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.
Liberal
Lena Metlege Diab Liberal Halifax West, NS
For public safety, there are many times when names are released for exactly that reason, but it's not something I would be privy to as the minister.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
The IRB is under your purview, Minister.
Liberal
Lena Metlege Diab Liberal Halifax West, NS
As I said, it's an adjudicative body that is independent of government.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
It is, but on your site, the IRB reports to Parliament through the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, and that's you, so you can't deflect over to them. The CBSA found—
Liberal
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
I'm not talking about hearings. You're here reporting as a minister of the Crown, and this is under your purview, so these are fair questions, I believe.
The CBSA found Afshin Pirnoon, a 22-year official in the Islamic regime in Iran with the title of director general. The IRB declined to deport him. Do you support that decision?
Liberal
Lena Metlege Diab Liberal Halifax West, NS
Again, I'm going to have to refer you to the makers of those decisions.
Conservative
Liberal
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
You're not familiar with it.
Liberal minister after Liberal immigration minister has allowed IRGC officials into our country. Reports say that about 700 of them at least, if not more, are in the country. CBSA officials have testified before us that IRCC officials can and do on occasion overrule the CBSA and issue permits, even though the CBSA has given a negative assessment. Why?
Liberal
Lena Metlege Diab Liberal Halifax West, NS
As I said, the IRB is a quasi-judicial organization. When a claimant is before the IRB—
Conservative
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
The question is on the CBSA. Your department overrules the CBSA on occasion. Why?
The CBSA is a law enforcement agency. It deems somebody inadmissible to the country. On occasion, your department has overruled the decision of the people on the ground who have deemed somebody inadmissible—not the IRB but the CBSA. Why?
Liberal
Lena Metlege Diab Liberal Halifax West, NS
If an individual is inadmissible based on immigration laws, then they are inadmissible, and they are deported.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
There's been one person deported since 2022, Minister—one.
Do you think it's appropriate for immigration officers to override national security findings from the agency responsible for border security?
Liberal
Lena Metlege Diab Liberal Halifax West, NS
National security and border security fall within the purview of Public Safety.
Conservative
Liberal
Lena Metlege Diab Liberal Halifax West, NS
Public safety is paramount in Canada, and those decisions are made in the public interest of Canadians.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
It's your department that overrules CBSA officials. That's my point. Do you think it's appropriate for your department to overrule CBSA officials?
Liberal
Lena Metlege Diab Liberal Halifax West, NS
Public Safety officers and the department make those decisions.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Do you speak with your colleagues, Minister—not only your staff. There seems to be a lot of deflection. We're not playing hockey here, with deflect here and deflect there, hoping to get a goal.
We can't have the IRB saying that it's independent—it's supposed to be reporting through you—and saying that it doesn't really care what the CBSA is saying and that it's going to overrule the CBSA. We can't keep passing the buck.
At the end of the day, these are people being allowed into the country by your department who are in our communities and who have terrorist backgrounds. There are 700 of them. I represent a riding called Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, and many of them are in my riding.
Liberal
Lena Metlege Diab Liberal Halifax West, NS
If these people are inadmissible, they will be deported, and their visas will be cancelled by IRCC.