Evidence of meeting #25 for Public Safety and National Security in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was monitoring.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
You have another minute and a half, but we can come back to you.
Next we have Mr. Scarpaleggia, please, for seven minutes
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
I'm not quite sure what you mean by “working inventory”. Could you explain that?
Director General, Post-Border Programs, Canada Border Services Agency
I'd be happy to explain that.
The working inventory essentially is the group of cases who have basically exhausted all of their recourse mechanisms before they are removal-ready. For example, before an individual is removed from Canada, because we are a signatory to the 1951 convention on refugees—
Liberal
Liberal
Director General, Post-Border Programs, Canada Border Services Agency
That's right.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
—and now they're leaving, they have a removal order and they would be part of your working inventory.
Director General, Post-Border Programs, Canada Border Services Agency
We removed 15,500 last year and over 15,000 the year before. Those are our highest levels ever.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
Is that your working inventory or the part of your inventory that was successfully removed?
Director General, Post-Border Programs, Canada Border Services Agency
The 15,000 were the successful removals. We have 17,000 on a yearly basis in our working inventory.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
So there's a discrepancy there of a couple of thousand. It accumulates over time and that's how you end up with 44,000.
Director General, Post-Border Programs, Canada Border Services Agency
That's right. The agency is fairly effective in terms of removing those whose obstacles have been overcome. We continue to work to achieve greater efficiencies in that regard.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
First of all, just to follow up on Mr. Aspin's point, unlike the corrections commissioner, who was here a little while ago, you have the legislative authority to use electronic monitoring as you see fit.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
Do you think it would be effective for someone who gets to the point of the IRB, is refused, and then maybe their first appeal is refused, or whatever...? At some point along that process, is it feasible, in your agency's mind, to equip some of these people, who presumably do not want to leave the country, with these bracelets so that if ever they decide they're just going to go underground, we would know where they are? That way they wouldn't figure into the 2,000 a year that you just can't seem to find.
Is that something that is done in other countries? Is that something that you might like to see happen?
Director General, Post-Border Programs, Canada Border Services Agency
It certainly is a plausible scenario. Currently, if an individual is determined to be a flight risk, if we believe they're not going to show up for removal, then we would argue in front of the IRB to maintain detention so that the person is available for removal.
Director General, Post-Border Programs, Canada Border Services Agency
Yes, we would.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
So how come you have 2,000 who just disappear every year? Have they not been properly assessed as a flight risk?
Director General, Post-Border Programs, Canada Border Services Agency
No. In terms of the 17,000 in the working inventory, we know exactly where they are, and we're working towards removing all of those cases that are removal-ready on an annual basis.
Liberal
