Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Sept. 23rd, 2025

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London Centre, ON]

I have a point of order, Chair.

I have immense respect for our colleague. He's an experienced member of this committee in particular, but he will have the opportunity to ask the minister questions that are probably more political in nature, rather than putting officials in, I think, a difficult position of having to share their opinion on policy.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

That's not a point of order, Mr. Fragiskatos.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

May I respond to the point of order?

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Do you have another one?

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Can I respond to my colleague's point of order?

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Yes, of course.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

When an IRCC spokesperson responds to an investigative report, I think I have the right to ask questions of the people who tell that spokesperson what to say. Those people are here with us today. I think I have every right to ask them this kind of question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you, Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe. You have 30 seconds, if you want to take it.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Nobody has answered my question yet. Is there a problem or not?

[Aiesha Zafar]

Thank you for the question.

As a point of clarification, Madam Chair, while I'm aware of the report, I did not watch the full one-hour investigation, so I don't have all the details. I am aware of the report.

We are certainly seized with any type of abuse or fraud in our program. We take that very seriously. We do take any information we can glean, whether through open-source information, media reports or our law enforcement partners, to ensure that we are closing any gaps and addressing any future potential fraud or abuse of the immigration program.

I will say that the vast majority of individuals, whether they be students, workers, visitors or permanent residents, who do apply and enter Canada are honest, do not abuse and do not defraud the system, but where there are the small percentages who do, we take that very seriously.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you, Ms. Zafar.

Thank you, Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.

I think we're still in our third round.

Next is Ms. Rempel Garner for five minutes.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Officials, you've talked about Bill C-2 as a solve for some of these issues. Is it your opinion that Bill C-2 is charter-compliant?

[Aiesha Zafar]

We have gone through the necessary steps with our Justice colleagues to look at—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Have you provided advice to the minister that it is charter-compliant?

[Aiesha Zafar]

I have not looked at all the areas of Bill C-2, so I would have to—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Has anybody in your department provided advice to the minister that it's charter-compliant?

[Aiesha Zafar]

That would be with our Justice colleagues, so I would not be able to speak to that.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

You don't know.

[Aiesha Zafar]

At this time, I do not know.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Okay.

For example, the refugee lab at Osgoode Hall Law School argued that part 7 could violate some of the charter. It's your opinion that Bill C-2 is in fact charter-compliant and that outlets like this would be mistaken. Is that correct?

[Aiesha Zafar]

That is not my opinion. I am also not responsible for the asylum program, so I would need to talk to my colleagues about that.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

You're unclear. Okay. We're talking about Bill C-2 as a fix for this, but we're not sure if it's charter-compliant. Thank you. Very good.

You talked about study permits that have been withdrawn. How many study permits have been withdrawn because of criminal activities over the past four years?

[Pemi Gill]

While we could provide the total number of those that have been withdrawn, if a client is withdrawing their application we would not know for what reason they're choosing to withdraw it.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

You don't track this.

[Pemi Gill]

We would be tracking if we were looking at refusing for any concerns related to criminality. We would have that.