Public Safety Committee on Sept. 19th, 2024

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

I do have to interrupt. He has said something that's incorrect.

Permanent residents from Pakistan are required to provide police certificates.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

Mr. Chair, on a point of order, that's not how this works. The questioner asks the question. The witness has the time to answer, regardless of the opinion of Ms. Dancho.

I would ask that you implement the rules that we all operate under.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I would agree with Ms. O'Connell on this point.

Could we just let the minister answer?

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Perhaps he can answer my question on permanent residence.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

I'm not sure who is posing the questions or giving the testimony, but I am glad to finish my—

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

May I pose the question? Then he can finish and then we're done. I'd appreciate that.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

No, that's not how this works.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

I'm sorry, are you the chair? I didn't know that.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

Are you?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Your time is up.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

That is not how this works.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Can we avoid crosstalk?

I'm sorry. Your time is up.

We'll go now to—

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

No, I have 11 seconds left, Chair.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

Can we hear the answer, perhaps?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I have three seconds left for you.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

On permanent residence, are police security checks required from Pakistan, yes or no?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

As a matter of course, yes.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Yes, they are. Exactly.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

Can we hear the answer?

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

He did answer.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

There was a cascade of questions there, Chair.

What I would say is that we are confident in our security screening and the progressive nature of it. We believe that the biometrics that every single student needs to submit, with very few restrictions, give us the confidence we have.

The officers in question can ask for police certificates. Again, there are questions around the validity and the reliability of those certificates.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

It's not required.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you.

We go now to Mrs. Zahid.

You have six minutes, please.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for coming on this important issue.

Before I get to my questions, I just want to say that I am very concerned about the rhetoric we saw from some of my Conservative colleagues in the last meeting that we had on this issue.

This is a very serious issue, and all Canadians want us to get answers on the security processes that are in place for people who are seeking to come to Canada, but as leaders we also have a responsibility to choose our words carefully. While we do our work, we must be careful not to cast aspersions on all immigrants or all Canadians from minority communities. Conservative members even sought to tie these cases to the Syrian refugee program, which they know is false. We must not fuel online hatred, which too often becomes real-world violence.

I came to this country as an immigrant to build a better life for my children. In a few days, it will be 25 years for me here. Because Canada is welcoming and a land of opportunity, so have many other people. Canadians from minority groups are too often the target of racism and discrimination.

I ask that we keep that in mind during this study.

Coming to questions, Minister, can you please outline the specific screening measures currently in place to prevent individuals with extremist ties from entering Canada?

Can you please elaborate on the portion of this security screening that the IRCC is responsible for? What happens if IRCC does identify risk indicators on an application?

[Doug Shipley, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

On a point of order, Chair, I purposely waited until my colleague had finished her question.

Could we please get clarification on your ruling about the time to answer? I thought the time allotted to the member was their time to speak and use as they want.

Would you please make a ruling on the time to answer the question, so we don't keep arguing about that going forward?

We've had discussions about this many times. I don't believe it's in the Standing Orders that you have to give the same time to answer as you do to ask a question.

Could you make a ruling on that please, Chair?