Madam Speaker, I do appreciate and thank the hon. member for Trinity—Spadina for her question.
Admissibility decisions on applications to enter or remain in Canada can have a significant impact on the ministry's ability to ensure that immigration benefits Canada's economic, social and cultural development, while continuing to protect the health, safety and security of Canadians.
Our visa officers are our first line of defence in protecting Canada's interests, and frankly, they deserve better than the criticism that my hon. colleague has directed towards them.
My colleague has suggested that the visa officers work with “no clear criteria, guidelines or standards for entry” and that their decisions are arbitrary. This is simply not true. The grounds for inadmissibility of foreign nationals seeking to come to Canada are clearly outlined in sections 34 to 42 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which I would be happy to provide to the hon. member.
These sections outline grounds that include national security, including raising money for terrorist organizations, war crimes or organized crime. It is true that these inadmissibility provisions in the IRPA are currently being reviewed. In fact, Citizenship and Immigration Canada reviews its policies periodically in order to ensure that they provide officials with the tools necessary to maintain the integrity of Canada's immigration system.
The objectives of this admissibility review are to assess whether the provisions in IRPA continue to meet Canadian needs, identify any gaps, recommend necessary updates to policy and operational guidelines, or in fact, recommend amendments to legislation or any associated regulations that are dependent upon that legislation. An admissibility working group has been established involving CIC, Canada Border Services Agency and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, that is examining ways to streamline security screenings.
In the short term, our ministry has distributed a message to field officers that the refusal letter is reviewed by the immigration program manager for any cases being considered for a refusal under sections 34 or 35.
I would conclude by adding that Canada has the highest regard for India, and each year we welcome more than 130,000 Indians either on a temporary or on a permanent basis.