeting in public.

Before I introduce the honourable minister and the special guests with us today, I'll mention that we have two honourable members who are new on this committee: Mr. Pierre Paul-Hus and Mr. Chandra Arya. Welcome to the committee.

Besides this, we have technical support.

Jean-François, welcome and thank you for being our technical support here.

Welcome to meeting number 90 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.

Today, for a briefing on migrant trafficking and smuggling, we have with us the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, the Honourable Marc Miller, along with the officials. From the Canada Border Services Agency, we have Mr. Daniel Anson. From the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, we have Mr. Scott Harris, associate deputy minister; and Madame Michèle Kingsley, assistant deputy minister, economic, family and social immigration. From the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, we have Chief Superintendent Richard Burchill, who is the acting assistant commissioner, federal policing criminal operations.

Welcome, Minister and officials.

Minister Miller will present for the first full hour, with the officials going for the second hour.

With that, Minister Miller, go ahead with your opening statement. Thank you.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Thank you, Chair.

I will begin by acknowledging our presence on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.

We are here to discuss a matter we take very seriously—the protection of vulnerable migrants from human trafficking, smuggling and organized crime.

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

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, I'm on the French channel, but I'm getting the English translation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

I'll suspend the meeting for a few seconds to make sure that the interpretation works.

We will start from the beginning.

Go ahead, please.

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

Thank you, Chair.

I'm acknowledging our presence on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.

We are here to discuss a matter we take very seriously—the protection of vulnerable migrants against human trafficking, smuggling and organized crime.

IRCC plays an important role, both in combatting human trafficking and migrant smuggling, as well as protecting the rights and dignity of migrants who are either entering or are already in Canada. Our top priority is to maintain the integrity of our programs and promote safe and regular migration while also ensuring that we are humane and compassionate in our approach towards migrants.

Victims may enter Canada through a number of routes, whether as international students, workers, caregivers and visitors, or with a non-valid immigration status.

It should of course be noted that, with nearly 110 million people displaced globally, the world is facing a global migration crisis, and Canada is not alone in feelings its impacts.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Go ahead, Ms. Kwan.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

My device is also not working. There's no interpretation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Hold on, please.

We have to suspend for a few more seconds to make sure that everything works.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

The new interpreter has to get familiar with the system. Otherwise, the system is working fine. If there are any issues, please do raise your hand, and we'll accommodate.

With this, Minister, please continue.

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

I assume that only my last two paragraphs were not interpreted.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

There's still no sound.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Do you want the minister to start from the beginning?

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

No. I'm sorry, even after the minister started the second round, there's still no sound coming through. Maybe my device is broken. I don't know.

I'll try this one.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

I'm going to suspend the meeting to make sure that Ms. Kwan's device is working.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

With this, Minister, I am so sorry, but we will have to give you an opportunity to repeat. I would really appreciate it if you could start from the beginning. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to begin by acknowledging our presence on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.

I'm here today to discuss a matter we take very seriously—the protection of vulnerable migrants against human trafficking, smuggling and organized crime.

IRCC plays a key role both in combatting human trafficking and migrant smuggling, as well as protecting the rights and dignity of migrants who are either entering or are already in Canada. Our top priority is to maintain the integrity of our programs and promote safe and regular migration, while also ensuring that we are humane and compassionate in our approach towards migrants.

Victims may enter Canada through a number of routes, whether as international students, workers, caregivers and visitors, or with a non-valid immigration status.

It should be noted that, with nearly 110 million people displaced globally, the world is facing a global migration crisis, and Canada is of course not alone in feelings its impacts. In particular, we are seeing unprecedented levels of migration and forced displacement from the Americas.

Our priority has always been and will always remain preserving the integrity of our immigration system, while also ensuring that we are fair and compassionate towards those fleeing persecution.

We continue to work with our global partners to promote safe and regular pathways of migration, which includes our commitment to welcome 15,000 people from the Americas.

Through the national strategy to combat human trafficking, my department also works with national and international partners to detect traffickers and offer programs and support for victims, importantly. Our continued efforts are vital to ensure that Canada eliminates criminal organizations that are taking advantage of vulnerable migrants.

Statistics Canada reports that 96% of human trafficking victims are women and girls. Of those, nearly 70% are under the age of 25, with sexual exploitation cited as a common motivator for traffickers. We can't look the other way on such atrocious acts.

Based on police reporting, we know that approximately 30% of human trafficking incidents are related to immigration. One incident is too many. Our immigration officers work in partnership with the Canada Border Services Agency and the RCMP to combat this.

As well, since police investigations and prosecutions can take a considerable amount of time, our immigration officers can provide immediate support if they believe an individual is a victim of smuggling or human trafficking.

In addition—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Again there is a problem. We are hearing the French interpreters on the English channel.

Is it fixed?

Minister, please go ahead.

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

In addition, we use our whole-of-government strategy to disrupt migrant smuggling attempts destined for Canada by land, air or sea, and to assist migrants stranded as a result of these activities.

We will continue to work with domestic law enforcement agencies and international partners to combat international criminal organizations that seek to profit from the desperation and vulnerability of others.

We also have measures in place to help connect victims to the services they need. IRCC may issue temporary resident permits to out-of-status human trafficking victims so that they can access physical and mental health services and prescription drug coverage through the interim federal health program. These temporary resident permits also allow them to apply for work and study permits at the same time, and we waive some processing fees.

Workers on employer-specific work permits who experience abuse from their employer are also eligible to apply for an open work permit for vulnerable workers. This is to help them leave abusive situations without jeopardizing their ability to continue working in Canada, if applicable.

Between 2015 and 2023, IRCC issued 906 temporary resident permits to foreign national victims of human trafficking and their dependents. In addition, between July 2019 and December 2023, we issued 4,857 open work permits for vulnerable workers.

Another measure we’ve collectively taken is the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline. This toll-free hotline is available 24/7 and in 200 languages—including 27 indigenous languages—to receive reports of suspected cases of human trafficking and connect victims to community supports.

We will continue to use all of the tools at our disposal to curb these heinous crimes and ensure the safety of vulnerable migrants.

Thank you, and I will now take your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you, Minister.

Honourable members, if you think the minister is going too long on the answer, instead of interrupting him, could you raise your hand? Then I will make sure that your time is respected, and I will acknowledge you or the minister. Instead of cross-talk, that will work well.

With that, we will go to the first round. For the first round, we will go to honourable member Paul-Hus for six minutes.

Please, go ahead.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good morning, Minister, gentlemen and madam.

My question is about the visas that the Conservative government imposed on Mexico in 2009. The government required Mexicans to obtain a visa to come to Canada from then on, so as to avoid the criminal problems associated with certain individuals. Of course, it wasn't everybody, but some people were taking advantage of the system to come to Canada. That is why the government imposed visas.

In 2016, the Liberal government made the decision to lift that visa requirement. At the time, I was my party's critic on this file and I gave several interviews to state our party's position and to say that lifting this requirement made no sense, that it would not work and that we would have problems. Clearly, that is what we are experiencing today.

Minister, can you confirm for me that it was a bad decision at the time?

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

I don't know if it was a bad decision at the time. Requiring a full visa from one of our most important trading partners was clearly a problem in terms of trade flows, which have increased significantly since that decision was made, both directly and indirectly, as has tourism.

However, when we lifted that requirement, we did so with certain conditions. One of the things Mexico had to do was make sure that the people who would come here would not necessarily be people who would claim asylum. It can certainly happen in the flow, but asylum claims are now at a level that is higher than we had expected, and we feel that this is unacceptable.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

I understand what you're saying about the pressure you had in terms of trade negotiations. The fact remains that the decision made in 2009 took all of that into account. There was a crime problem among asylum seekers who stayed in Canada and infiltrated street gangs or cartels such as Sinaloa and MS-13.

Today, we have a situation where people are arriving in Canada with a fake Mexican passport and are not necessarily Mexicans, but rather from other countries.

Have you started reimposing stricter measures, such as the return of visas?

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

First of all, I would hesitate to associate all flows of people coming here with crime. I'm sure you are not—

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

That's what I said when I asked my first question, Minister. I said that it was not everyone, of course.

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

A diplomatic process is under way. I met with the Mexican ambassador two days ago. We spoke very frankly about the challenges we face and about our good relationship.

Not every decision will necessarily be announced publicly in advance, which could cause problems for people who want to contact the authorities in case something happens.

I don't want to—