Mr. Speaker, with regard to part (a), Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, IRCC, has received allegations or reports of corruption or bribery committed by locally engaged staff toward applicants for Canadian travel documents in the past 10 years; however, IRCC does not have records extending earlier than 2016.
With regard to part (b), IRCC has received 27 reports of corruption or bribery committed by locally engaged staff since 2016. This is the total number of reports. Due to the small number of investigated allegations, data is not further broken down by office due to safety and privacy concerns. Twenty-one did not require an investigation and one is ongoing. Five were investigated, of which two were rejected because they were not founded and three were resolved.
IRCC, in collaboration with Global Affairs Canada, GAC, as the employer of locally engaged staff, takes allegations of misconduct seriously and follows a protocol to investigate misconduct, using forensic analysis of information systems, including emails, texts and GCMS access; interviews; the review of procedures, etc. Depending on the severity of the infraction, if the allegations are founded, discipline can range from an oral reprimand up to and including termination of employment.
With regard to part (c), IRCC has many levels of controls, policies, procedures and processes specifically to address the risk of corruption or bribery by locally engaged staff, including the following. All IRCC locally engaged staff must have valid reliability status, which is granted by GAC. IRCC travel documents are rigorously and closely managed by Canada-based staff, with frequent reconciliation and quarterly reporting to IRCC headquarters. Any loss or theft of counterfoils, or visas, is reported and investigated. Best practices are implemented and monitored in IRCC’s overseas offices to avoid malfeasance, including open-space work environments to allow for supervision, rotation of tasks, random assignment of files, regular quality assurance exercises, secure storage of travel documents and ongoing training. All fees for visa services are paid online directly to IRCC, and IRCC’s social media and websites warn clients against making payments to unauthorized representatives.