Evidence of meeting #23 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.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
You don't know his name. Your department was there. They were the ones—
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
Yes, but I don't know the name of every single person who makes a claim.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Does this not ring a bell with you?
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
Well, the case does. I don't know the name.
Conservative
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Why is the IRB prioritizing the privacy, then, of an alleged member of a terrorist organization over the safety of Iranian Canadians?
Conservative
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Let me talk facts, not hypotheticals. I represent the region that has probably the highest population of Iranian Canadians living in Canada. That's the Richmond Hill area. There are folks out there who came into the country, who should never have been allowed here in the first place and who are basically terrorizing people in the community. They should not be here. It appears that the IRB has taken a position not to disclose their names.
Does the IRB grant the same level of anonymity to other terrorist organizations, such as ISIS or al Qaeda, or is it specific to the Iranian community?
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
The legislation provides, generally speaking, that when someone makes a refugee claim, the claim is in camera. We have to protect the identity of refugee claimants who appear before us in all hearings. This could be the reason.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Okay, but do you not see the need to protect the community? The community needs to know who the people walking amongst them are.
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
We apply the law, sir, the way it is written right now.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Of the hundreds of thousands of pending asylum claims, how many belong to individuals with alleged ties to the IRGC?
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
I don't have a number to give you right now.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Do we know how many are in the queue for deportation?
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
That would be a question for CBSA.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
The CBSA has located 26 who merit deportation hearings.
Maybe I'll ask you, Mr. Bush. How many with ties to the IRGC are in the queue for deportation?
Brett Bush Director General, Immigration and Asylum Policy, Canada Border Services Agency
I don't have the specific data on me, but I can take that away and try to get the data for you.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Okay.
Could one of you say why there's been only one deportation in the last almost four years?
Director General, Immigration and Asylum Policy, Canada Border Services Agency
I can't. As I said, I don't have the data in front of me. It's hard to answer your question without the specific data on those cases.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
I'll go back to you, Ms. Brassard.
Is it acceptable to you to just have one person deported in four years from the list of people who you deem should be deported?
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
I have no comments to make on that.
You'll understand that once we've made our decision, what happens after is out of our hands.