CIMM#91: Government's Response to the Final Report of the Special Committee on Afghanistan and Committee Business

As to where we left off, I just want to make it clear that this is an IRCC issue.

I have the Hong Kong Watch report. Some $1.5 billion is managed by Canadian insurance companies, which is equivalent to $69 million in management fees that these companies are making. The issue is related to Hong Kongers who are Canadian citizens and Canadian permanent residents who came to Canada on the BNO passport, which was a valid document to travel here.

Hong Kong Watch notes this about the MPFA, which is a Hong Kong-based organization:

...the MPFA released a statement on 10 March 2021 saying that because the British National (Overseas) (BNO) passport was no longer recognised by the Hong Kong government as a valid travel document as well as proof of identity as of the end of January 2021, those trying to withdraw their MPFs early—

Those are the pension fund monies of these Hong Kongers, who are Canadians citizens or permanent residents.

—(before retirement) cannot rely on the BNO passport as evidence in support [of] an application for early MPF withdrawal.

These are pension funds of Canadians who are originally from Hong Kong or are permanent residents of Canada. When they apply, the agents of these Canadian insurance companies, who are in Hong Kong, are not allowing the transfer.

Some employees—at least in one case with, I think, Sun Life—have been arrested in Hong Kong for trying to facilitate this. This is a form of transnational repression, where the Beijing government is directing the Hong Kong government to go after these Canadian Hong Kongers and permanent residents. It's a form of the extraterritorial reach of the CCP against our people.

What I want is for us to pass this motion with the amendments in order for us to call these insurance companies to testify and explain why they are doing this, why they are facilitating this and why they continue operating in Hong Kong under these conditions.

The second part is about the IRCC issuing the PR card. For those who aren't Canadian citizens yet, when a PR card is issued, the first three letters indicate which travel document you used when you originally entered Canada. For Hong Kongers who used the BNO passport, this is shown on the card, so it's a very easy and quick way for MPF managers in Hong Kong and Hong Kong government administrators to identify them. Because of this quirk in how we do our PR cards, we're facilitating the identification of people being targeted by Beijing.

I'd like this motion to pass. It's for just one meeting, so we can call these people to testify and explain themselves.

That's right.

First we'll have a debate, and when there are no more hands up, I will call the vote.

If there's unanimous consensus, we can call it by unanimous consent.

(Subamendment agreed to)

We are back to the amendment as subamended. All in favour?

(Amendment as amended agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

Now we are back to the motion as amended. All in favour?

(Motion as amended agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

Go ahead, Madam Kwan.

We're on a roll so let's try this one on for size. I move:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee invite the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and department officials to appear before the committee for two hours to update the committee on the temporary immigration measures initiated in response to the ongoing conflicts in Sudan and Gaza.

With what's going on in Gaza, I think this meeting is absolutely urgent so we can hear from the minister on the special immigration measures. We know there are a lot of issues and problems with the measures. I won't go into all the details here, but suffice it to say that people who have applied have not heard back. They can't get their code in. They are rejected and they don't really know why; it's not made clear to them. Even for those who have gotten the code, we know that no one has actually made it out of Gaza.

This is of utmost importance, as the situation continues to escalate and lives are literally being lost minute by minute as we speak.

The other one, of course, is the Sudan special immigration measure that was announced just before Christmas—quietly, I would say—by the government. There wasn't a whole lot of attention on this, but the issue there is not any less urgent. To my understanding, that quota is filled, so I think it is really important that we get the ministers and officials to speak to our committee about these matters.

After that, Mr. Chair, I will have another motion, but I will wait for this to be completed first.

Thank you, Chair.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms. Kwan for this important motion. It's very important that we hear from the minister on those temporary immigration measures.

So many people are caught in the war conflict, and I've been hearing stories from many of my constituents in my office. They are fearful for their loved ones, who are trapped in the war. There is a humanitarian crisis there with no humanitarian aid getting into the region.

I want to thank the minister for bringing forward these special measures, but there is a lot of confusion. I think the committee definitely needs to hear from the minister on how this process is going.

As Ms. Kwan said, some people have received the code; some people have not received the code. They have no clear indication of when and how they will be able to get their loved ones out of the war zone, and with added firing in the Rafah region, we really need to look into this ASAP.

I would like to propose an amendment to this motion. After the words “to appear before the committee”, let's add “as soon as possible” because it is very time-sensitive. We need to hear from the minister. I would also like to add, after “hours”, “and have officials appear for an additional hour following the minister's appearance”.

Thank you, Chair.

I want to add to it:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee invite the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and department officials, and Global Affairs Canada officials, to appear before the committee as soon as possible for two hours and have officials for an additional hour following the minister's appearance, to update the committee on the temporary immigration measures initiated in response to the ongoing conflicts in Sudan and Gaza.

I added “and Global Affairs Canada officials” because IRCC and Global Affairs work hand in hand on the ground. They are doing amazing work, but they face many challenges. The committee would benefit by learning from them what sort of challenges they face.

I think it would be good to learn about that and bring forward a report on this issue.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

There's been a bit of confusion this morning, but I am very glad to see this motion come forward. I'm happy to support it because as we know, right now these two countries, Sudan and Gaza, are places where.... Direct members of our communities have been reaching out and asking for support, not just to support family members who are still in these places, but also to bring back family members who are Canadian.

I'm going to reference some of people from my riding—the Kouta family. This is a family of about 16 people, and eight people have already been able to leave Gaza and come back to the city. There are still four family members with Canadian citizenship who have not been able to come home. That is very problematic, and we look forward to seeing what the rationale behind it is and how we can get them home safely and as soon as possible.

We're doing the reunification of family members of people who have been displaced, and I want to give some numbers for Sudan because a lot of people don't know what's happening in Sudan. As my colleague rightly said, there has been very little information on the Sudanese crisis.

More than seven million people have been displaced through this crisis. I have community members with family members in Sudan, and not only do they not have access to leave, but they can't even get a visa. We're putting in measures, and I want to talk to officials to understand how these measures are going to help when offices on the ground have been closed.

Women in Sudan are being raped in broad daylight. It is recorded. War crimes are happening, and there is no infrastructure in place to help people leave this place.

Canada is known for supporting a lot of people when they go through these crises. That's why we have a really good reputation. There are a few crises I can think of where we stepped up, which is exactly who we are, and did what we do, which is give a compassionate response.

When it comes to Sudan, many community members have asked why we haven't seen an equal response to their crisis and why a lot of our community members can't bring their families here. A member of my community is a hard-working taxi driver who can't reunite with his family members because there is no infrastructure for them to even get visas or to get an ID. The process it takes now for them to process their papers and be reunited with their families, and even prior to the crisis, is something we really need to discuss.

To what my colleague Mrs. Zahid said, I think Gaza is a very unlivable place right now for anyone, for any child, and if Canadians are still stuck in Gaza, it is our responsibility to bring them home. We have put in measures that allow families to be reunited, but the numbers are limited. What is the rationale behind that?

Our response to other crises, like Ukraine, has been very different, and I think we should step up. We need to do more. This is why I'm supporting my colleague's motion. I hope everybody else will as well.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for allowing me to speak.

I support this motion, and I'm happy that we are able to do something about this.

Since this crisis in Gaza started on October 7, I have had numerous meetings with families and people who have families stuck in this crisis. They are pleading with us to get them out of Gaza. The atrocities happening there are unimaginable for us as Canadians.

As Canada has been a beacon for many nations through conflicts and war, I think we should step up and help the people stuck in Gaza and Sudan. The atrocities happening are terrible things. The images we see on social media and in the news really break my heart when I see them.

Since October 7, I have had numerous meetings with leaders from the communities in my riding. I have two large mosques in my riding, and the leaders from both mosques have been to my office. We have had numerous meetings in regard to this and how we as the government and a country can help bring refugees and people in crisis out of Gaza and Sudan.

I'm fully in support of this motion, and I hope we can move ahead and help the people who are in dire need in the Middle East and Sudan. I'm hoping to work with my colleagues across the aisle to ensure that we can expedite this, with all parties working together.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for allowing me to speak.

Thank you, Chair.

I'm really thankful to my colleagues for supporting this motion. The last 125 days have been very heavy on all of us. It has not been easy for me, as a mother, to see all the horrific pictures coming from there. In the last 125 days, we have lost close to 30,000 innocent lives, many of them children and women.

I've been having meetings with my constituents and hearing from a lot of people. On Friday I hosted a town hall in my riding, and many people came all the way from different parts of Ontario to talk about their loved ones trapped in Gaza, who do not have anything to eat. They don't have drinking water. It's a humanitarian crisis, and I think Canada has always stood for making sure that we build peace. It's very important that we schedule this meeting as soon as possible because so many Canadians are looking to us to get their loved ones out of that humanitarian crisis.

I've heard from grandparents who have lost their children. Their grandchildren are without parents, so they have custody and really want to bring them here because there is no one to look after them. Thousands of people are housed in UNRWA schools—14,000 to 15,000, on average—and using one washroom. That's what life is like for people living in Gaza. There are many people who have children over the age of 24 trapped there. They have siblings trapped there. Some people, I have heard, have lost their siblings, and their kids are with their mother. There's no one to look after them. It's very important that we get people who are trapped there here so they can be reunited with their loved ones and we can bring peace to them.

I would request that this meeting be scheduled, because it's a time-sensitive issue. Every day, every second, people are being killed in that area, so it's very important that we schedule this meeting as soon as possible so we can hear from the minister what efforts are being made to make sure we get to the people trapped there and reunite them with their loved ones.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I thank the committee members for supporting the last motion.

I have another motion that I'd like to move at this point. Notice has been given for it. It reads as follows:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee invite the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship and the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities and relevant officials together for two hours, or invite the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship with relevant officials for two hours, and the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities to appear separately with relevant officials for one hour to update the committee on:

(a) the work of the task force addressing the exploitation scheme targeting international students as many students are still reporting that they are in limbo and have not heard back from officials about their status;

(b) the measures taken by IRCC and institutions to help prevent and protect international students from fraud schemes;

(c) the justification to increase the financial requirements for international students by more than 100% to $20,635;

(d) the justification for putting a cap on international study permits; and

(e) the plans to address the housing crisis for international students and efforts made to collaborate with provinces, territories and post-secondary institutions.

I think the motion is self-explanatory on all elements, and I think we would benefit from having the two ministers appear before our committee. We've also deliberated this issue at length at another meeting, so in the interest of time, I won't revisit all of those points.

I hope committee members will support this motion.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I appreciate this motion. Of course, it's very similar to the motion we put forward, which was defeated unfortunately, but there are a couple of things in it that are important for us.

Obviously, we've been working with international students, so it would be great to hear back about what the status of that is. The government seems to have responded in certain ways and not in others, and I know there are still students who are very much in limbo and trying to find answers. I think it would be great to have the minister and other people here to talk about that, so that's good too.

As to the cap on international study permits, there are many questions about how this is going to work and what the numbers are going to be. It seemed like a very last-minute, haphazard thing put in by the government, so I think it would be great for us to have the opportunity to dig a little deeper and find out exactly how this is supposed to work—what the rules are, what the regulations are for the provinces, what the caps are and those kinds of things.

I think this study is important and we need to do it, so I'll support this motion.