Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 23rd, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Good morning. I call this meeting to order.

I warmly welcome everyone to meeting 25 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. We have one hour with the minister and two hours—which includes the first hour—with officials, so I will be very strict with time, because I know there are going to be a lot of questions.

I want to make a few comments for the benefit of our witnesses and members. You're all very experienced, so this is all just a reminder to everyone.

For our minister, who has five minutes to speak at the onset, I will let you know when you have one minute left.

For all members, I will let you know when you have one minute left. In terms of your questions and answers, kindly, as always, wait until I recognize you by name before speaking.

I remind everyone to please not speak over each other. It is very hard for our interpreters to interpret, and it makes their job difficult when we do so. Of course, please ensure that all of your comments are addressed through the chair.

Members, please raise your hand if you wish to speak. The clerk and I will manage the speaking order as best as we can. I know that today, we are going to proceed with a respectful and very productive meeting, so I want to thank everyone in advance for your co-operation.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on February 23, 2026, the committee is commencing its study on the subject matter of the supplementary estimates (C), 2025-26. All votes were referred to the House on Thursday, March 12, so the committee can only study the subject matter of the supplementary (C)s and should not report to the House.

Before I introduce the witnesses, we have a quick budget to adopt for this study. The budget is $500.

Can I please get agreement on that, maybe with just a thumbs-up?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you.

I would now like to welcome our witnesses for today's meeting.

We have with us the Honourable Lena Metlege Diab, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. Welcome to you, Minister.

We also have from the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, Scott Harris, associate deputy minister; Jean-Marc Gionet, acting assistant deputy minister, protection and family programs sector; Annie Rémillard, acting chief financial officer; and Bronwyn May, director general, international students branch. Welcome to you all.

Minister Diab, I now invite you to make an opening statement of up to five minutes, after which we will proceed to rounds of questions.

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Thank you, Madam Chair, for the invitation to appear.

I'm happy to outline how our government is taking back control over the immigration system and bringing immigration back to sustainable levels. We're doing this by prioritizing newcomers with the skills that the country needs and by attracting the best and brightest from around the world.

Both the Parliamentary Budget Officer's recent report and Statistics Canada's quarterly population update confirmed that our plan is working. New arrivals of temporary workers and international students dropped by 53% in 2025. As a result, we're on track to achieve our objective. We want non‑permanent residents to make up less than 5% of the population by the end of 2027.

We're focused on filling critical labour gaps in industries where we don't have enough domestic talent. We're basing priorities on labour market data as well as input from employers, communities and our provincial and territorial counterparts, to understand their needs. We're seeking qualified workers through the international talent attraction strategy, and prioritizing skilled workers to complement our domestic workforce.

I recently announced our 2026 categories under the express entry system for inviting candidates with the skills and experience needed to fill critical labour gaps in key sectors and occupations, including tradespeople to build homes and infrastructure, doctors and nurses to strengthen health care, and pilots, mechanics and other transportation workers to strengthen our supply chains.

These priorities align with the labour market needs and the expectations of our partners. They also help to support other government initiatives.

Prioritizing researchers supports our national strategy for world‑leading research and innovation.

Prioritizing skilled military recruits and cybersecurity experts supports our defence industrial strategy.

Since I was invited to speak about supplementary estimates (C), I would now like to outline how they will support our priorities.

First, it includes funds to the City of Toronto to help refugees and asylum claimants find housing and enter the workforce and to prevent shifting the burden onto local social services.

Second, funds will support the ongoing modernization of our services, with digital systems and tools.

Third, the funding will fortify resources for the passport program to improve accessibility and convenience for Canadians, with online passport renewals, allowing eligible Canadians to renew their passports from the comfort of their homes, and with faster decision-making while upholding the integrity of these highly secure travel documents. Starting on April 1, we will guarantee that passport applications will be processed within 30 business days or they'll be free.

On the supplementary estimates (C), I have, on my right, the very good guidance of the persons who do the budgeting and accounting from the department.

To conclude my opening remarks, we have a plan that's working to restore control, bring sustainability to our immigration system and refocus on attracting the best talent. We're listening and making necessary and sometimes tough decisions to restore the balance, and we're seeing early signs that public confidence is improving, because Canadians see a plan that makes sense and is being delivered. Discipline is vital to maintaining momentum.

We're keeping the immigration policy sustainable, responsive and able to meet the country's economic and labour force needs.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you so much, Minister.

We are going to turn to the first round of questions, which is for six minutes.

I have Mr. Redekopp up first for six minutes, please.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to all the officials for being here today and to the minister.

Minister, Bill C-3 became law in December, and it seems that immigration lawyers have been celebrating it as almost a Christmas present. CTV said that Bill C-3 “has led to a spike in applications from those south of the border”. Your government news agency, the CBC, had a headline saying, “Millions of Americans can now claim Canadian citizenship by descent”.

Of course, we warned you about this at committee. We spoke about all the different ways that this could go wrong. You ignored us.

Can you tell me how many people have applied for proof of citizenship since December 15?

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

I can. I've seen some of the ads myself. Some of them are not realistic, frankly, and some of them could be fraudulent.

The number of applications that have been approved, related to proof of processing, between December 15, 2025, and January 31, 2026, is approximately 1,301.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Are those proof of citizenship applications, or are those citizenship received—

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

They're proof of applications processed.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Okay.

How many people have received citizenship because of Bill C-3 since that time?

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

That would be 1,301 between December 15, when it came into force, and January 31, 2026, which is the data I have.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Have you seen a spike in people requesting proof of citizenship?

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

We have not.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

I want to talk about the file review process. As you know, it's a system used at the Immigration and Refugee Board that automatically approves asylum seekers from certain countries without interviewing them.

I spoke with the chair of IRB a few weeks ago. She defended that file review process and gave us the data that 15% of their decisions were processed that way, mainly to speed things up, which of course it does when you don't actually interview people. I asked the chair if she takes direction from you, Minister, and she basically said no, that she's independent and she does what she wants to do.

You are the minister responsible for the IRB, and we all know that. Have you directed the IRB to stop the file review process?

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

I'm the minister of IRCC, and the IRB is an independent body relative to that, but protecting the integrity of the asylum system is critical to all of us as Canadians and parliamentarians—

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

I'm sorry. I'm just going to interrupt.

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

Can I speak to you about what officers do, though?

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

I have very limited time.

Did you just say that you're not responsible for the IRB?

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

No. I said that it's an independent adjudicative body.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Okay. You have no authority to tell them to do anything is what you're saying.

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

I do meet with the chair, and officers do review each and every claim before they reach the Immigration and Refugee Board—

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

The simple question is this: Have you directed them to stop the file review process, or are you okay with the file review process?

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

Nobody can claim asylum in Canada without being questioned. There's no doubt about that—

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

I'm sorry. I'm going to interrupt you again—

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London Centre, ON]

I have a point of order, Chair.