Evidence of meeting #95 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was program.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Chair, this particular public policy is referring to a Palestinian Authority-issued passport.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
Regarding passports for people from Gaza, they're issued by the Palestinian Authority out of the West Bank, and not by Hamas out of Gaza. Is that correct?
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I would say that the Palestinian Authority is the authority we are recognizing as the one that is the valid entity.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
What about passports that are issued by the Jordanian government for Gazans for the purposes of this program?
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Sorry, could you repeat the question, please?
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
What about passports that are issued by the Jordanian government for Gazans for the purposes of this program?
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
If they are Jordanian residents or they are actually Jordanian nationals, they will be processed accordingly.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
Okay.
I want to talk a bit about Egypt. On Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board website, in direct reference to the issue of documents for Gazans, the IRB addresses the issue around Egypt. It clearly states that a person from Gaza requires either a valid identification card issued by Israel or a passport issued by the Palestinian Authority to cross the border into Egypt.
Did the Canadian government consult with the Egyptian government before announcing this program? Obviously, people have to pass through Egypt. I'm just curious to know if our government consulted with the Egyptian government.
Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Mr. Chair, the short answer is yes. We did consult with the Egyptian authorities.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
What specifically has Canada done to coordinate with Egypt on the issue of these passports of people coming from Gaza?
Assistant Deputy Minister, International Affairs and Crisis Response, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Thank you very much.
The engagement with the Government of Egypt was done primarily by our head of mission and our team in Cairo.
What we see often with Palestinians, and we saw this during.... Maybe I'll back up. IRCC has actually been very engaged in the departure of foreign national residents from Gaza as part of the assisted departure, because many Canadians had family members who were non-Canadian. What we saw in that context was that often, because of the context in Gaza, people didn't have documents, including their passports, and the Egyptian government was issuing them a document at the airport.
Our officers, when they're processing, don't always need the document. We have lots of ways that we can verify folks' identity, including in conversations and interviews. We've been able to have good co-operation in that sense.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
The department has interviewed people that come in without proper paperwork, and you're able to determine their identity.
Assistant Deputy Minister, International Affairs and Crisis Response, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I'll be very clear. Most of the TRVs that have been issued to date are foreign nationals who came out of Gaza as part of the assisted departure. We often saw that individuals did not have all of the documents, but as part of the immigration process, the processing includes interviews.
Individuals came to Cairo as part of assisted departure, and the IRCC team in Cairo, in parallel with the consular operation, set up an operation whereby we did interviews in person of family members when they arrived in Cairo, so yes.
Conservative
Assistant Deputy Minister, International Affairs and Crisis Response, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I can tell you how many TRVs were issued. I would have to confirm, because for many families we may have done an interview of the parents, for example, but not the children, so that's not a data point I would have, but I think the data point on how many TRVs were issued is a good proxy for the number of interviews.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
As you don't have it, can you supply that information to the committee on the number of interviews that have been done for this program?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
Thank you very much, honourable member, Ms. MacIntyre and deputy minister.
We'll go to Mr. El-Khoury for six minutes.
Please go ahead.
Liberal
Fayçal El-Khoury Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to welcome the three witnesses, and thank them for their generosity. They always agree to come back before the committee to enlighten us on certain issues.
Ms. MacIntyre, many Canadians and people in the riding I represent, in particular, are concerned about the safety of their family members and loved ones in Gaza. Under these measures, the number of applications that can be accepted has been capped at 1,000, which has caused a great deal of concern.
Could you explain the objective of this cap to the committee?
Assistant Deputy Minister, International Affairs and Crisis Response, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Thank you very much for the question.
It's true that the government has set the cap at 1,000 applications. As we said earlier and over the past few weeks, Minister Miller is very open to the idea of increasing that cap if we can set up a program that successfully gets people out of Gaza through the Rafah border crossing. We can then proceed with their application.
Liberal
Fayçal El-Khoury Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC
Could you tell us if there are any plans to impose a cap on other similar measures?
Assistant Deputy Minister, International Affairs and Crisis Response, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
The deputy minister may want to jump in, but I would say that capping is a tool that is often used in immigration programs to ensure good management. It wasn't unique to Gaza, and it's not unusual for a cap to be set and then changed after the government has gauged interest in the program.
Liberal
Assistant Deputy Minister, International Affairs and Crisis Response, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
That is a very good question, thank you.
As the minister said earlier, this process is both an art and a science. In the case of Gaza, the government wanted to have a program in place very quickly, at the end of December, and they didn't really know if there would be interest in it.
Now, we have a better understanding of the interest this program is generating among families in Canada. That's why the minister said he was very open to the idea of increasing that cap.
Liberal
Fayçal El-Khoury Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC
As part of the measures announced, people affected by this conflict, whether on the Gaza or Israel side, also have access to federally funded settlement services.
Can you explain what kind of effect this measure will have?