Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 5th, 2023

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Madam Chair, I had my hand up.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Yes, Mr. Dhaliwal, and then Ms. Lalonde.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

There is no issue with the NDP, Bloc, Conservatives or us on the Liberal side, bringing any of those motions or anything to do with those students. We all want to help.

However, the main thing is Bill S-245. If we can get that out now, then I'm sure every member in this House—on the Liberal side, I am certain—is fully in support.... They are not only supportive; in fact, they are already talking to the minister and to IRCC and CBSA to make sure justice prevails.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Mr. Dhaliwal.

Ms. Lalonde.

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

I want to ask my colleague what he meant.

For us, it is very important that we move forward on Bill S-245. We have spent over 28 hours throughout this wonderful initiative. I'm sure that a lot of people outside of this House, and this committee, will be happy to see this coming to a vote.

I would be happy to find out more about how the member wants to proceed, but my first thought is to get Bill S-245 to a vote.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Mr. Kmiec is next, and then Ms. Kwan.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

I thought I was on the list before, Chair.

As I said, I went to my caucus. I am ready to vote.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Ms. Kwan.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I am very ready for the vote.

We have been ready for some time, and so are the lost Canadian families. Let's get on with it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you.

Seeing no debate, we can go for a vote.

Shall the chair report the bill as amended to the House?

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

We would like a recorded division.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Mr. Clerk, can you please take the vote?

(Reporting of bill to the House agreed to: yeas 7; nays 4)

I will report the bill as amended. It is adopted.

Thank you, everyone, for your patience.

Thank you to all the officials, and to the team being led by Ms. Girard. Let's give her a big hand.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I know you have been very patient, and you had to spend your husband's birthday with us to get through Bill S-245. On behalf of all the members of the committee, I really want to thank you and your team for being here for many long evenings.

Thank you to all the support staff and to the interpreters.

I really want to thank all the members for their co-operation and for their patience.

I thank all our staff also, because we can't do it without staff.

Thank you to everyone for getting this legislation through. Hopefully, I will report it back, and we will be moving on.

Yes, Ms. Kwan?

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I, too, would like to thank the staff, particularly for their patience and endurance with this bill.

Now I'd like to move two motions, Madam Chair. I will move them one by one. I'll let the first one be dealt with first, and then when we've finished with that, if you can come to back to me, Madam Chair, I'll move my second motion.

My first motion is:

That, following news reports that international students admitted into Canada with valid study permits were issued fraudulent college acceptance letters by immigration consultants, and are now facing deportation, the committee issue a news release to condemn the actions of these fraudulent “ghost consultants” and call on the Canada Border Services Agency to immediately stay pending deportations of affected international students, waive inadmissibility on the basis of misrepresentation and provide an alternate pathway to permanent status for those impacted, such as the humanitarian and compassionate application process or a broad regularization program.

Madam Chair, I'd like to move this motion first. I think it is important that this motion be adopted by the committee.

As mentioned previously, this is an issue that I wrote to the minister about, long before this matter became a topic for this committee. I called for him to take action in raising the concerns of how these students have been victims of this fraudulent scheme. The measures we need the government to take are staying the deportations; waiving inadmissibility based on misrepresentation by the fraudulent, ghost consultants in submitting doctored admissions letters, unbeknownst to the students; and then, finally, giving the students a permit pathway.

As we know, when students are faced with the issue of inadmissibility, it stays on their record for five years. That applies to all immigration pathways, so this is very significant to their future.

These students—I've met with many of them now—are in such a terrible state. They've lost money, and they are stuck in a terrible situation. Some of them have deportation orders. Others have pending meetings with the CBSA.

As a first step, this, I think, is absolutely essential and necessary, Madam Chair, so I'll move this as my first motion. After this is dealt with, I have another one to move.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Okay.

I have a speaking list. We'll have Mr. Dhaliwal and then Ms. Rempel Garner.

Go ahead, Mr. Dhaliwal.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to thank Madam Kwan for bringing this motion forward.

Right now, Madam Chair, as Madam Kwan mentioned, she is concerned about that. Certainly, on this side, I—along with all of the Liberal members on this committee, as well as the many members outside of this committee—am very concerned about this issue as well.

In fact, as Madam Kwan mentioned the ministry, I would move the following amendment to add at the end of the motion, “and that the committee invite the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship for one hour, the Minister of Public Safety for one hour, and department officials for one hour each to provide a briefing on the situation for a total of four hours”.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Mr. Dhaliwal, do you have this amendment in both official languages?

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

No, I don't. I just came up with it, and that's all I have. It's totally acceptable.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe, is it okay? Were you able to get the interpretation?

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

The interpretation was unbelievable this evening.

I liked it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you.

We have an amendment by Mr. Dhaliwal on the floor.

Go ahead, Ms. Rempel Garner.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Madam Chair, in response to Ms. Kwan's comments.... I'd like to build on them.

The issue of individuals who disguise themselves as licensed practitioners and pretend to help people come to Canada and prey on them financially is something that has plagued our country for years, and it's not getting better. It's getting worse. I have sat on this committee for many years, and there have been many reports. This situation is not getting better. It's my hope that, if we move forward with this motion, the government gets serious about this. It puts people's lives at stake. It puts people at risk of human trafficking. It puts people at risk of being exploited in so many different ways. This is something we need to have compassion for, and it's incumbent upon the government to act.

I hope, with regard to the subamendment, that it is not designed to delay and obfuscate government action on this issue. There needs to be action now. There needed to be action weeks ago—not just in this circumstance but also to the broader scope. Some of the reforms made to deal with ghost consultants are clearly not working.

On the accreditation body to deal with immigration consultants, I also have concerns about whether or not these reforms have actually worked. Perhaps we can get to that. Certainly, it shouldn't delay action for people who have been affected in this situation.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Go ahead, Mr. Kmiec.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

I like the fact that the ministers are being added to this.

We have one subamendment that we'll propose after we deal with this one.

I hope the committee keeps itself open to allowing more than just four hours to have affected international students come in, and also Colleges and Institutes Canada, which is the stakeholder group that represents all the colleges. Some of these international students have given me the emails they've received back and forth, which are used in inadmissibility hearings by CBSA. It is evident in those that IRCC and CBSA were doing the work of confirming that these fake acceptance letters were in fact fraudulent, three years.... I have one case that is three years after the fact. There's an email exchange with the registrar and admissions officers of one of these colleges, so I have a hard time believing the college network, so to speak, wasn't aware that there was fraudulent activity going on.

We should keep it open for the future, but on this subamendment, I'm onside with what Mr. Dhaliwal said.