Evidence of meeting #25 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 cases.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Please provide us with that information.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre—Don Valley East, ON
My question is for Mr. Harris.
There is a lot of casework coming to my constituency office. Delays occur when staff inquire about security screening.
Is your department working with the public safety department to bring more transparency to security screening processes? There are a lot of delays in spousal applications, in TRVs—in every category.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
We have an ongoing working relationship with CBSA and CSIS. They are our primary partners in the security screening space. They have been working on strategies to reduce timelines where appropriate. Obviously, we don't want to introduce security risks to the country, so we want to make sure we continue to have rigour in the system. It's about making sure we can clear out cases that aren't a concern as quickly as possible. There are discussions going on to that effect to try to determine that.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre—Don Valley East, ON
In regard to the levels plan and the consultations you conduct, how do you work with the provinces and territories in regard to immigration levels?
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
We consult with the provinces and territories. We have a regular ongoing engagement with them. They identify their requests to us. We factor as much of those requests as possible into the planning process.
For example, the provinces and territories own the provincial nominee program spaces. We work with them to try to allocate them in the best interests of what the provinces and territories are seeking, while protecting the federal economic space, to ensure we have the capacity to bring people into the country at a talent level.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dzerowicz
Thank you so much, Ms. Zahid.
Thank you, Mr. Harris.
I want to thank all the witnesses for their important testimony and for their time. Thank you for being here for two hours. I think the questions and answers over the last hour have been very helpful.
For colleagues, on Wednesday, we will resume our study on Canada's immigration system. We will have two full panels. To begin, for about five minutes right at the front end, we will do the final bits we have to do for our international student study. There are a few things we have to pass. As a reminder, all dissenting reports have to be in by this Wednesday at 5 p.m.
With that, thanks very much. Have a good day.
The meeting is adjourned.