Debates of May 28th, 2026

Department of Citizenship and Immigration—Main Estimates, 2026-27

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, I am proud to say that this government is investing in law enforcement. This government is protecting Canadians. That is our priority. We have reduced the IFHP coverage. We have instituted copay as well. The PBO has confirmed—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Conservative, John Nater]

The hon. member.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Mr. Chair, William Imona-Russel was a rejected asylum claimant who raped two women and murdered a 20-year-old girl while still in Canada. This rapist would qualify for luxury health benefits like speech therapy under the Liberal government.

Does the minister think that is okay?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, as I said earlier, the Canada Border Services Agency has deported 23,000 people this past year. We work with the CBSA and with our law enforcement. We are investing in over 1,000 more officers to ensure that we protect Canadians.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Mr. Chair, the minister did not answer the question. Does she think it is okay for this rapist to qualify for luxury health benefits?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, I am not sure what my colleague is referring to. Is he referring to coverages that are interim for essential services for vulnerable people before they transition to provincial funding? He is going to have to confirm that.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Mr. Chair, the minister claims that the interim federal health program is temporary, but the Parliamentary Budget Officer says that the average program coverage for asylum claimants is now four years under her watch. Is four years temporary?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, again, let me get back to the question of criminality. Serious crimes deserve serious consequences, period.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Mr. Chair, how many years would it take before the minister no longer considered the interim federal health program temporary? Is it longer than four years?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, the good news is that we are saving money because the asylum claim numbers are down. We will continue to bring them down with Bill C-12 to curb those numbers.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Chair, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Vancouver East.

I want to say that moments of tonight's discussions have been encouraging. After the horrors of the passage of Bill C-12 and international condemnation that it attacks refugee rights, it was so refreshing that some of the points I was going to make were made by the hon. member for Pierrefonds—Dollard on the long delays in getting people out of Gaza and out of the horrible situations found in Sudan. Also, it was wonderful to hear the words one wants to hear of compassion from a Canadian from the hon. member for Spadina—Harbourfront.

My question to the minister is the following. Is the department considering that it is long since time to recognize that the United States is no longer a safe third country after ICE has arrested over 900 children who have been held for more than 20 days?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Chair, this may be one of the first times that I have responded to the hon. member. I know she has been here for a while. I very much respect her as a person, but also as a parliamentarian. I know she has connections to my province of Nova Scotia. I really appreciate her wealth of knowledge here.

She asked me a question about the STCA. The information I have is that the STCA continues to be partnered with Canada.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Chair, I consider myself at least bicoastal, having spent much of my life on Cape Breton Island. I also went to Dalhousie law school, so I am at least partially Haligonian.

I hear a lot of concerns from my constituents. My constituency office is pretty much overwhelmed with people who need help as they are caught up in the long delays of trying to get processed by IRCC. It is not uncommon for security assessments to take several years, and we know that a lot of the international partnering agencies that work with IRCC create tremendous bottlenecks.

What is the department planning to do to expedite the process and to find a better balance between security and compassion?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, my colleague raises a really good point that we have been talking with my department's officials about, because we receive those concerns in my constituency office as well, as do all parliamentarians.

I would say that part of the process is to do with the fact that we have a levels plan that is part of managing migration in Canada, permanent and temporary. As a result of that, we can only process so many per year. We have been clear and transparent with Canadians on what that number is. In fact, we met our target last year and we are on track to do so this year. It is part of the levels plan that we have that we can only process so much.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Chair, we know that we want to attract, as the minister has mentioned tonight, skilled and talented people, new Canadians who bring the talents and skills we need, but this is not just a compassion exercise. This is also a steep competition. It was recently pointed out in Policy Options magazine, just last month, that Canada risks discovering too late that the real consequences of a burdensome and cumbersome process are not just delayed applications but losing eligible and desirable people, who go elsewhere.

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, it is a very good point. In terms of the IRCC's processing standards, 80% are processed in time within our standards. We have very high-demand volumes. To go back to the member's earlier question on security screening, we are working very diligently with both CBSA and CSIS to bring those down.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Chair, another big concern for my constituents is the home care worker program. The home care worker immigration pilot, as the minister knows, was opened in March 2025 and closed soon thereafter. We understand from her department that it has been paused. When will it restart?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, it is a very good question because many people use home care workers. We had to pause the program because we found an abundance of volume there, and we felt, as everybody does now, that it is just not fair to keep accepting more and more applications until we are able to process some of the ones that we have in the queue.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Chair, it should not be so difficult when people are living in Canada as permanent residents and want to bring their parents here on a TRV to visit their grandchildren. Why is that so bottlenecked?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, we have levels, in terms of the temporary resident population, that we can accept, whether it is students, workers or the people who are coming on humanitarian pathways. It is all calculated together. It is all in budget 2025, which was tabled in the House. We are working to process those numbers accordingly.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Chair, does the minister believe there is a lack of financial resources to her department? Is it a lack of people power that makes this a grinding misery for so many people who either are here and wanting their permanent residency or are overseas and wanting to come here?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, again, these are excellent questions, and they are ones that Canadians are asking me when I go to different provinces, and the territories that I went to as well.

No, it is neither of those. It is the fact that we have a levels plan. The levels plan has a permanent resident number, but for the first time, in 2024, Canada introduced the temporary resident plan—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Conservative, John Nater]

The hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands has the floor.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Chair, as the minister hears from every corner of the House, there is deep concern that her department is not delivering for the safety and security of Canadians, but my concern is far more that we are not delivering on our own reputation for being compassionate and humanitarian people.

Will the minister agree that much more needs to be done, and is there a timeline and a strategy to deliver on these concerns?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, we definitely have a plan. We are definitely delivering on that plan. It has been transparent, it has been clear, and perhaps that is part of the reason there have been so many questions from Canadians. We have been so clear and so transparent, and it is different than in past years, and we will continue to do the best that—