Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has her facts wrong. This country and this government will not create a two-tier system, and we will never penalize the children in this country who were born here.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadian law is clear: Since the end of the Second World War, anyone born in Canada is a Canadian citizen. Our government will continue to support a fair, constitutional and robust citizenship framework.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. Bill C‑3 is our solution for lost Canadians. At the same time, we will ensure that children born or adopted abroad will be able to access citizenship if their Canadian parents, themselves born or adopted abroad, have a substantial connection to Canada. That is how we strike a balance between fairness and protecting the tremendous value of Canadia…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians' trust in their immigration system is paramount. That is why we are constantly working to improve immigration security screening processes, particularly in response to new challenges and pressures. We have the border bill, Bill C-2. I invite my colleagues to help us pass that bill, which will further strengthen our immigration system.
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Mr. Speaker, persons seeking to come to Canada must meet eligibility and admissibility requirements of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Each case is assessed individually. Entry into Canada may be refused for a number of reasons. An individual whose electronic travel application has been declined can reapply by doing an eTA and addressing the reasons it has been refused. IRCC cannot com…
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Mr. Speaker, as I said, each case is assessed individually. Anyone wishing to enter Canada must meet the requirements of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. A person whose application for an electronic travel authorization has been refused may reapply after explaining the reasons. We cannot comment on individual cases.
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Mr. Speaker, anybody who commits a crime in Canada, regardless of their status, will face consequences. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is working with the Canada Border Services Agency and all our partners to ensure the following. If we need to deport somebody, we will. That is CBSA's job. Again, we work with other government departments to ensure that Canadians are protected and tha…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians have given us a mandate to restore our international student program to sustainable levels, and that is what we are doing. Nearly 100,000 fewer students arrived in 2025, and the latest figures show that the number of student visa holders dropped by 144,000. We want to attract the best talent while protecting international students.
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Mr. Speaker, again, I want to thank the Prime Minister. In fact, I want to thank the people in Halifax West for electing me to this Parliament. I am here to do the best job I possibly can do with my experience, with my expertise and with my love for Canada and love for Canadians. We will continue to do that. With respect to my record as minister of immigration provincially from 2013 to 2021, the r…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Prime Minister for choosing me to be the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. I am very proud of my record from when I served as Nova Scotia's minister of immigration. Protecting prospective newcomers from those who try to take advantage of them is critically important. That is why we have established the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consult…
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Mr. Speaker, we just campaigned on strengthening our borders. Fraud is getting increasingly sophisticated, so we need effective tools to maintain a migration management approach. The House is currently considering Bill C-2, which seeks to ensure equity in our immigration system and to improve visa and asylum application processing. We want to protect the integrity of our system, and I invite all p…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians gave us a mandate to bring international student programs back to a viable level, and we are doing just that. Nearly 100,000 fewer new students arrived in 2025. The House is also considering Bill C‑2, which would reduce the number of applications and prevent sudden spikes in applications. We are here to strengthen our borders and make them more resilient as well. I invite al…
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Mr. Speaker, I am not going to thank the member for that question, but I will answer the question. I have spent my summer, a whole 10 or 11 weeks, working seven days a week without taking one day for vacation. Having said that, this government is intent on ensuring that our immigration system becomes sustainable, as well as intent on protecting our borders. That is why we have Bill C-2 in front of…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians gave our government a mandate just a few months ago: to return the international student program to sustainable levels, and we are doing exactly that. Almost 90,000 fewer students arrived between January and June 2025, compared to the same period in 2024, and the latest numbers show 100,000 fewer study permit holders in Canada compared to the end of 2024. We want to attract …
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Mr. Speaker, let me repeat it in English so she and other members of her party understand: Our measures are working. In the first quarter of 2025, Canada recorded the smallest non-pandemic population gain since the government started to keep records in 1946. We are following through on our immigration plan, and that is reducing our temporary resident number and our permanent resident number by 20%…
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Mr. Speaker, our measures are working. Yes, they are working. In the first quarter of 2025, Canada experienced the lowest non-pandemic demographic growth since the Second World War. We are continuing to implement our plan on immigration levels, a plan that reduces our temporary resident population by hundreds of thousands and reduces our permanent resident target by over 20%. Our objective is clea…
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Mr. Speaker, we just ran a campaign on restoring sustainability to our immigration system to ease pressure on housing and social services, something the Conservatives also voted for. Our immigration levels plan reduced targets for permanent residents. That plan is working. New student and temporary worker admissions are down more than 60%, asylum claims are down one-third and new permanent residen…
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Mr. Speaker, one of the goals of the campaign we ran a few months ago was to restore the vitality of our immigration system in order to alleviate the housing and services crisis. Our measures are working. Admissions of new students and temporary workers have decreased by more than 60%. Asylum applications have fallen by a third. The number of new residents will be reduced by 20%. With Bill C‑2, we…
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Mr. Speaker, while the opposition is concentrating on making assumptions and speaking about things that are not there, let me tell members that, with the asylum system, our numbers are down 40%. We have also introduced Bill C-2, which will strengthen our border, and this legislation is in front of the House. We campaigned on it, and Canadians gave us a mandate. So did Conservatives, and we hope th…
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Mr. Speaker, I know that Canadians are concerned. Our government has been working tirelessly. We understand that we need to see a return to sustainable immigration levels that fit our capacity and serve our growth, which is exactly why we are focused on our levels plan with reducing both temporary and permanent residents in this country, and we are seeing results. We are bringing population to sus…
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Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with my colleague. We worked together on the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. I am here to work on immigration issues with him and all the members of his team.
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Mr. Speaker, those are valid points. As I stated already, I do look forward to the co-operation of all parties in the House. It is important to remind members, as well as viewers, who have really been waiting for this for years, that the reason we are here today is that sections of this were declared unconstitutional by the Ontario Supreme Court on December 19, 2023, and Parliament has had x amoun…
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Mr. Speaker, again, I am going to reiterate that the reason we are here today is a decision made by a court that rendered these provisions unconstitutional. If we do absolutely nothing, it will put Canadians at risk, and it would really be a tragedy for those who have been waiting for years to have their citizenship recognized. I very much look forward to members discussing and debating this and r…
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Mr. Speaker, now that we have clearly identified that the audio is working in both languages, I appreciate this historic opportunity to stand today and really make right what is a wrong. I will continue by saying that this bill was already introduced in the last Parliament but did not go through all the stages. The previous government put in place interim measures to allow lost Canadians affected …
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Mr. Speaker, allow me, first of all, as we start to debate on the bill, to take a moment to thank again the stakeholders across the country, including Don Chapman, who is the head of the lost Canadian website and who has been a tireless advocate for this. Let me also clarify the record. I look forward to the committee study on this, but the majority of lost Canadian cases were remedied by the legi…
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Mr. Speaker, I am here today to speak to this bill to amend the Citizenship Act. I am here to say that it is very important to work on getting this bill through committee and the House. I look forward to the co‑operation of all parliamentarians who are working in the House to move this bill forward.
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moved that Bill C-3, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025), be read the second time and referred to a committee. Mr. Speaker, let me begin by acknowledging that we are gathering on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people. It is a privilege to stand here this morning, as Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, to present Bill C-3, an act to amend the Cit…
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Mr. Speaker, again, I am looking forward to constructive dialogue from all parties, whether it is today or in committee. We are taking the responsible step of approaching the court decision by creating a framework to citizenship by descent, including creating the need to demonstrate a strong connection to Canada. I am very much looking forward to July 1, because on July 1, traditionally, for the l…
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Mr. Chair, our 2027 target is 5% of Canada's population. We are working—
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Mr. Chair, as I explained, in the estimates, when there is a rise in part of the estimates, there is a correlation decrease in another estimate.
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Mr. Chair, we are talking about 5% of the population by 2027.
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Mr. Chair, we have begun to decline for the first quarter of 2025, to 7.2%. The—
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Mr. Chair, we work with the CBSA, or the CBSA is there to take control of those circumstances.
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Mr. Chair, again, we have met and exceeded the target for the first quarter of 2025.
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Mr. Chair, is the member asking me what Canada's population is, of people who live in Canada?
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Mr. Chair, again, we have set the targets for permanent residents. We have set the target for temporary residents, which would include the international students—
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Mr. Chair, we know it is 40-some million people. I do not have the exact number—
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Mr. Chair, we have service standards. From my briefings, in the very short time that I have been a minister, I understand we are actually meeting and exceeding those standards.
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Mr. Chair, that is exactly why we are working to reduce our numbers, and those numbers are decreasing.
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Mr. Chair, all the numbers have been tabled in terms of our targets. We are exceeding those targets for the first quarter of 2025.
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Mr. Speaker, the hon. parliamentary secretary is a member from my home province of Nova Scotia. He has been an absolute delight to work with since I was elected federally, but even prior to that when I was a member of the Nova Scotia Legislature. He reminds me often of how young he is, but there is no age in this place. We all come from such different backgrounds. The member is quite right that I …
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Mr. Chair, COVID caused the strain on our system. We had more people coming in throughout all of Canada. There was a lot of—
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Mr. Chair, that is why the ineligibility requirements in Bill C-2 are there. It is to ensure that we deal with the people who do not have legitimate claims. My—
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Mr. Chair, I say again that for people leaving the country, the exits are managed by CBSA—
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Mr. Chair, when immigration documents expire, individuals are expected to leave the country, and those who do not comply, public safety—
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Mr. Chair, it takes between 14 and 18 months.
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Mr. Chair, as I understand it, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada processes 85,000 claims a year.
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Mr. Chair, let me be clear. The number of expiring documents is not the number of people. Anybody whose visa expired is expected to leave, and when they do not—
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Mr. Chair, again, we have tabled the levels plan. It is a levels plan that had been consulted on by provinces—
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Mr. Chair, it is 5% of the national population by 2027.
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