In Committee

FINA#147: Bill C-69 on Concerns Around Expanding Immigration Detention into Federal Prisons

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I will speak to it very briefly.

As I was indicating, on March 13, over 80 civil societies, settlement agencies and religious organizations wrote a strongly worded letter to the Prime Minister with their concerns around expanding immigration detention into federal prisons.

Earlier today, the provisions around setting up this format were passed, but with that being said, this amendment is an attempt by the NDP to at least try to put some parameters within that framework, to have “high risk” clearly defined in legislation rather than leaving it up to regulation and having it be defined behind closed doors.

To that end, Mr. Chair, that's what the amendment seeks to do. The definition of “high risk” is really meant to provide some limitations around what would be deemed as high risk in this instance.

Mr. Chair, I just want to highlight a couple of elements within that. I won't, of course, read the entire amendment into the record here.

Really, we attempted to put some parameters there as to the nature and level of danger to the public the person poses related to, for example, any conviction to do with sexual offences or an offence involving violence or weapons and for the same conviction outside of Canada. As well, there are provisions with regard to pending charges for these offences. Also, we wanted to put parameters around engagement with terrorism or gang activities and such.

Mr. Chair, I think these are some of the provisions for declaring what is deemed to be “high risk” in that context.

The other thing worth noting here is that we're also adding to this with an amendment around mental health; when considering these matters, the mental health aspect of the individual should also be taken into consideration. That's written within the amendment here.

Of course, there are some accountability measures related to it, which means that when someone is to be detained, there has to be some level of accountability with respect to written notice advising the individual as such and then, of course, allowing the individual to undertake representation if they seek to do so.

That's a quick summary of where it is at in terms of trying to put these parameters in place.

CIMM#106: In Camera on Government's Response to the Afghanistan Final Report and Pension Transferability and Access to MPF, and Delays in PR and Visas for Hong Kongers

CIMM#105: In Camera on Government's Response to the Afghanistan Final Report and Closed Work Permits and TFW

CIM#104: Pension Transferability and Access to MPF, and Delays in PR and Visas for Hong Kongers

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the witnesses.

My first question is for the Finance officials.

Yesterday, we were advised by Manulife and Sun Life that in order for Hong Kongers to be able to access their pension funds, they have to, because of the regulations, produce documentation to show that they're either a citizen or a permanent resident in an alternate country.

Could you advise and confirm for us if those regulations are Canadian regulations?

-----

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Thank you for that.

I may add that we should actually be calling for the release of all political prisoners in Hong Kong in relation to the national security law and the most recent article 23. I hope the officials will bring that back to the minister as well.

I want to follow up with the IRCC officials, in particular Ms. Snow, on her comment that the average processing time is now eight months. There are about 10,000 people waiting for PR applications to be processed from Hong Kong at the moment. That's as of March 2024.

Can you confirm, then, that those individuals will get their PR applications processed in eight months?

CIM#103: Pension Transferability and Access to MPF, and Delays in PR and Visas for Hong Kongers

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Thank very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all three of the witnesses, from Canada-Hong Kong Link, VSSDM and Hong Kong Watch, not just for appearing today but for your ongoing work in support of Hong Kongers. I truly, deeply appreciate that.

My first question is around the interim measure. The government has announced that its interim measure is really meant to be a bridging process. However, related to that and as we heard, what Hong Kongers really need is permanent resident status.

Related to the permanent resident status are the immigration level numbers, because the level planned this year under the categories of H and C and protected persons is set at 13,500. Next year it will be at 8,000, and the following year it will be at 8,000 also.

In light of those limitations, in order to facilitate the processing of applications for PR for Hong Kongers, would the government need to change the immigration level numbers and have a dedicated path for Hong Kongers?

I'm going to start with you, Andy, please.

CIMM#102: Government's Response to the Afghanistan Final Report Closed Work Permits and TFW

CIMM#101: Briefing on the Temporary Immigration Measures Initiated in Response to Ongoing Conflicts in Sudan and Gaza

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the minister and officials for finally coming back to this committee.

Just to be very clear, Netanyahu is committing a war crime. As we know from what we're seeing in the news with what's happening, civilians are being targeted. There's an act of genocide taking place right now, and Canada should be doing everything that it can to support the Palestinian community and be more precise to hold Netanyahu to account in accordance with the International Criminal Court.

I want to turn to the immigration issue for a second.

On the last appearance on March 20, we were informed that 986 applications have been processed. The NDP has also submitted an order paper question that indicates that, as of April 24, that number remains the same.

Between April 24 and May 26, has that number changed? If so, what is that number now?

Marc Miller Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC
Liberal

This is for Gaza. The number of TRV applications that have been accepted into processing is 2,903. That is the stretch of time between when the pathway was launched on January 9 and May 24, 2024.

--------

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Let's just say that of all the applications that have gone through the process, even the ones that have gotten the TRV, only 356 names have been submitted to COGAT. I get there's a rolling number because some of them have already exited, etc.

That number is really low—I would just say that—so there is a holdup with respect to the security screening processing, which is what I'm hearing from families as well. This is not necessarily to get a biometric. It's the pre-screening in order to get them onto that list. What is the holdup with the pre-screening from IRCC's side?

HESA#113: On Women's Health

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all of the witnesses for sharing your expertise with this committee.

I'm particularly interested in what work you think can be done and what the government should do, particularly in looking at the issues through the lens of under-represented communities, for example, in the racialized community, the LGBTQ2+ community and, I would even venture as far as to say, for seniors, who are often put on the back burner, especially as they age. What are some of the health concerns, both on the research side, as well as on the side of actually providing real supports?

That is to all of the presenters, please.

 

Dr. Pamela Valentine
President and CEO, MS Canada

I'll jump in. I don't know if anybody else will make the same comment.

We have a real problem with information and data in this country. I sit as the CEO for MS Canada, and I cannot answer what the diversity of our population living with MS in this country looks like. I can give gender—it's fantastic to know that there are three times as many women as there are men—but after that, it's really difficult to answer those questions.

To get data in this country that crosses provincial borders is exceptionally difficult. That will not be a surprise to you. That definitely costs us more time, money and energy to get the solutions that we have today, as Ruth Ann has suggested, into the hands of the people who are going to put that information to work.

It's a very real barrier for us.

CIMM#100: In Camera on Government's Response to Afghanistan Final Report and Closed Work Permits and TFW

CIMM#99: In Camera on Government's Response to Afghanistan Final Report

CIMM#98: Government's Response to Afghanistan Final Report, Processing Times for PR Pathways for Hongkongers and Canadian Armed Forces' Applications

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

At this juncture, I would like to move the following motion:

That the committee request that Global Affairs (GAC) provide the unredacted findings of the internal investigation regarding the issuance of “inauthentic” facilitation letters to third parties to the law clerk and parliamentary counsel for redaction according to his discretion before being sent to the committee, and further that GAC provide to the community the unredacted name and title of the official(s) within GAC who provided the “inauthentic” facilitation letter to George Young, acknowledged receipt of Senator McPhedran's email and shared the names of the vulnerable Afghans with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada no later than 30 days following the adoption of the motion.

Mr. Chair, I'm moving this motion today because we heard on August 25, 2021, from Senator McPhedran. In her testimony, she said, “the facilitation template in question was sent to me by George Young”. That's a quote from her testimony. She went on further to say, “Mr. Young received this facilitation template from Global Affairs Canada, and he told me this in writing.” She then further stated:

Names for the rolling list were sent frequently to George Young and Mr. Oz Jungic, a senior policy adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Jungic confirmed receipt of the names to me on August 24, with an assurance that they would do everything they could to try to help get these people out.

Senator McPhedran went on to say, “Mr. Young stated that he had put these names 'into the system'.” She also said:

When George Young sent me the facilitation templates on August 25, he wrote, with the first one, “I have received this from a colleague at GAC...try it. George.”

What we need to get to is who from GAC provided that “inauthentic” facilitation letter to George Young.

Mr. Chair, to that end, I am moving this motion so that we can get that information.

 

CIMM#97: Government's Response to Afghanistan Final Report and Committee Business

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

We were just talking about the issue of the appearance of the minister and those requests. As the clerk had indicated, the request on the Gaza and Sudan motion following the first appearance was actually made to the minister's office on March 21. It is now May 1, and we still have not had a response in terms of offering a date from the minister and the officials to reappear. I don't think that's acceptable. The reality is that this is an urgent situation. People are dying. I know of family members who submitted their application and since that time, they have already lost their loved ones. We can't just delay and delay. We can't have the minister ignore the request of the committee. We need to redouble our efforts and to get the minister here so we can get some answers for the families.

I'm going to leave it at that. I trust the work of the clerk. I have no doubt that the clerk has done what he needs to do on behalf of the committee. I thank the clerk for his effort. Perhaps this is more of a message for the minister and their office to get on with scheduling the minister to appear before the committee and to meet all the commitments that have been requested of the minister by the committee on the motions. All of those issues are important; otherwise, we would not have passed them at this committee.

Mr. Chair, at this point, I'd like to move this motion:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee add an additional meeting to the study adopted on February 12, 2024 regarding the pension transferability and access to Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) for Hongkongers, to study the processing delays for permanent residence applications of Hongkongers, potential differential treatment among different Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) visa offices, and the status of priority processing for applicants in Canada and abroad.

The reason I'm moving this motion at this point, Mr. Chair, is that I have spoken with a lot of Hong Kongers whose applications are simply stuck in the system. For example, Hong Kong Link and VSSDM are active organizations working with Hong Kongers. They are people who have made an application. Originally, the priority processing time for these applications was six months, and now it is to the tune of 21 months. People are still waiting for the PR applications to be processed. In the meantime, people's work permits are expiring. Their study permits are expiring. They're losing their medical coverage. Dependent children are having difficulty accessing education. You can see how difficult that whole scenario is for people.

While this is happening, in Hong Kong, they've recently passed the new Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, which only means they will further escalate the arbitrary arrests and detentions of Hong Kongers.

You can see how frantic people are with the situation. They're so worried about their study permit or work permit expiring, falling out of status and being sent back to Hong Kong to face that situation. I can tell you nothing good will come out of that.

It is really urgent for the minister to come and also address this issue as well. I hope that committee members will support this. This will be in addition to the pension question, which is also a critically important issue.