Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 4th, 2026

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

Thank you very much. I appreciate the question.

As we know, the Auditor General's report on international student program reforms found some really good things. We are here now to talk about the ones that were found to be not so good, because we, too, care about combatting fraud, and we care about having strong oversight in our programs—not just in the student program, but in all the streams we have.

With regard to the reforms that have been introduced—since late 2023, actually—to give confidence to the system, we've already reduced the overall volumes. We've strengthened the front-end verification through the letter of acceptance offers that come to IRCC from the educational institutions. Moreover, we had already eliminated the student direct stream, which was the stream that was causing the issues, in order to strengthen the program.

We have also brought in an action plan, which has been shared publicly. I believe the deputy spoke about that when he appeared at a committee. I don't know if it was this committee or another committee. I would request that he elaborate a little bit more to the committee here about that action plan.

[Ted Gallivan]

Going back to the questions about the numbers, those were symptoms of the fact that IRCC didn't manage an entry/exit regime, full stop. In the action plan, we're building an indicator of “in the country” or “not in the country”. In fact, the initial system implementation is in May.

I think those numbers are symptomatic of the fact that IRCC didn't have a game plan or even an intention to manage the departure of people at the expiration of their visas. We've now taken responsibility for managing that, in collaboration with the CBSA. We're beginning pilots next month on what techniques work and when we should intervene with a student.

We've also taken responsibility to expand that to other visa streams, because the same thing can exist with visitor visas and work visas. This is a paradigm shift, I think, for IRCC, where we agree with the concern that Canadians have, which is that we're not sure who is in or out of the country. We're doing the work, from both an IT perspective and a management perspective, to manage that more effectively.

[Amandeep Sodhi, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

We've also heard this figure of 153,000 students a few times and their potentially being non-compliant. What can you tell us about this group of individuals, and what do we know about whether or not these are actual cases of non-compliance?

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

Let me break it down a bit, if we have more time. I know we did a bit with the first question.

The 153,000 cases were reviewed. They were flagged as potentially non-compliant. Of the 153,000, it was determined that 64% still had valid status in Canada, and 14% had submitted an asylum claim, as I said, and they were no longer subject to the student compliance measures. This is why Bill C-12 was introduced. Hopefully, it will largely accommodate that issue, along with many other border integrity issues. Taken together, those 78% of the cases were identified as no longer requiring follow-up on the program for the period of 2023-24.

The remaining 22%, which is something like 33,000, involved individuals whose status had expired. Some of those individuals would have left the country. We don't have the exact number today. Some may have remained in Canada without applying for a new permit. Because we don't know the exact specifics of the remaining 22%, we've implemented a pilot initiative, which will be the beginning of the process of an exit system to strengthen compliance within the temporary resident program, including not just international students, but all temporary resident programs.

If there's time, I can have the deputy elaborate a bit more on that specific program.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

You have one minute.

[Ted Gallivan]

There's been a long-standing question about whether Canada ought to have an entry/exit regime. We have parts of it. There's data within the CBSA. There's data within the IRCC. What's under way is a stringing together of that information so that both organizations have a comprehensive, real-time picture of who is in the country and who isn't. That's the IT aspect, and then there is the work of contacting people and ensuring that they depart the country when their visa expires.

[Amandeep Sodhi, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

I have 20 seconds, so I'll use it to say thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you, Ms. Sodhi.

Thank you, Mr. Gallivan and Minister.

Mr. Deschênes, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

Good morning, Madam Chair.

Good morning, everyone.

Good morning, Minister. Thank you for being here.

I would like to return to the 153,000 cases. I am somewhat surprised because, as we saw in the Auditor General's report, around 2,000 investigations were being carried out each year. If I understand you correctly, Minister, you were able to verify all 153,000 cases.

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

Thank you very much for your question regarding the 153,000 non-compliant cases.

There were three cohorts of students among the 153,000 non-compliant cases. Of these, 64% still have valid status in Canada and 14% have submitted an application for asylum. Today, 78% of cases no longer require program-related follow-up. For the remaining 22%, IRCC has carried out compliance program follow-up to determine whether the students have left Canada or remained in the country.

Allow me to ask the deputy minister to provide you with details on this pilot project.

[Ted Gallivan]

Madam Chair, the work should have been done when the Auditor General arrived. We should have had an answer to explain that many students had changed schools. We should have verified this fact and had this figure in a timely manner.

So, to add to the discussion, I would say that several of these steps were aimed at eliminating cases where non-compliance was linked to missing documents. However, there are now genuine cases of non-compliance that need to be investigated. Regarding the 2,000 cases, our intention is to investigate all cases of fraud. There should be no artificial limit on the number of cases that are genuine instances of fraud or that involve people remaining in the country after their visas have expired. There should therefore be better management of the raw figures and more proactive action on the figures that are truly unobservable.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Gallivan.

Ms. Diab, I would still like to return to the 153,000 cases of potential non-compliance identified. You tell us that 64% of these people have a study permit that is still valid, but that is not what I am asking you.

How many of the 153,000 cases were you actually able to investigate to verify whether there was indeed non-compliance?

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

Each of the 153,000 cases has been investigated. By the end of 2026, all these cases will have been investigated. That is why we have put an action plan in place. We are reviewing the cases presented in the report.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Diab.

So, you have managed to verify the 153,000 cases over the last three weeks.

[Ted Gallivan]

I would like to clarify something, Madam Chair.

We have resolved all concerns in 78% of cases, as the minister said, but the remaining 22% require further work. This figure will be reduced, because we will confirm the departure of a certain percentage of these people, and that is when the real work will begin. We will have to launch investigations and proceed with removals.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

Mr. Gallivan, you say that 64% of these 153,000 students have valid status. Have you checked whether they were complying with the conditions of their permits?

[Ted Gallivan]

We have confirmed that they are indeed enrolled students. As for other aspects, such as financial requirements, I cannot comment on that, but we have indeed confirmed that they have valid student status in this country.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

However, have you checked whether there was any non-compliance? I understand that they may have a study permit, but it is possible that they are not complying with the conditions of their permit. That is essentially what the auditor was suggesting to you.

Have you been able to check that?

[Ted Gallivan]

Initially, we confirmed that they were indeed students with valid visas, and that is where we stand. As for the question you are asking me, regarding whether our department should ensure compliance with the conditions, that is another avenue to explore. We are committed to checking more frequently that people with status in Canada are complying with the conditions of their visas. This is something that was not done comprehensively, but only on an exceptional basis. So, we are committed to being more proactive in confirming compliance with visa conditions after a visa has been issued.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

So, you identified the cases, but you did not check whether these individuals were actually complying with the conditions of their permits.

[Ted Gallivan]

Once again, the first step was to sort the 153,000 files into batches. For example, we checked whether people had a visa and whether further investigations were needed. So, I would say we are still in the process of sorting them out.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you, Mr. Gallivan. I'm very sorry. I have to cut you off. I am being strict on time today.

Thank you, Mr. Deschênes.

That ends our first round.

We now begin our second round.

Mr. Menegakis, you have the first five minutes.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to both of our witnesses for appearing before us today.

Minister, admittedly, the Auditor General's report found big-time problems in screening within your department. We've talked a bit this morning about the 153,000 flagged applications. How many of those have ties to terrorist organizations, like the IRGC?

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

To my understanding, none.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Do you know that? Have you met with them? Have you gone through the process? Have you done the background checks? You only looked at, according to your—