Good morning. I'd like to thank the committee chairs for inviting us to speak today, and Chairs, noting the time, I will be brief.
My remarks today will focus on Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada's operational efforts in response to the asylum seekers arriving in Quebec this past summer.
For claimants who enter between ports of entry, IRCC's role is to assist the CBSA in the eligibility determination process after individuals crossing the border have been intercepted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Eligible claims are then referred to the independent, quasi-judicial Immigration and Refugee Board, the IRB, who hear the asylum claim.
Last spring, when we began seeing an increase in the number of intercepts and refugee claimants, IRCC and the CBSA began to reassign staff and expedite processing to alleviate backlogs in determining asylum claimants' eligibility to be referred for a hearing to the Immigration and Refugee Board.
In our department, IRCC, we increased our capacity in the following ways. We opened a new floor and reception room at our Peel Street joint processing centre in downtown Montreal, allowing us to process more than triple the output of claimants every day. IRCC also set up operations at a temporary processing centre at Complexe Guy-Favreau in downtown Montreal, and we have expanded this facility to include a dedicated service counter to help those who have already completed their application forms to come in and reschedule their interviews with IRCC for an earlier date. Thus far, more than 2,400 asylum seekers have used this dedicated service counter, and we launched it on September 5.
Through these measures, we are working to reduce the wait times for eligibility interviews from a few months to a few weeks, after which eligible claims are referred to the IRB.
This timely scheduling of eligibility interviews is crucial because in order to apply for an open work permit, an asylum seeker must first have their initial eligibility interview, have their claim referred to the IRB, and undergo an immigration medical examination.
To also help ease pressures, IRCC has begun to fast-track all work permit applications across Canada from asylum claimants with a commitment to process these within 30 days. In most cases, asylum claimants become eligible for interim federal health program, IFHP, coverage only after an officer has determined that their claim is eligible to be heard before the IRB. IFHP coverage is now available to asylum seekers who enter Canada between ports of entry in Lacolle, and are being processed on or after June 1, for those who have not yet had an eligibility interview.
To date, more than 5,600 persons have been issued this interim federal health program coverage under this special provision.
In closing, Chairs, IRCC, with the CBSA and all other partners in the federal family, continue to address irregular migration in accordance with Canadian and international law and in keeping with our values of an open and welcoming country.
Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to speak with you today.