Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Oct. 30th, 2025

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here.

I want to follow up on the line of questioning we just heard. Maybe this is more for officials, given the level of detail I will ask about.

I'm curious: Has the level of screening evolved over the years? We heard just now about cases from a decade ago. Has the level of screening evolved over the years to ensure that the safety and security of Canadians is always intact?

That's to the officials. I'm sure it's a very detailed question.

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

We have been modernizing, for sure. We have biometrics now, and fingerprinting, to help build confidence in Canada's system.

Why don't I hand it to Tara to explain a bit more in terms of how things have evolved and what exactly we're working on to modernize the system even more?

[Tara Lang]

I might highlight a few areas that we have improved to protect Canadians, including security screening, biometrics and information sharing with partners.

As you know, all foreign nationals are screened before coming into Canada to determine their eligibility and admissibility.

In addition, we do have a comprehensive security screening assessment to confirm that anyone who wants to come to Canada isn't inadmissible under sections 34, 35 or 37, which are the security, human rights, organized crime and war criminal sections of the act. We make sure that we assess all permanent resident and temporary resident applications, and we work very closely with our partners on the security side—the RCMP, the CBSA and CSIS—to make sure that an applicant is not inadmissible.

Additionally, we collect biometric information to help build confidence in Canada's immigration perimeter, and it serves as a foundation of identity management.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you.

I have very limited time. I just want to get to the question. Are our practices evolving and homing in to increasingly ensure that any misfits are not entering this country?

[Tara Lang]

Very recently, on January 17 of this year, regulation changes came into force to implement amendments to the agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the United States for the sharing of visa and immigration information. These changes enable the automated exchange of biographic and biometric information on permanent residents of both Canada and the United States.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

That's helpful. Thank you for that. We are getting info from America. That's helpful. That answers my question

I have about two and a half minutes left.

I would like to go into charter compliance. I have heard many civil society organizations speak about challenges that they have with this legislation. They include a number of organizations that have expertise in immigration. We know that every law must pass a charter test. Can you elaborate a bit about the testing that has gone on and how you view this as being charter-complaint?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

The government believes that the bill is charter-compliant. The justice department assessed the proposed measures as set out in the charter statement. This was done when Bill C-2 was introduced. We know that the provisions in C-12 that we're studying are identical to that. The assessment of the proposed amendments is that they are consistent with the charter both on asylum ineligibilities and as well as on the document control authorities. There are four parts that we have here as well as the information-sharing authorities and the asylum reforms.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you.

I would like to circle back to Mrs. DeBellefeuille's question about what happens when the situation in a country or of an asylum seeker changes.

You've referred to the pre-removal risk assessment. The pre-removal risk assessment isn't as robust as the procedures that relate to asylum and refugee claims. How do you square that circle in terms of when a situation changes for an individual who would merit a normal claim, but the PRRA isn't exactly the same? It's not as robust. How do you square that circle please?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

If the situation changes for the individual, they are allowed to bring that into evidence at the pre-removal risk assessment. These are trained professionals who will be conducting these adjudicative hearings, and they are able to ascertain those facts. We believe that the system should be efficient. Obviously, when we first start, it will take a bit of time, but we believe that it will make it more efficient and make us more productive.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Zuberi.

We are now on our third round, and we are going to start with five minutes for Mr. Ma.

[Michael Ma, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Minister, under section 81 of IRPA how many warrants for arrest were issued last year, and what were the results of these warrants?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Thank you, colleague, for the question.

That's not under my purview. IRCC doesn't issue warrants. That's not something that we do. Again, as I said, we work with CBSA, policing partners and so on.

[Michael Ma, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

I understand CBSA executing it, but it's the ministry and IRCC that determines whether a warrant should be issued for this individual.

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

No, it wouldn't be in the purview of IRCC.

[Michael Ma, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

The short answer is that you don't know how many there are. It's never been reported to the government or Canadians.

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

It wouldn't be in the IRCC's purview. If you would like CBSA to comment a bit on it, the official is here.

[Michael Ma, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

That's okay. We'll move on.

This leads to the consideration that your ministry lets people in, yet you lose track of them. It was testified, by the RCMP and CBSA in previous sessions, that they don't know where these people are. No wonder we're in such a mess with 300,000 people and we don't know where a lot of them are.

Moving onto the next question, people are apprehended under section 82.2 powers of IRPA. Again, last year how many people were apprehended and how many people were released?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

IRCC doesn't apprehend anybody. IRCC expects temporary residents to leave Canada when their authorized stay is over. If they do not, that's when CBSA, for deportation, and policing, if there are other issues, take over.

[Michael Ma, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

It sounds like it's on a volunteer basis, then, once you inform them.

Moving on, last year, how many social insurance numbers were disbursed under section 90 of the IRPA? Surely, that's within the purview of the ministry.

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Social insurance numbers...?

[Michael Ma, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Yes, these are for—

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

That would not be under the IRCC. It might be under Service Canada.

[Michael Ma, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

No, this is section 90. This is special—not your regular Canadian citizens or permanent residents. This is under the immigration purview.

We're short of time. Obviously, you don't have the answer to that.

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

We can take that back. If there's a question, we'll be happy to bring it back to you.

[Michael Ma, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Minister, do you report on the number of removal orders, then, enforced within the last 30 days' interval?