Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 9th, 2026

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

Madam Chair, I'm going to be splitting my time with MP Ho.

Very quickly, today I think we verified that detention capacity has been significantly reduced in Canada at a very problematic time. We've also determined that people have been released while being on a deportation order prior to being deported.

Mr. Bush, you referred to provincial detention. Does the CBSA rely on the provinces for detention capacity? Do the provinces have independent authority to release a detainee without the CBSA's knowledge?

[Brett Bush]

For the first part, I'll make it quick. We used to use, in combination with immigration holding centres, some capacity at provincial detention facilities across the country. Provinces have systematically withdrawn from that particular activity through notifications over the last several years.

In terms of your second question, when we were using those, no. The only organization that could release them past the first detention review is sitting to my left. It's the Immigration and Refugee Board. This is the only organization that could order their release. The provinces would have no authority for that.

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

I'll turn this over to Mr. Ho now.

[Vincent Ho, Conservative, Richmond Hill South, ON]

I have a question for the officials. Would it be possible for you to table for this committee every version of the instructions governing the streaming of less complex claims at the RPD since 2017, the countries listed on those instructions and any communications of the IRCC, DMO or cabinet regarding creation or modification of the list, within 30 days?

[A voice]

Yes.

[Vincent Ho, Conservative, Richmond Hill South, ON]

Thank you.

How much time do I have, Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thirty seconds.

[Vincent Ho, Conservative, Richmond Hill South, ON]

I have a question for anyone on the panel. How many numbers are associated with terrorist organizations who have active claims at the IRB? Is this something you can provide as well? You probably don't have the answer now, but could you provide it at a later date, within 30 days?

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you, Mr. Ho—

[Vincent Ho, Conservative, Richmond Hill South, ON]

I'm sorry. Was that a yes?

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

I think I saw a nod. Madame Brassard, is that okay? Thank you, Madame Brassard.

Thank you, Mr. Ho.

Lastly, to finish, we have Ms. Sodhi.

[Amandeep Sodhi, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My question is for you, Mr. Bush. As you know, Canada's new government recently introduced Bill C-12, the strengthening Canada's immigration system and borders act, to help stabilize the system and give law enforcement the tools needed to keep Canadians safe.

Can you outline what measures are included in this legislation that will specifically support the CBSA in its work to maintain security integrity in the immigration system?

[Brett Bush]

I've tried to reference it a couple of times, but first and foremost is the concern that all the measures for security screening and intervention work will be completed before the claim is referred to the board for a determination. That's the first piece.

The second piece is that there will be one application, so we will also be getting the basis of claim submitted by the client earlier in the process. Right now, it's a two-step process: There's the application for the refugee claim and then the submission of the basis of claim form, which is the foundation for the board's work. However, all of that information will now be provided through the application, which is also covered in Bill C-12, so we can do a security screening and determine whether we want to intervene on the full package of information that is being considered after we've finished our work at the board.

[Amandeep Sodhi, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

Can you tell us what immediate or near-term effects you predict this legislation will have once it comes into force in terms of stabilizing the immigration system? Can an official from IRCC quickly answer that?

[Jason Hollmann]

My colleague from the CBSA listed a couple of them. One of the core components of the bill is a number of process changes for the asylum system. All of those are designed to address some of the areas of bottleneck that we found within the system and improve the information flow among the three organizations. They should lead to efficiency gains in how we process those claims and allow us to do more in a faster way. They will also generate some improvements for our core clients.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you, Mr. Hollmann.

Thank you, Ms. Sodhi.

This ends our session today. I want to say a very warm thank you to all of our witnesses. It was a very full two hours. I really appreciated your patience and your important testimony.

I also want to thank all my colleagues for their very thoughtful questions.

Our next session, which is on Wednesday, March 11, will be to discuss our draft report on international students.

Thank you. This meeting is adjourned.