Public Safety Committee on Oct. 3rd, 2017

[Michel Picard, Liberal, Montarville, QC]

Will the Government of Canada not share that information with the provinces based on specific needs, such as health?

[Martin Bolduc]

That information will be used by the Government of Canada.

[Michel Picard, Liberal, Montarville, QC]

Thank you.

That's all.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

I'll just take this opportunity to remind both witnesses and colleagues that answers and questions are to be directed through the chair.

Mr. MacKenzie, you have seven minutes.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the panel for being here.

First off, I think it's a very good proposal we have here. Having had lots of opportunity over the years to see what happens when we don't have these situations in place, the amber alerts among others, how will they process work as far as the exchange of information is concerned? For instance, if a police officer in the city of Toronto has information that someone has left the country, or conversely, if someone has left the country and is back in the country, how would they access the information? Is there some mechanism set up to deal with that?

[Martin Bolduc]

Yes. The police agency would make a request to the CBSA for specific information on a traveller. If we do have that information, there is already a provision in the Customs Act to be able to share that information with other law enforcement on a case-by-case basis.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Having dealt with those situations a couple of times, sometimes what gets very difficult is that you don't know who to go to. Has CBSA set up those points for law enforcement to contact, and have they made the law enforcement community aware of them?

[Martin Bolduc]

CBSA is part of many joint force operations that are sometimes under the leadership of municipal or provincial police. On other occasions it's under the leadership of the RCMP. I think the mechanism by which you should enter the CBSA is broadly known by law enforcement. I'm not aware of any recent cases where this has been an issue.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

I'm not concerned; I just want to know that there will be a mechanism, whether it be through the CISO or through the police community or whatever, as long as they know how they can access it.

The other thing is this. The information we have is that they will be sharing with other government agencies with respect to benefits, some of which people may or may not be entitled to. How will they be made aware of the entrance and exit, or will it be on a case-by-case basis where they will have to contact CBSA to gather the information?

[Martin Bolduc]

If I may, I will ask a colleague to answer that question.

[Andrew Lawrence]

The information sharing for social benefit program integrity is criteria-based. Information with respect to individuals who meet specific criteria would be shared systematically with Employment and Social Development or the Canada Revenue Agency. If those individuals are collecting benefits erroneously, they would then undertake their program integrity investigations in order to cease those payments and recoup any overpayments. For example, OAS is for people over the age of 60. We wouldn't be sharing information on a 25-year-old for OAS purposes.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

But in terms of somebody collecting EI who is entitled to it while they're here and all those things, as long as a request is made, you would share that information.

[Andrew Lawrence]

Yes. The disclosure would be based on the regulatory or the statutory program requirements for—

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

But you'd have to ask.

[Andrew Lawrence]

No, we would push that information to them.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

How would you know?

[Andrew Lawrence]

It's based on the requirements outlined in the different social benefit programs.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

But if a Canadian citizen is drawing those benefits and they leave the country, how would you know they're drawing those benefits?

[Andrew Lawrence]

We wouldn't. That's why it's a proactive disclosure to Employment and Social Development. Any matching to an EI role, for instance, would initiate an investigation. If there is no match, that information would be immediately deleted.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Thank you.

One of the other aspects is with regard to people coming into the country. You'll certainly be able to match that up with the Americans and so on. One of the things is that when you have a manufacturing industry that today wants to be high-tech at the best point that they can be, they end up with a lot of proprietary equipment that is only repairable by a manufacturer somewhere else. Is there any way in the world we can smooth those processes for those people coming into the country to repair this equipment and they're not held up as being someone coming in to take away work or jobs? It's probably a very difficult situation, but I know that we can have a factory shut down with 600 or 700 people because one piece of equipment needs to be repaired.

Do you have any suggestions on that?

[Martin Bolduc]

Unfortunately, what you described is the policy that belongs to our colleagues at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. They own the policy. But I'll deliver your message.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

It's your people who take the brunt of it at the border.

[Martin Bolduc]

Exactly. We enforce the policy, but IRCC is responsible for that.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Mr. Motz, go ahead.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

Thank you.

As we look at the legislation, it provides some authorities to compel travellers to answer questions that are posed to them. Obviously, there are strict guidelines surrounding that. What training requirements do you envision having for your officers? Or is that happening already?