Citizenship and Immigration committee  The short answer is yes, we have the authority, and we actually have been sharing with Ontario a considerable amount of information around the status of claimants, largely spurred by the Ministry of Community and Social Services, in terms of querying CIC about the status of indiv

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I believe Ms. Edlund will be able to respond.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  At the present time—and colleagues from CBSA may want to add to this as well—individuals from countries and territories that are exempt from the visa requirement are only examined by a Canadian official once they arrive at a port of entry. At that point, it's very difficult for B

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Essentially, if an individual wishes to come to Canada under the new regime and they're visa-exempt, with the ETA we will be required to have a record. They will be required to provide us with their information so we can do an initial screen before they arrive in Canada, regardle

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'll attempt to do it in less than a minute. Essentially, we have two broad groups of people who travel to Canada as tourists, visitors, business people, or foreign students. Some require a visa and some don't. Under the ETA, we will require those who don't require a visa today

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I will start and then Mr. Hill will have more substantive comments to add. Essentially, the minister's comments are completely accurate. The two departments have agreed to a management response and action plan in response to the recommendations of the Auditor General. Quite a lo

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We do share information with the Five Country Conference partners. It is on a fairly circumscribed and limited basis, 3,000 records a month, to a server that Australia hosts. Essentially, what we share are the biometrics. If there are matches, then there are case-by-case follow-u

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Absolutely. I think from a facilitation angle, as Ms. Edlund has mentioned, there are a number of interests, including some in the tourism industry, that would actually applaud the use of biometrics in a number of markets, because it does then allow them to manage, with certainty

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It's been interesting in the past to see a number of criticisms from the Auditor General, for example—I think in her 2009 report, or 2008—signalling that this is a gap in our enforcement tool kit, not knowing how many failed claimants were still in Canada, for example, or who had

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'll start and then ask colleagues from CBSA to fill in. Essentially, as I said, CIC is the first line overseas in terms of receiving the visitor visa application. Under protocols that we have with public safety agencies, there are requirements for mandatory referrals of a numb

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I can give you more detailed information on that. In situations where the data we receive is problematic, clients are given a notification. In the case of an ETA, for instance, applicants who do not receive a favourable decision online right away will be advised to contact the v

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Absolutely.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  As regards this system, we were fortunate in that we were able to look to the experience of our Australian and U.S. counterparts. I believe their standard is to resolve issues or clarify inaccurate information within a 72-hour period. Given how important it is to facilitate touri

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Biometric information is a real game changer in terms of allowing departments and agencies like ours to be able to lock in the identity of individuals who present themselves for a service. Given the advances in technology and the fact that fraud and malfeasance are becoming equal