Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  We have been working closely with the IRB to make sure that its new efficiency measures are taking place and we support them. We consult continuously with stakeholders, including on the designated countries of origin, to make sure that refugee protection remains at the heart of our asylum policy.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The issue of processing privately sponsored refugees or government-sponsored refugees always takes resources. It takes time. I can tell you that the privately sponsored refugee allocation for 2017 is almost quadruple what has existed in the past. That is to allow us to reduce the backlog that exists within the private sponsorship refugee backlog, but also to allow more Canadians to bring in privately sponsored refugees.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I wish to thank the committee members for their study on client service. The government will take into consideration its recommendations as we work to improve our services for our clients. As the committee members are aware, our immigration plan for 2017 will maintain the historically high levels from the previous year.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  David Manicom will take that.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That is outside of Quebec. That is an increase of $76 million over the previous year. It shows you that we take settlement services very seriously and that it's a key priority for our government. In addition to those extra resources, we are always looking to make sure that the delivery of those services has the best impact for newcomers and refugees.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  On the issue of employment, our analysis indicates that the employment figures and the employment pace for government-assisted refugees within the Syrian refugee cohort is precisely the same as for previous waves of refugees. They tend to take a little bit longer than privately sponsored refugees, so—

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  We are committed to supporting refugees as they arrive in Canada, and making sure we provide them with language programs, job supports, and other integration programming as we move forward. We take that commitment seriously, and we have the track record to prove that.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  We continue to work very closely with provinces, municipalities, and other government agencies, including school boards, to make sure that the right settlement supports are in place to meet the group's psychological and integration needs. I also want to take the opportunity to thank Nadia Murad, with whom I spoke last night, for her tireless leadership. We know that Canadians will never forget her leadership on this file.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  The relocation we understand will have an impact on the community and staff, and all indeterminate employees are able to take positions in the new location. The new location will have an expanded case processing centre and will actually create more middle-class jobs for Alberta.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  That includes 25,000 resettled refugees, which is double what the previous government brought. We take seriously our refugee commitment to ensure that it is compassionate and focused on the most vulnerable people. We work very closely with the UN refugee agency and private sponsors to continue to identify the most vulnerable, and that obviously includes members of the LGBTQ2 community.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  It has led to them creating economic growth, jobs, and spurring innovation in our country. I also want to take this opportunity to thank my officials for processing 367,000 international student visas last year, which is a 22% increase over the previous government.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Wait times for privately sponsored refugees continued to balloon under the previous government, and we intend to take action against that. Our immigration levels in 2017 create 16,000 allocations for privately sponsored refugees, which is triple that the previous government created under its administration.

Justice committee  If not, is there any action the federal government can take to ensure more uniformity across the country?

International Decade for People of African Descent  Many disproportionately live in poverty and are overrepresented in correctional institutions. We must take action together. This decade provides us that opportunity. I urge our government to exercise its leadership to ensure that the objectives of the decade are achieved. We must stay true to our core Canadian values and continue to remove barriers to full opportunity and equality for all Canadians.

Transport committee  The issue of the folks who cannot do the job who, like you said, would add additional costs, would be taken care of by an option for the contractor to enable the local community to get access to paid training, or just training, so they're able to be in a better position to take advantage of similar jobs down the road or with other projects. That sort of analysis doesn't happen at this time with the federal government. There's no legislative framework, and this bill would enable us to start doing that.