Evidence of meeting #9 for Public Safety and National Security in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was work.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Bloc
Mario Simard Bloc Jonquière, QC
I'd like to quickly come back to fraudulent consultants.
Earlier, I asked you if it was possible to establish guidelines in terms of fees and services provided. We sometimes see certain consultants charging very high fees and providing unnecessary services, which can be quite costly for people applying for family reunification or a basic student visa.
Do you keep a record of these fees and services?
Liberal
Bill Blair Liberal Scarborough Southwest, ON
First, Mr. Simard, if I may begin, I will advise you that the criminal act of committing fraud is not tied to a specific amount but rather to the criminal intent and actions of the perpetrator of the crime. I'll invite President Ossowski to provide you with more insight into their investigations.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
Excuse me, Minister Blair, Mr. Simard, we're getting a crossover on the translation here. Let's carry on with Mr. Ossowski.
Mr. Ossowski, if you could respond, we'll see whether we're still getting the same thing we were getting with Minister Blair.
President, Canada Border Services Agency
The regulation of the industry would fall under the responsibility of the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. We're responsible for the criminal investigation side of things. We would typically look at offences such as misrepresentation, forgery under the Criminal Code, fraud, mischief and that type of thing. That's the type of work we're responsible for.
In terms of the Minister of Immigration, I believe it's in his mandate letter to look at bringing forward legislation to regulate the industry.
Bloc
Mario Simard Bloc Jonquière, QC
I fully understand that it's the Department of Citizenship and Immigration's responsibility.
So they establish the guidelines in terms of what can be considered fraud.
That is what I understand.
President, Canada Border Services Agency
That would be defined in the courts under the Criminal Code in terms of fraud and what evidence is in play in any particular situation.
Liberal
NDP
Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL
Thank you, Chair.
I think everybody understands that there is over-representation in our prisons of indigenous and Black Canadians. A recent report published in the Globe and Mail revealed that in addition to that, biased and discriminatory risk assessments are being done, amounting essentially to systemic discrimination towards indigenous and Black Canadians and resulting in more ending up in maximum security, having less access to programs and training and serving a longer period of their sentence incarcerated rather than in the community.
Minister Blair, does that disturb you? Can you tell the committee what is going to be done to end this form of systemic discrimination in our prisons?
Liberal
Bill Blair Liberal Scarborough Southwest, ON
Thank you very much, Jack.
Of course it's concerning. I think it's unacceptable that Black, indigenous, and all racialized people face very significant disparate outcomes within the criminal justice system writ large. It's one of the reasons we have identified our commitment to address systemic racism broadly in the criminal justice system. I've had a number of conversations with CSC and I'll allow them to speak further about some of the work they're doing, but let me also take the opportunity to commend the important work being done by this committee to identify areas of concern in risk assessment.
As we have also indicated, we will be introducing legislation and making investments to take strong action to address systemic inequities in all phases of the criminal justice system, from diversion to sentencing, from rehabilitation to records. Those CSC risk assessments to determine what institution an individual will serve their sentence in will be part of that examination.
NDP
Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL
Mr. Blair, when the correctional investigator appeared before the committee earlier this month, he told us that the CSC has the highest staff-to-inmate ratio in the world, with 19,000 employees for just 12,500 inmates. That's one and a half staff for every inmate. He also told us that the inmates don't have access to much more than pencil and paper when dealing with programming. They don't have access to tablets or computers or supervised use of the Internet, and they don't have practical tools and vocational training.
Why is it that the department in this departmental plan is actually increasing by 353 their full-time staffing equivalents instead of reallocating resources to provide the kind of programming that's necessary to help prisoners be rehabilitated and be able to live better lives in the community?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
That's a very important question, but Mr. Harris is way past his time. I'm going to ask you to try to work in an answer in some other opportunity.
With that, Mr. Van Popta, you have five minutes.
Conservative
Tako Van Popta Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC
Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Minister, for joining us again, and thank you to all the other witnesses.
Liberal
Conservative
Tako Van Popta Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC
I'll try it again. I'll speak a little louder. How is that?
Conservative
Tako Van Popta Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC
Thank you, witnesses, for being here.
Minister, I want to talk about funding and human resources allocations for fighting illegal drugs. You're aware there's a fentanyl crisis in Canada right now, particularly in my home province of British Columbia. That fentanyl is coming from China.
Police experts have been quoted as saying they simply do not have the human resources to to tackle this, nor do they have the aggressive policing strategies needed to tackle this problem of complicated transnational organized crime. Minister, my question to you is whether adequate resources are being allocated to this very serious problem for all of Canada.
Liberal
Bill Blair Liberal Scarborough Southwest, ON
Thank you very much.
Let me first acknowledge the significance and criticality of dealing effectively with the interdiction of the supply of illicit drugs coming into Canada. To that end, we have invested $33 million to help equip our border agents with the tools to intercept fentanyl and other dangerous substances. We have prohibited the unregistered importation of pill presses, for example. We have allowed officers, on reasonable grounds, to open international mail weighing 30 grams or less.
We've also made fairly significant investments in the RCMP. I would invite the RCMP commissioner to talk to you about some of their work in the international interdiction of transnational importation of illicit drugs and precursor chemicals used in their manufacture. I wonder if the commissioner might have something to add.
November 25th, 2020 / 4:25 p.m.
Conservative
Tako Van Popta Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC
Sure. I have a couple of other questions, but please go ahead.
Commissioner Brenda Lucki Commissioner, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Obviously we've been working hard at tackling organized crime. It's a priority of ours. Those investigations are extremely complex, but they are a priority.
We work side by side with our partners, such as CSIS and CBSA and our international partners, especially within the Five Eyes, to target those groups. We work overseas with our many liaison officers to exchange that information. Those individuals are working in Canada and working overseas and dealing with transnational organized crime. That's when we bring in specialized resources to tackle those crimes.
Conservative
Tako Van Popta Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC
Thank you.
So far it has not been very effective. Over 100 people a month die of opioid overdoses in British Columbia. That's way more people than those who are dying of COVID-19, so we have two epidemics happening here. It's just been getting worse over the last four years.
