Public Safety Committee on Aug. 28th, 2024

[Vanessa Lloyd]

That is correct.

[Heath MacDonald, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

However, CSIS and CBSA do not make decisions on applications. Is that correct as well?

[Vanessa Lloyd]

That's correct.

[Heath MacDonald, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

How does IRCC consider advice from CSIS and CBSA, then, when the process is completed to that point?

[Aiesha Zafar]

Mr. Chair, when a comprehensive security screening is concluded, CBSA will provide a recommendation as well as an assessment and information for the IRCC officer to consider. That recommendation can come back as favourable, at which point it indicates to the officer that there are no further concerns from a security screening perspective. It could come back as non-favourable, which indicates that there are concerns, or it could come back as inconclusive, which could indicate to the officer that more information is required for a recommendation.

Our officers will then take that into consideration. There are a number of things they can do with, for instance, a non-favourable recommendation. We are subject to and we do abide by the rules of procedural fairness, as I mentioned earlier. That means if we have adverse information on an applicant, then the officer will provide the opportunity for that applicant to address that adverse information. The information that's received, whether it's through an interview or in writing, is then assessed again by the officer before making a final decision. In that final decision, if it is an approval, the visa will be issued. If it is a refusal, after having given the applicant the opportunity for procedural fairness, the decision-maker, the officer, will put down all of their findings in their decision in writing to indicate to the applicant the refusal.

[Heath MacDonald, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Thank you.

Ms. Zafar, on this process, would the final say on the refugee claimant be with the RPD? Who has the final say?

[Aiesha Zafar]

It would be the refugee protection division of the Immigration and Refugee Board.

[Heath MacDonald, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Okay. Thank you.

I have a quick question, and I know it was brought up earlier, on facial recognition. Are there any other countries in the world actually using facial recognition for security intelligence? Does anybody have any idea?

[Vanessa Lloyd]

Mr. Chair, I would decline to comment on the capabilities and the methodologies used by other countries, and I would remind the committee that other countries may do so under other pieces of legislation or authorities that may or may not apply in the Canadian context.

[Heath MacDonald, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Thank you, Ms. Lloyd.

On a further note, just on the whole process of our trilateral, is this something that's being used very similarly in other countries, or can we compare?

[Aiesha Zafar]

Mr. Chair, I'm not familiar with the methodologies that other countries use for immigration screening at this time.

[Heath MacDonald, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Okay.

Thank you, Chair. That's all for me.

Thank you, witnesses.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. MacDonald.

Mr. Fortin, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. McCrorie, the targets keep going up. We received 55,000 asylum claims in 2018, 64,000 in 2019, 24,000 in 2020, 25,000 in 2021 and nearly 92,000 in 2022. Canada's immigration targets are 485,000 permanent residents in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025 and 2026. More and more applications are being made by people who want to come to Canada and, so, more and more people are entering the country.

Don't you think that the resources needed to properly assess these applications should increase proportionately?

[Aaron McCrorie]

I thank the member for his question.

From fiscal years 2022-23 to 2023-24—

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

Let's forget the numbers, Mr. McCrorie. I only have a minute left.

Are more resources needed?

[Aaron McCrorie]

What I'd say is that more resources would allow us to clear more files. We take the time necessary to do thorough research in every file we have, so what you're seeing is an increase in our inventory and issues around our timeliness.

The issue is that we're sacrificing our efficiency for our effectiveness. We're making sure that we do a good job on the files that we review. The time and energy it takes us to do that is having an impact on the number of files we can process at any given time, so you are seeing our inventory go up.

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

Have you made any requests to the Canadian government for an increase in resources, to ensure quicker action and more information gathering on asylum seekers, immigration applicants and others?

[Aaron McCrorie]

We co-operate with our colleagues in agencies and departments.

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

I'm not asking whether you're collaborating with your colleagues. I want to know whether you've requested for more resources.

[Aaron McCrorie]

I was going to say that yes, we work through our colleagues at, for example, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada as they look at immigration levels. We collaborate with them on what resources may be required.

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

Have you received any budget increases in the last two years? If so, how much?

[Aaron McCrorie]

I'm sorry.

I'm not sure that I understood the question, but what I was trying to say is that in the last two fiscal years, we did see our budget in this particular area go up by about 15%. The exact—

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

Have you hired more people to do research?

[Aaron McCrorie]

We use that money to either hire new employees or pay overtime to the employees we have, or we sometimes bring in surge capacity from other parts of the agency to assist with the work.