Public Safety Committee on Aug. 28th, 2024

[Vanessa Lloyd]

Mr. Chair, I again can assure the committee that the service takes its security screening responsibilities very seriously. We take the time and the due effort, with regard to every file that is referred to the service, to make assessments, which we provide to our partners, that go to decisions that can be taken, based on the information that is available at the time.

I also would like to assure the committee that public safety is the service's number one priority and that we are mindful of the potential threats that cross our borders, as well as those that exist here, and we work very hard, on an ongoing basis, to address those threats.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Caputo.

We will go now to Ms. Zahid.

Go ahead for six minutes, please.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thanks to all the witnesses.

My first question is for Mr. Gallivan.

How many individuals do you reject for entry into Canada over the course of a year? What are the reasons for the rejections? How does CBSA deal with bad actors who could potentially lie to us about their reasons for trying to get into Canada?

Could you explain that process?

[Ted Gallivan]

Sure.

Consistent with my prior testimony, 100% of asylum seekers are reviewed. Then for temporary residency, permanent residency, there's a selected sample sent for screening.

In 2023, there were 1,000 who met the threshold of conclusive serious inadmissibility, and then there was a further number where it was suspected. We flagged roughly 6,000 people through those test checks that I mentioned. Those can occur well before the person even gets to the airport.

Then we have a second pass where CBSA is looking for serious criminality, misrepresentation, a whole series of threats, including national security, and where we physically have people located abroad who “no board” people from planes. That's roughly 7,500 people back to that 2023 year.

The third line of defence, just from a CBSA perspective, is when people actually present to the port of entry, where border service officers inspect and interview people. Again, the broad category of people who ought not to be in the country and who are in an allowed-to-leave situation is roughly 35,000 a year. There are an additional 3,500 for serious inadmissibility. Again, serious inadmissibility can include national security threats, espionage or organized crime. Those are very significant bad actors.

Those are the layers of defence. Those screens rely on the professional judgment of our employees, as well as information from domestic partners seated around the table here and from international partners. The CBSA approach to the screen is to know who we're looking for or the aliases and their patterns of travel and behaviour. We scrutinize travel history, where you've been and those kinds of things. We interview people. We're basically trying to test the story put in front of us working from a script from intelligence partners that tells us what to be watchful for.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thank you.

Is security screening repeated again at the stage of granting citizenship? How does that process work?

[Ted Gallivan]

As with this case, 100% of asylum seekers are subject to security screening. A selection of high-risk people seeking other statuses are subject to review. Having reviewed, as we did in this case, this individual in 2018 and 2021 at the citizenship stage, having already vetted them twice, they weren't passed through CBSA for a check before citizenship, having been already vetted twice.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thank you.

My next question is for Mr. Larkin.

What factors led to the RCMP being able to take such swift action to protect Canadians and the city of Toronto in this particular case?

[D/Commr Bryan Larkin]

Mr. Chair, in July 2024, we received information from our partner agency, CSIS, in relation to a potential threat to Canadian security. The greater Toronto area INSET, which is an integrated national security team that involves other police of jurisdiction, including the OPP, Toronto Police Service, Peel Regional Police, Durham and York, commenced an active criminal investigation that included significant surveillance and monitoring, which ultimately, on July 28, led to the charge.

I'm not able to speak to specifics as this matter is before the courts, but the information that we provided made this, obviously, a national priority. We dedicated significant resources in partnership with other police of jurisdiction, which ultimately led to the arrest and to the ongoing matter before our judicial system.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thank you.

My next question is for Mr. Kochhar in regard to the immigration department.

Can you please explain and elaborate on the role that biometric information plays in protecting Canadian borders and in serving as the foundation of identity management?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Chair, biometrics is an important tool that we employ in terms of collecting that information so that we can actually match it through the RCMP with the different databases it has.

We also have the capability, with the collection of that biometric information, to actually ping our Five Eyes partners too. That database is valid for up to 10 years. At different stages—one being the journey of the immigrant from the temporary resident visa to that of a permanent resident and to citizenship—biometrics is an important tool for us.

Just to confirm one more thing, this is important also as part of identity management for individuals, as well as the North American perimeter approach, which actually allows our partners to have similar information.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Can you explain the role of the immigration officers who conduct initial admissibility assessments of permanent and temporary resident applications? What training do officials at IRCC receive, and what tools do they have to effectively screen those applications?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Mr. Chair, IRCC officers are highly trained officers who have an in-depth knowledge of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, as well as other acts, like the Citizenship Act and so on.

An important part is during the initial screening at the temporary resident stage. If a person is applying overseas for a visitor visa, an initial security screening is done along with different questions that are asked in our questionnaire. Supporting documents are seen. For any of those, if they ever actually raise a flag, we can then go to our security partners for enhanced screening.

Generally, if the officers, who are well trained in this—these are foreign service officers posted abroad—are satisfied with the information provided, then a temporary resident visa is actually given. For the permanent resident visa, there is a different procedure, although in the same case, the eligibility and the admissibility are always the backbone of our immigration system.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Ms. Zahid.

Mr. Fortin, you have six minutes.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Kochhar, you told us about the admission process for temporary permits and—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Excuse me, Mr. Fortin, but the sound quality is poor.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Everything seems normal here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Can you try again?

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Yes. Everything seems to be working on my end.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

It seems to be okay now. You can start again.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I was going to ask a question of Mr. Kochhar, who just explained the screening process to us.

Am I to understand, Mr. Kochhar, that you will not request a security screening in all cases, but only when the person responsible believes it is useful? Is that what you said?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Thank you for the question.

What I mentioned was that enhanced security screening is based on the initial screening. That is when the immigration officer may decide, based on risk indicators and the initial information. All visitors, all students—

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Okay. Am I to understand that when you determine that there is no risk, there is no security screening?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Initial screening does include other biometrics, which is part of our security screening, as well as the ability to look at the departmental databases and look against the risk indicators, which we have worked on with CBSA and CSIS.

There is a security screening, which is called the initial security screening. Only if there is a flag will we refer it for a comprehensive security screening, which is then referred to our security partners.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Okay, thank you.

Ms. Lloyd, I understand from Mr. Kochhar's answer that a security screening is not always requested if there is no red flag. However, when there is a red flag, CSIS needs to conduct an enhanced screening. I would like you to give us your opinion.

I know that my colleagues and I often come back to the same issue, but I recall the events. A video from 2015 was discovered. In the many years since then, this individual was granted a temporary resident permit, then refugee status and then Canadian citizenship. That video had been around for many years. We learned that French security services had found it and had notified you that it existed.

How do you explain the fact that you were not aware of the video until June 2024?

[Vanessa Lloyd]

I thank the member for his question.

With the member's permission, I will proceed in English in order to be clear and precise.

I would refer the committee to the additional information that has been put to the committee today about how the service undertakes the enhanced biometric security screening that my colleague Dr. Kochhar mentioned.

To the member's question, I am not going to comment on allegedly leaked classified information. As I mentioned in my comments earlier this morning, information exchange with partnerships is an important tool as it relates to our ability to combat threats globally and ensure the safety of not only Canadians but also citizens of the world.

I would like to echo—