Status of Women Committee on March 30th, 2023

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thanks so much, Chiara.

I'm now going to pass it over to Emmanuella online.

You have three minutes.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you, Madame Chair.

I'd like to begin by thanking all of our witnesses for the incredible testimony that we've heard today. It's been very informative, and it's definitely going to help shape the study.

I'll start with Jovana.

You spoke you earlier about the VTIP TRP, and you said that many of the victims are refused a VTIP TRP. Meanwhile, we heard earlier this week from IRCC that this was a pretty good avenue that people can take if ever they are being trafficked or it's found out that someone without status is being trafficked.

Can you speak a little bit to that point and explain in what kinds of circumstances these people are being refused? Also, do you have any stats or can you access any stats on how many victims have been refused? Even though one is too many, I think it would help us to know more specifically how many people this is happening to.

[Jovana Blagovcanin]

The temporary resident permit is available to someone who is out of status who is a victim of trafficking. At first, if approved, you would be approved for six months, so it's a short-term TRP, and then you apply for a subsequent one, which is normally granted for a year.

The IRCC's policies state that they don't need to speak to law enforcement or testify in court to be approved, but what we're finding is that—we're not just making it up, because it states this in the refusal letter—the case has been concluded, there are no court proceedings, and they're not needed to be in Canada anymore, so they are refused the temporary resident permit on that basis, which is confusing for the applicant, and it is confusing for us as well when we're submitting these applications.

I don't have the statistics in front of me to state how many people are being refused, but, from our cases, I can say that we do have large cases that see 40-plus victims who might have all been approved for the short-term TRPs because there was an investigation, but now the subsequent ones are all starting to be refused because the case has been concluded or the court proceedings are no longer ongoing.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have 30 seconds.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you. That's good to know.

I have another question, but I don't know whether you'll be able to answer it in 30 seconds.

You mentioned that people cannot reunite with their families. Of course, that's only offered to PRs. What would you suggest be done, in a straightforward recommendation, for victims of trafficking?

[Jovana Blagovcanin]

Allow applicants of temporary resident permits to include family members, or allow a quicker and much more accessible pathway to permanent residency for victims of trafficking, so they can bring their families. Right now, they need to have a TRP for five consecutive years. This is very difficult and challenging. It almost never happens, at least from our perspective and in our experience.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

That will wrap up our first panel for today. I would like to thank all the witnesses.

You have brought so much to us. If there is additional information you wish to send in, or statistics you've received and want to share, please feel free to send them in.

We're going to suspend and go in camera.

The meeting is suspended.

[Proceedings continue in camera]