Citizenship and Immigration Committee on April 29th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you so much, Ms. Maulfair.

Next, we have five minutes with Mr. Zuberi.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to thank you for giving the witnesses a chance to complete their thoughts, as you did with Mr. Sundberg in his opening statement where he completed his recommendations, and just now you gave the chance to another witness to complete her thoughts. Thanks for that even-handed approach to the witnesses.

With respect, I'd like to start with the UNHCR witnesses, either one of you. You can both reply if you like.

Are you familiar with the spring economic statement and budget 2025, where our government made a commitment around providing permanent status to 115,000 protected persons in Canada? Are you familiar with this? Okay. There is some misinformation about what these measures mean when it comes to the federal government's commitment to provide permanent status to 115,000 protected persons.

Can you speak to that so that there is a clear understanding for all who are watching today?

[Azadeh Tamjeedi, Senior Legal Officer, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]

I'll take this question.

The 115,000 who are going to be admitted into the permanent residence stream are individuals who have been accepted in Canada as refugees who came through the asylum system. Often, they have to wait a number of years, sometimes five or eight years, to get their permanent residence. This assists the department, IRCC, to clear up that backlog. Instead of having them wait a number of years to get their permanent residence, this will process their cases a little faster. They've already been screened, vetted and accepted as refugees in Canada.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Right now, is it the case that the partners of these protected persons aren't able to join their partners in Canada until they receive permanent residence? Is that currently the case?

[Azadeh Tamjeedi]

That would also assist in terms of family reunification. Once they obtain their permanent residency, they are able to apply for their family members to join them. The hope is that, once this backlog is cleared up a little bit, then it could assist them in bringing their family members to Canada.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

To be clear, we're talking about protected people, which includes their spouses, their immediate family, their household.

[Azadeh Tamjeedi]

Yes, for family members, it's through a complementary pathway, as we call it, a family reunification pathway. The individual here in Canada is accepted as a refugee, and they could bring their family members, who may be refugees elsewhere or may have some kind of status in another country where they are in danger as well. This is why we support family reunification for recognized refugees in Canada.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Currently, the lack of reunification extends for a long time. Do you have knowledge of how long that extends?

[Azadeh Tamjeedi]

On average, it could take anywhere between four and eight years for family reunification to be complete. It could take a little longer with different levels plans that are now being implemented in Canada. That also impacts an individual's ability to integrate. Waiting for your family members to join you could be a little bit of a drain on an individual's ability to move on with their life with their family members. This is why we support family reunification.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

I've seen the same thing you're speaking to in my own constituency office, where there's somebody who is a protected person here in Canada who has gone through all the vetting, and they're separated from their family for an extended period of time. It does create a lot of stress on the household.

Mr. Eisen, in the minute and a half that's left, how do you see this policy we just discussed with respect to 115,00 protected persons being given permanent status? How do you see that ameliorating the lives of the people in question? Could you speak to that, please?

[Joshua Eisen]

I don't know how much I can add on that specific question. I think it was handled pretty well by Azadeh.

Currently, even if something is ostensibly guaranteed administratively, people have to wait in this state of uncertainty, not knowing what's going to happen. Separation from family is a major issue as well. It's both of these things.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thanks.

In the 40 seconds I have left, I'd like to go back to the UNHCR.

With respect to protecting these vulnerable people from fraudsters in the immigration system, do you have any suggestions?

[Azadeh Tamjeedi]

Do you mean—

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

I mean fraudsters, the people who take advantage of asylum seekers, etc.

[Azadeh Tamjeedi]

It's ensuring that they know what the system is, how to move through the system and how to make an application, and ensuring that they have access to legal aid, counsel and settlement services. All of that assists in ensuring that they are able to avoid being taken advantage of by anyone who wants to defraud them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you, Ms. Tamjeedi.

Thank you, Mr. Zuberi.

Mr. Simard, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

I'm able to hear your lovely voice again, Madam Chair.

I'd like to follow up on the conversation my friend Ms. Rempel Garner had with Ms. Maulfair. I agree that we must be careful not to make asylum seekers scapegoats, but we have to be doubly careful, since it's also important not to give asylum seekers expectations that are irreconcilable with the resources of host societies.

That's more or less the problem we saw in the case of Roxham Road. When we, the members of the Bloc Québécois, asked questions about that issue, people made us out to be somewhat opposed to immigration, when that isn't the case. Organizations that help immigrants told us that it was a source of misery and that some smugglers were taking advantage of people's vulnerability. We have to be very careful when attributing this kind of populist thinking to people, since it's quite a thorny issue.

I'd like to come back to this, because I know that there are distribution mechanisms in Europe. In recent years, this issue has been discussed at length in Quebec. Quebec has received a higher percentage of asylum seekers than its demographic weight.

Do you not think it would be a good idea to have a system for distributing asylum seekers in Canada if we want them to integrate successfully and have public services that meet their expectations?

[Tracey Maulfair]

At the UNHCR, we are not opposed to such systems. In fact, we're working with governments in this region that are, I think, good examples of this: Brazil and Mexico. They're looking at where labour is needed in certain areas, and then they're working with refugees who voluntarily go there and work. They're helping society and integrating more quickly.

The same kind of thing could be looked at here. As I said, Brazil and Mexico, which are much closer than Europe, have good systems for this and could be something along the lines of what you're saying.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you, Ms. Maulfair and Mr. Simard.

We have only about four minutes left, so I'm going to give two minutes to Mr. Redekopp and two minutes to Mr. Fragiskatos.

Mr. Redekopp.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Thank you.

Mr. Sundberg, you might have heard the story—it's quite a big story in the news today—of Mehdi Taj, who was an IRGC commander. He was coming to Canada to watch some FIFA soccer. He was apparently given a temporary resident permit. He came to Canada, but then he was.... The government, I think, saw the light and decided that we shouldn't be letting IRGC terrorists into Canada, so it apparently turned him around and sent him back.

To me, this is a horrible example of incompetence within the security screening system. We clearly know that we don't allow IRGC terrorists into Canada, yet it appears that he was given a TRP to come to Canada. He landed in Canada.

Is this something you've seen before? What does that point to with regard to security lacking in our systems in Canada?

[Dr. Kelly W. Sundberg]

I'm glad the port of entry did its work, but it comes to screening, and this is my point. If we have a proactive system with the resources abroad, we can identify high-ranking members of regimes who are seeking entry into this country.

When we think about issues of fraud or people who are taking advantage of refugees, one answer is to have enough officers to arrest and prosecute the people who do this. My view is that there's a balance here and we need to have a much stronger international presence.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

This is a quick question. It seems like he was given a temporary resident permit, which I understand is the backup. If you fail the main system and you're detected and declined, you can always go to that one and they'll let you in.

Is that a common thing that you've seen?

[Dr. Kelly W. Sundberg]

Yes.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

That's not a one-time thing. The TRP is the back door into the system if you fail the screening that we do.