Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 20th, 2024

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

We submitted all of those 287 in terms of making sure that we have a complete family unit. Of the people who applied—of the 986 who are eligible—if there is one or two of them whose identity we cannot confirm, if there is an ineligibility or an inadmissibility, we cannot tear or separate the families. The one family unit has gone to them. That is the number.

As we get more information, we keep on adding those numbers. Every week, we send more numbers and more names to COGAT.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Why are people getting their security blocked—of the names that have been submitted? What is the reason that Israel or Egypt has provided to the government?

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

If I were aware of that, I would not be able to provide you that information.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

So far, nobody's received approval, and the minister can't say—or is not aware of—why they're all being blocked. Would that be right?

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

We're not talking about all. There has been a list of well over 300 submitted to COGAT. Ideally, they will get approved.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

How many have been approved out of that 300?

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

Because people need to exit and need to get to Cairo to do their additional biometrics, there are none, by virtue of the program, who have been issued a TRV. They require consent from both COGAT and the Egyptian authorities.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Out of the 300, how many have received consent?

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

Of that list, we have not had any success.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Okay, so it's not one.

Of the 300 names that have been submitted, not one has received consent. Not one has received a TRV through this process.

All right—and the minister wants to blame the NDP for their failure—let's set that aside for a minute.

I just spoke with a family member here who advised that at least 49 people have been killed as they wait for this process to proceed. For the family members who have died waiting for their codes, will they be refunded the cost of their applications?

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

Sorry, could you just rephrase that question for a second time?

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

At least 49 people have been killed waiting for their application to be processed, waiting for their code. Because they have now been killed, will they be refunded for the cost of their application?

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

I would assume that would be the case, yes.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

All right.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

For the people who have crossed over to Egypt for waiting, how long does the minister expect the processing time to be for those individuals to get their TRVs to get out to Canada to safety?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

You have nine seconds to answer, Minister.

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

Again, it's a limited subset but I would expect that once biometrics are completed, rather expeditiously.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

What is the average processing time?

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

I'll defer to officials, but given the low numbers, it wouldn't be an accurate sample.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you very much, honourable member and Minister.

Minister, thank you for staying overtime, and I appreciate that. I know you were going to leave at 6:30 but you have accommodated members. Thank you.

I am going to suspend the meeting for up to a minute before we start with the officials.

I call the meeting back to order.

Let me see if the officials are ready.

We will start with Mr. Redekopp for six minutes.

Please go ahead.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Thank you, Deputy Minister, for being here and answering our questions.

I just want to ask some general questions about how Canada deals with people who have passports from entities that may not be recognized as countries. For instance, the Liberal government currently recognizes Israel as a state, but not Palestine; however, they do recognize that the Palestinian Authority can and does issue passports for people in those territories.

That said, before I get into the issue specifically, I just want to know more generally about the process.

What is the IRCC's estimate of the percentage of people who arrive at our border who may have passports but are not from countries that are recognized by Canada?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

The countries that are recognized in terms of entry into Canada are mostly the ones that are through the ICAO guidelines, which is a standard we adhere to. The names of those countries are provided to us, and it's an international component.

For us to actually see what country is really represented on the passport, we have a full list, and it has been made clear internationally that it would be the one that would be identified as the one to which we would allow entry.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

By that do you mean that there are no people who have entered Canada who do not have passports from valid countries?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Mr. Chair, what I'm referring to is a list that is provided by ICAO and that is the list we work with.

The folks who actually represent with that passport are allowed to enter into Canada.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Okay.

More specifically, regarding Gaza and the Palestinian people who are living in the strip and the program that you're here for today, on your website it says this:

After entering Canada, in most cases you can stay for up to 3 years as a temporary resident, as long as your passport and biometrics are valid for the entire time. If your passport or biometrics expire in less than 3 years, your status as a temporary resident will expire at the same time. You can apply to extend your status before it expires, but you need to make sure your passport and biometrics are up-to-date before you apply.

I have questions about that statement.

First, is the Israeli-issued identification card valid for Gazans in lieu of a passport for the purposes of this program?