44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 3, 2022 10:00AM
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Dufferin—Caledon for his work on this legislation.
The government is firmly committed to reuniting families and their loved ones abroad. Family members are an important part of our immigration system.
Canada has one of the most generous and comprehensive family reunification programs in the world. Through this program, we help to keep families together and contribute to the integration of immigrants, who are an important part of the success of our communities across our country. Parents and grandparents want to visit their adult children and grandchildren. Likewise, Canadian citizens and permanent residents benefit from the support of their parents and grandparents.
Parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and permanent residents who wish to visit their family for a longer period can apply for a parent and grandparent super visa. This process is authorized through ministerial instructions.
The super visa is a multiple-entry visa that is valid for up to 10 years and allows for stays of up to two years at a time. Super visa holders may also request an extension of their stay for up to an additional two years while in Canada, and there are no limits on the number of extensions they can request.
Since the super visa allows for longer stays than a regular temporary resident visa, applicants must meet additional medical and financial criteria. These criteria include a medical exam, private medical insurance from a Canadian company and financial support from a child/grandchild host, who must meet an income cut-off minimum based on their family size.
These important safeguards are in place to ensure that this potentially vulnerable population has financial support and protection in the event of a medical emergency while in Canada.
They also ensure that there is no undue burden on the Canadian taxpayer through unpaid medical bills. This is particularly important, as demonstrated by our experience during the pandemic, when many health care systems across the country are strained. This private member's bill, Bill C-242, proposes to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to allow a parent or grandparent to stay in Canada for five years under the super visa and to purchase private health care insurance from outside Canada. It also requires the minister to table a report on reducing the income requirements that the child or grandchild must meet for the parent or grandparent to qualify for a super visa.
While the government supports many principles of Bill C-242, we have concerns that it would reduce our ability to ensure that parents and grandparents are arriving with adequate supports during their stay. We also continue to look out for the best interests of Canadian taxpayers.
First, the act is not the appropriate instrument to make program changes to super visa conditions. Parliament intended for the act to serve as framework legislation, which authorizes the making of regulations and ministerial instructions. As I stated, the super visa is authorized through these ministerial instructions. As such, we propose amendments to Bill C-242 to maintain the authority for super visa conditions under ministerial instructions. This would allow the government to respond quickly to the emerging needs of clients, rather than necessitating a lengthy legislative process.
The government supports the member's proposal to increase the length of stay per entry. However, we propose to extend this from the current two years to three. Once again, this would be changed through ministerial instructions. Since super visa holders already have the opportunity to extend their stay in Canada for up to two years, this means parents and grandparents could then stay in Canada for up to five years without needing to leave the country.
The government believes that increasing the length of stay any further would negate the spirit of the super visa, which is to support temporary residence in Canada. Increasing the length of stay beyond three years without needing to request an extension could lead to visitors establishing more permanent connections to Canada, and this would undermine the purpose of having a legal framework to address temporary residents.
The government does not support the member's proposal to allow super visa applicants to purchase private health insurance from foreign companies.
Private health insurance is required through a Canadian company, and this is to ensure super visa holders, who are a potentially vulnerable population, have sufficient and reliable medical insurance in case of a health emergency while in Canada. This is an important component of the super visa. The government believes that allowing super visa holders to purchase insurance from companies outside Canada could introduce various risks. Applicants might purchase coverage from unregulated or fraudulent providers, for example, and this could have devastating consequences to parents and grandparents, as well as for our health care system.
We have actually seen what can happen when parents and grandparents arrive on regular visas that do not require emergency medical insurance. We know of several cases when parents were visiting on a regular visitor visa and experienced a medical emergency, such as a stroke, during their stay. They did not have health insurance and incurred medical bills worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. These stories underscore the importance of ensuring that super visa holders are protected with appropriate health insurance during their visit.
I would like to also note that allowing super visa holders to obtain coverage from international health insurance providers, as proposed in the hon. member's bill, could pose significant complexities for the government to verify the coverage. To ensure the validity of foreign health care providers for coverage and billing purposes, IRCC would have to establish a complex and costly designation framework to establish pre-approved insurance options from abroad. With respect to Bill C-242's final proposal, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship commits to tabling a report to Parliament to review the current financial requirements for children or grandchildren.
While the Government supports a review of this requirement, I wish to underscore that we believe a financial requirement remains a necessary and important component of the super visa. While family reunification is an important part of our immigration system, it should not place undue financial burdens on Canadian taxpayers, and visitors should be adequately supported during their stay.
I will state once again that the super visa's minimum necessary income requirement is in place to ensure the host child or grandchild can provide for the basic requirements of their visiting family members while they are in Canada. This is also key to maintaining public support for the super visa, which facilitates longer stays of parents and grandparents.
The government is committed to family reunification. We must maintain an immigration system that meets the needs of Canadians if we want to take full advantage of this system.
The government believes the current conditions of the super visa adequately balance the interests of families that wish to reunite with their loved ones, as well as those of all Canadians, as it protects their hard-earned taxpayer services.
The super visa enables us to reunite families quickly and for longer periods. At the same time, the government is able to adequately manage the operations of this program under its current framework. For over a decade, the super visa has remained a popular and accessible option for Canadian citizens and permanent residents to reunite with their parents and grandparents, with approximately 17,000 super visas issued each year.
I believe it is a highly successful program by any measure. That being said, the government always remains open to finding ways to improve our programs and policies.
Although the government supports the spirit and intent of Bill C‑242, it will only support this bill with the proposed amendments. The goal is to ensure the integrity and long-term viability of the highly successful super visa program.
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- May/3/22 6:40:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be able to speak today on the Conservatives' ongoing push for the government to allow visa-free travel for Ukrainians.
Up until now, unfortunately the government has opposed these efforts. In a constructive spirit, we are continuing to push hoping that the government will do the right thing to allow Ukrainians to come to Canada to flee the challenges they are facing right now as a result of this horrific invasion, and to find safety and security in Canada.
I want to remind the House that right after the invasion, my colleague, the member for Calgary Forest Lawn, who is our lead on the immigration file, put forward a motion at the immigration committee. That motion supported visa-free travel. The motion was adopted because Conservatives were able to work constructively with members of the Bloc and the NDP, but that motion was, at the committee level, opposed by the government.
This House subsequently voted in the majority to support visa-free travel for Ukrainians. Again, the entire Liberal caucus, without exception, opposed it. There were some members who were not present for that vote, but every member who was present voted against allowing visa-free travel for those coming from Ukraine.
At this point, we have seen this shared view with the Conservatives leading and putting this issue forward, but having support from the other opposition parties, emphasizing how crucial it is for the Liberals, the government, to move on this. As of yet, the government has not been willing to implement the will of the House of Commons expressed through that concurrence vote.
Why do we support visa-free travel for Ukrainians? At a basic level, we want to help those in need to find safety and security, and to be able to do so in Canada. Many people have stepped up. They want to offer support. They want to open their homes. However, the government has to get out of the way and allow them to offer that support.
It is also important to acknowledge that many of those who are coming want to have security while the war is going on, but they also want to return. In many cases, we are talking about mothers and children and the father in the family is still in Ukraine and is participating in the defence of Ukraine.
When we have some members of a family and not others looking for refuge, it is very clear that people are not planning on staying permanently. In general, and the government has acknowledged this, the intention of those who are coming here is to be safe until the war ends. Hopefully it will end soon, and people will then be able to return.
Let us acknowledge that other countries are doing this. We want to share in that support, recognizing that countries in the region, such as Poland, the Baltic states, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as well as Romania, and countries throughout Europe, are doing a great job offering that visa-free support. It is a simplification of this system.
The government has presented counter arguments. Some members of the government have said there is a security issue because we need to be able to do this review. Security precautions can be taken, and they can be taken as they have been in other countries.
The minister has also said that time is an issue. He said that regulatory changes, and changes to IT systems and other things, would take 12 to 14 weeks to implement. I do not know why that would be the case since we are simply removing a requirement, but we are almost at the 12-week mark anyway, and people are still having problems accessing these visas. We have actually almost come to the completion of the timeframe the minister said would be in place.
I want to share some really compelling stories from people in my riding. There is a case of two mothers who are friends and who have young children. They applied at the same time. One got a visa accepted and one is still waiting. They would like to travel together and have the security of being together. There is another case of a family with four children who all applied at the same time. One was asked for biometrics and nobody else in the family was asked for biometrics. There is another case of a mother and her children who applied on March 16, and they are still waiting for processing.
Let us just get this visa-free system in place so we can get it done and stop the pain and suffering for those who are waiting.
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- May/3/22 6:45:12 p.m.
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I am honoured to rise this evening to respond to the hon. member's question. I want to start by saying that Canada remains steadfast in its support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Ukrainian immigrants have helped build this country, and we will continue to stand with the courageous people of Ukraine in upholding the values that our countries share.
More than 24,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Canada since January 1 of this year. As the hon. member knows, Ukraine shares borders with the European Union. IRCC has offices and visa application centres in neighbouring countries. We have implemented strong contingency plans to ensure that we can continue to support Canadians, permanent residents, their families and our clients.
We continue to prioritize applications from Ukraine across our global processing network. As part of the Government of Canada's response to Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine, IRCC introduced the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel. This is a special, accelerated temporary residence pathway for Ukrainians who are seeking a safe haven while the war continues in their home country.
With respect to the hon. member's suggestion regarding visa-free travel, I would say that our new program is the fastest, safest and most efficient way for Ukrainians to come to Canada.
All Ukrainian nationals and their families can apply through this new pathway while waiting for the security check. The security check is how we confirm the identity of those seeking to come to Canada and how we protect the safety and security of Canadians.
We have exponentially increased our biometrics collection capability. We have also exempted applicants under the age of 18 and over the age of 60, as well as those who have previously travelled to Canada and abided by our rules and laws. The vast majority of these three low-risk cohorts will no longer need to provide biometrics.
Between March 17 and May 1, we received about 196,000 applications through this new program and approved over 85,000. I would also like to point out that we are meeting the 14-day processing target. We are committed to processing 80% of applications within 14 days, and we continue to meet this standard.
All Ukrainians and their family members who come to Canada under this program can work immediately upon arrival, thanks to an open work permit that they apply for when they receive the authorization, allowing employers to quickly hire Ukrainian nationals. This would not be possible with visa-free travel.
In addition to this program, the IRCC is also issuing open work permits and study permits to Ukrainian nationals and their families who are currently in Canada and who cannot safely return home. This will allow them to extend their stay in Canada for up to three years.
We also know that Ukrainians will need support when they arrive. That is why we recently announced that Ukrainians will have access to hotel accommodation for a maximum of two weeks and income support for a maximum of six weeks.
I would like to close by stating that we recently partnered with Air Canada, The Shapiro Foundation and Miles4Migrants to establish the Ukraine2Canada travel fund, which lets Canadians donate their Aeroplan points with the goal of providing at least 10,000 free plane tickets to Ukrainians who want to come to Canada.
We will continue to do more, as quickly as possible, to welcome Ukrainians fleeing Putin's war and to take care of them upon their arrival.
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- May/3/22 6:49:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with great respect for the parliamentary secretary, I think that answer provides some obvious effort to distract and to say, “Look at some of these other things happening over here. Isn't it great that people have an opportunity to work when they come to Canada?” Yes: People should be able to work when they come to Canada, obviously, but the question was specifically about visa-free travel.
This is the issue that was raised in this question. This is the issue that was raised when a majority in the House of Commons voted to have visa-free travel. It does not make sense at all to say that having the visa requirement in place is necessary for us to be able to do all of these other things over here.
What we are saying is that there are other measures that are valuable, of course, for supporting Ukraine and supporting Ukrainians, but one of those measures is lifting the visa requirement. There is no reason that the government cannot proceed with, for instance, having an open work permit while also lifting the visa requirement. I would submit that it obviously would be easier and faster if the requirement for the issuance of the visa was no longer there.
Why does the government not do this simple thing? It would make life easier, because it is not meeting its targets in many cases that I am hearing about from constituents. Let us lift the visa requirement.
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