Debates of June 14th, 2023

A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight about a grave problem involving our immigration system and an injustice done to a number of well-meaning students who came to this country with the best of intentions. They were victims of fraud, and they are now being revictimized by the Liberal government.

I want to start tonight by recognizing the leadership of the Ontario Gurdwaras Committee and my friends at the Malton Gurdwara in particular. They brought this issue to my attention and helped facilitate interactions for me with a number of the students who were affected by this issue. I know that many people in the Sikh community and other communities have been speaking out about this, but I wanted to provide that particular recognition because it was through leadership that I became aware of this issue, met some of the students affected and was able to support this advocacy in the House as well.

What happened in these cases that we are talking about is that students were given fake acceptance letters to real colleges here in Canada by an unscrupulous consultant in India. Those students thought they had received real acceptance letters. They provided those fake acceptance letters to Canadian immigration. For whatever reason, Canadian immigration failed to detect this fraud. They did not verify with the colleges, I suspect. They issued real visas based on fake acceptance letters. Then these students came to Canada.

When they got to Canada, the students were told there was a mix-up; the school was full. However, the students knew that, as a condition of their visa, they had to go to school right away. The consultants then offered them another opportunity with a smaller college that was less well-known, saying they could study there instead.

These students came to Canada, and they were duped through no fault of their own. They put a lot of money into being able to come to Canada. In many cases, these were poor families that would have sacrificed enormously to allow a member of their family to come to Canada and have this opportunity.

The students came here, and they studied; in many cases, they got work permits. Then, just as they were applying for permanent residency, somehow, the government found what had in fact been the government's own error. The government was able to look back and say, “Oh, actually, we screwed up. We gave you real visas on the basis of fake acceptance letters.”

The students have been threatened with deportation. We have seen a number of instances of stays of deportation. Very clearly, if we look at the timelines, this has only happened following the public advocacy of the opposition. Great promises have been made by the minister and others, saying that they would treat these folks fairly. They should not worry. They are going to do it on a case-by-case basis, and so forth.

The reality is that those commitments were only made in response to heightening pressure from the community, engaging with the Conservative opposition. In fact, we put forward motions to study this at committee, and these motions were repeatedly voted down by the Liberals and the NDP. However, from what I understand now, the committee is finally able to move forward on this.

There is a question of the fairness to these students, but there is also a fundamental question of the integrity of our immigration system. How did this screw-up happen? Let us make sure these students are taken care of, but let us also address how such a massive screw-up took place. Somebody could simply photoshop fake acceptance letters, which should be a pretty easy thing to do, and was able to fool immigration, potentially hundreds of times. I would like an answer to that.

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for his questions because they allow me to share some news and to validate some of the concerns that he expressed with today's announcement by the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, which addressed these concerns around the report of international students and graduates facing removal from Canada. As he said, letters of acceptance submitted as part of their study permit applications were determined to be fraudulent.

The minister today announced that he has created a task force that will see officials at IRCC working closely with the Canada Border Services Agency to identify victims of fraud. He has directed officials to approach every incident on a case-by-case basis and to do so with expediency, flexibility and compassion. The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act provides the minister with discretionary authority, which he has indicated he will exercise in the present context.

Therefore, if the facts of an individual case are clear that an international student came to Canada with a genuine intent to study and without knowledge of the use of the fraudulent documentation or participation in criminal activity, instruction has been given for immigration officers to issue a temporary resident permit to that individual. This will ensure that these well-intentioned students and graduates remain in Canada. It will also ensure that they are not subjected to the five-year ban from re-entering Canada that normally follows in cases of misrepresentation. While this process runs its course, a preliminary temporary resident permit will be issued as required in order to prevent an imminent deportation.

While we are focused, of course we want to support those who have done nothing wrong. It should also be kept in mind that there are also other foreign nationals who had no intent of pursuing higher education, including some involved in organized crime who may have used fraudulent acceptance letters to take advantage of our immigration system. Officials are currently investigating to identify the innocents and those who are aware of the fraud.

IRCC has always taken fraud seriously and it is working with its local and international partners to detect and deter fraud, including working even more closely with post-secondary institutions, provinces and territories, and organizations representing our colleges and universities. The minister of IRCC is taking every opportunity to improve our detection of fraud and crackdown on dishonest consultants. IRCC is also continuously improving the system to detect the evidence of fraud. When fraud tips are reported, IRCC will continue to look into each one of them.

To uphold our system, a full review of the international students program is actually under way. The review aims to strengthen program integrity and enhance protections to address the students' vulnerability, unethical recruitment and unscrupulous actors.

As I am sure the member is also aware, the government has cracked down on dishonest consultants and is requiring that they be licensed under the college of immigration consultants. Our government has made investments to improve oversight, strengthen enforcement and increase accountability.

For students specifically in India, IRCC has also run media campaigns to deter fraud. As recently as March of this year, IRCC ran a campaign in India targeting potential visitors, students and workers to decrease the misuse of permits—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. member's time is up.

The hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Speaker, I would just put two follow-up points to the parliamentary secretary.

The first is that it took far too long for the government to respond at all. Those who were involved and were victims of this had been meeting and were trying to engage with local Liberal MPs in the greater Toronto area for a long time to get a resolution. It should not have taken questions in question period to get the government to change course on this. I am glad the official opposition was able to lead on this, but it should not have taken so long for the government to act.

Second, I would like to hear an answer about how this happened in the first place. I think we need to know not just about the issue of justice for the students, although that is critically important, but also how there was such a significant hole in our immigration system's integrity. Is the parliamentary secretary trying to get to the bottom of how this happened?

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

Madam Speaker, I want to clarify a few points for the member.

First of all, I think that, collectively, all members of the House are generally concerned about the situation that has arisen over the last few months. I can assure the member opposite that several members on the side of the government have been strong advocates on this.

The member refers to one instant where motions were tried by his colleagues in committee. I would remind everyone who is watching this evening that legislation has precedence in committee, and we were in clause-by-clause at the time the filibustering was happening by members of his own party.

However, we are here today to announce that we will continue to advocate for those who are victims of fraud, and our government is taking every action.

Public Safety

[Kevin Vuong, Independent, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

Madam Speaker, we hear so often from the government's talking points about how seriously it allegedly takes the issue of foreign interference, and I implore them to please stop with the talk and show Canadians some action.

Honestly, I shudder to think what the Chinese Communist Party must think of the Liberal government's handling to date of foreign interference. They must be wondering just how pathetic this government can get with its flimsiest of efforts to crack down on foreign operatives roaming around our country. It seems of little consequence that Chinese operatives are free to interfere in our electoral system, intimidate our citizens and open any number of police stations across the country, all at will and even with some financial abetting from our government.

The recent bungling must have sent Beijing into convulsions of laughter when our government gave up to $200,000 in funding to a Quebec charity that the RCMP itself has said might be hosting a secret Chinese police station. I would like to ask the parliamentary secretary if the talking points have now settled on the number of Chinese police stations in operation in Canada, or does that number conveniently fall under the rubric of national security? I want to get this straight.

Canadian citizens can be followed, confronted, threatened, intimidated and live in fear on our soil, and their government is unable to stand up to defend them. What kind of government is that? When will Canadian citizens of Chinese ancestry, or not, finally get some answers?

How long does an RCMP investigation into Chinese police stations operating in Canada take? Has anything been done? Has anyone been arrested or declared persona non grata and sent packing?

The most important question that remains is this: Why has there been such a reluctance by the Canadian government to take definitive, concrete action against foreign interference in Canada? Does Beijing have something on the Prime Minister or the cabinet? Is there some vested financial trade deal at play? Is our government still haunted by the Huawei heiress and the Prime Minister does not want to receive another public dressing-down from President Xi?

Canada expelled a Chinese diplomat who targeted the family of an MP, and the government seems almost more apologetic than angry. Is our government even capable of informing China, in no uncertain terms, that we as a country are neither its personal plaything nor a doormat? Canada has the right to stand up for our national security and sovereignty, just as China does on the slightest perceived indignity, real or imaginary.

It is clear that the matter of illegal foreign police stations, just like the overarching issue of foreign interference in Canada, either of Chinese or Iranian persuasion, can only be fully addressed by the convening of a full and independent public inquiry. Will the government call a full, independent public inquiry in our lifetime?

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration]

Madam Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to address the ongoing concerns of foreign interference in Canada.

Canada is a country with open political systems, democratic processes, social cohesion, academic freedoms and prosperity.

Although there are many reasons why people choose to come to Canada, our open society makes us an attractive target for foreign interference. Foreign interference, including acts targeting our democratic institutions and electoral processes, is not a partisan issue. Regardless of our political affiliations and stripes, as parliamentarians and leaders, it is our responsibility to protect Canada and Canadians from these threats.

We recognize that individuals in Canada subjected to intimidation, harassment or manipulation by foreign states or their proxies suffer the effect of foreign interference directly. These activities are a threat to Canada's sovereignty and to the safety of our communities and individuals in Canada.

The Government of Canada takes these threats very seriously. Our government has taken steps, including, among others, disrupting foreign interference through available legal mechanisms, such as publicly denouncing threats, leveraging existing legislation or through other efforts, as well as investigating suspected illegal activities and seeking to address them through criminal prosecution where applicable, providing mechanisms for public reporting through the CSIS and RCMP websites and national security threat phone lines, engaging with communities at risk in Canada to help them better protect themselves against foreign threats, and consulting with the public and key stakeholders on the design and implementation of a foreign influence transparency registry.

While those actions are not exhaustive, they highlight the real work that our government is doing to safeguard our democracy and citizens.

Our government is well aware of the serious allegation that Canada is being targeted for foreign interference, in particular the allegation of overseas police stations reportedly affiliated with the People's Republic of China. I can assure members of the House that the Government of Canada is taking swift action to deal with these concerns and has a strong, robust strategy for combatting foreign interference.

To summarize the latest action, on March 6, the Prime Minister announced further actions to combat foreign interference. These initiatives included the establishment of a new national counter foreign interference coordinator at Public Safety Canada and requesting reviews of NSICOP and NSIRA on the state of foreign interference in the Canadian federal electoral process and how national security agencies have responded to develop a plan to address the outstanding recommendations from the NSCIOP Rosenberg report and other reviews on these matters, which were delivered on April 6, and an investment of $5.5 million to strengthen the capacity of civil society partners to counter the disinformation.

Public Safety Canada also launched public and stakeholder consultations on March 10 of this year, to guide the creation of a foreign influence strategy registry.

On that note, our efforts are backed with budget involvement. Budget 2023 is there in support, with a significant amount of dollars to help.

Let me be clear. The government is keeping Canadians safe. While we cannot broadcast every effort, Canadians need to know that they are safe and secure.

[Kevin Vuong, Independent, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

Madam Speaker, these are more very strong words but what is the action and, more importantly, what are the results?

With all due respect to the parliamentary secretary, she can list all of the government's talking points and all of the things that it has allegedly done, but what matters are the results. The results clearly demonstrate that what it is doing is not working.

At least three MPs have been targeted and the Chinese Communist Party is setting up illegal police stations. The government is even sending them money. Is that considered success?

Diaspora groups are still sounding the alarm. Does the government interpret that as “mission accomplished”?

I ask again. Why has there been such a reluctance by the Canadian government to take definitive, concrete action against foreign interference? Does Beijing have something on the Prime Minister? What will it take for the government to finally wake up to the need for an independent and public inquiry? Does someone have to really get hurt or worse? Does someone have to die before it acts?

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

Madam Speaker, while my colleague is speculating and somewhat making allegations, I will say what the government is actually doing.

We are very committed to combatting foreign interference by protecting the Canadians and communities targeted by foreign state actors, safeguarding our democratic institutions and promoting economic security. This will not change.

We are aware, as I mentioned, that certain foreign governments, including that of the People's Republic of China, have attempted to threaten and intimidate individuals in Canada or their relatives abroad. Canada's security and intelligence agencies use the full extent of their mandates to respond to these threats. The RCMP is currently investigating reports of illegal activities in relation to the allegation of overseas police stations.

As they are ongoing investigations, new information cannot be revealed at this time. However, the member can rest assured that if there is evidence of state-backed harassment or intimidation, CSIS and the RCMP will apply the full measure of their mandates to investigate these threats. We are working—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I am sorry, but the hon. member's time is up.

The motion that the House do now adjourn is deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until later this day at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 12:21 a.m.)