Evidence of meeting #11 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was claim.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
Front-end screening helps our colleagues improve faster. That would be good. I'd recommend effective decision case reviews and interventions, because the sooner we know, the better it is for us to activate.
Have a look at the legal aid system, because how it's organized triggers some behaviours. That is the wrong word, but that's the one that comes to mind because the lawyers' fee structure is such that it would drive decision-making from the legal aid lawyer as to when to do certain things.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dzerowicz
Madam Brassard, I'm very sorry; I have to cut you off, but if you would like to submit the rest of those recommendations, I think that would be very helpful to committee.
Bloc
Mario Simard Bloc Jonquière, QC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Ms. Brassard, you may have already told us this, but I'd like to know what the approval rate is for, say, every 100 asylum claims.
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
That rate is actually fairly consistent from one year to the next.
Bloc
Mario Simard Bloc Jonquière, QC
Do you have information about the ports of entry?
Earlier, you said that there were 150,000 asylum claims in 2024‑25.
Where did those people make their asylum claims?
Can IRCC provide that information?
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
Yes, the numbers are available.
We know how many asylum claims are made at an IRCC office. IRCC gets that information every day, but I think we have it as well.
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
We can see that there are fluctuations. For example, we tend to get more asylum claims in July and August and fewer in some months.
When we look at statistics for a number of years, we can see trends.
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dzerowicz
That completes our testimony.
I want to mention something very quickly, for the record.
Asylum claimants do not have access to all of the Canadian benefits in Canadian society. They only have access to basic health care and coverage. That's emergency and essential coverage. They may be eligible for additional provincial social assistance, but that depends on the provinces. Of course, they can apply for a work permit.
I want to make sure we put that on the record.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
I have a point of order.
That's factually incorrect. That's not what the interim federal health program covers. If you're presenting government talking points, I think you might want to read the eligibility requirements of the interim—
Conservative
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
You put it on the record as a point of debate, so you've introduced debate. It is not factually correct.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Do you agree that there is an inconsistency in what you said on—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dzerowicz
Thank you very much, Ms. Rempel Garner. I'm going to ask that you're—
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
No, I have a point of order. I want to take this to a ruling.
You have asked for something to be put on the record that is factually incorrect.