Overview: Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics—Study on the Use of Public Funds in Relation to the Roxham Road Crossing (October 17, 2022)
Opening remarks
Good afternoon. I am pleased to speak to you today and provide some information on the roles and responsibilities of the Canada Border Services Agency, with regard to refugee asylum seekers, and to discuss more specifically the Agency's operations at the Roxham Road crossing. My name is Jonathan Moor, I am the Vice-President of the Finance and Corporate Management Branch and the CBSA's Chief Financial Officer. I am joined today by my colleagues Scott Millar, Vice-President of the Strategic Policy Branch and Dan Proulx, Executive Director of Information Sharing, Access to Information and the Chief Privacy Office.
As you are aware, the number of refugee asylum claimants has grown significantly in recent years. The CBSA has needed to mobilize resources from across Canada to help address these increases, in particular since 2017, with the arrival of large numbers of claimants at Roxham Road.
Border security and integrity is a shared mandate between the CBSA and RCMP.
The CBSA is responsible for enforcing legislation at designated ports of entry. The RCMP is responsible for enforcing the law between the ports of entry.
It is important to note that the CBSA encourages all refugee asylum claimants to apply to enter Canada at a designated port of entry.
However, the number of between the ports arrivals, sometimes referred to as irregular arrivals, has continued to increase. Since , the CBSA has already processed over 26,500 irregular arrivals in Quebec, mostly at the Roxham Road crossing.
Those who enter in between designated points of entry, in this case at Roxham Road, are intercepted by the RCMP and brought to the nearest CBSA port of entry – which is at Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle. They are then processed by CBSA officers and they make a claim for asylum.
The role of the CBSA is to determine the admissibility of the person and the eligibility of the claim under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
All refugee claimants, whether they arrive at a designated port of entry or between the ports of entry, undergo a health and security screening.
The security screening is a crucial part of the overall assessment of whether a person is admissible to Canada. This process ensures that anyone who wants to come to Canada has not committed serious crimes, and does not pose a health or safety risk to Canadians.
We have the appropriate resources in place to ensure that no one leaves the port of entry until the security screening has been completed.
Our border services officers work closely with other law enforcement agencies, both nationally and internationally, to help identify and investigate persons who may be inadmissible to Canada. In some cases, officers may arrest, detain and remove persons who are inadmissible.
In 2017, there were over 18,800 irregular arrivals in Quebec, and so the numbers were too high to process at the Agency's existing Port of Entry facilities. Therefore, to ensure proper screening, and to accommodate the large number of refugee claimants at Roxham Road, it was necessary for the CBSA to invest in additional processing and accommodation infrastructure.
Since 2017, this infrastructure has been provided through a number of temporary structures, mainly using mobile trailers for both accommodation and processing facilities. The leases on these mobile facilities are due to expire at the end of this year, and so a decision was taken to consolidate the operations into two existing buildings, to house all of the functions of the Regional Processing Centre. In , the Agency announced a contract to retrofit these buildings, situated near the Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle port of entry.
This work is due to be completed shortly and will help to ensure adequate waiting space and humanitarian assistance, while refugee asylum claimants are being processed at the border.
Once the CBSA has completed its processing, the claimants' longer-term accommodation requirements fall under the responsibility of the IRCC and the provinces.
The CBSA is committed to treating all people who are seeking asylum in Canada with compassion, and ensuring they are afforded a due and fair process under the law.
We will also continue to ensure the security and the safety of all Canadians, by following public health guidelines at the border.
I hope this information has been helpful, and I will now make myself and my colleagues available to answer your questions.
Thank you.
Scenario note
Background
On , the Committee adopted a motion to undertake a study on the use of public funds in relation to the Roxham Road crossing, in Quebec. This meeting will be the first of three meetings allocated to this study.
The motion reads as follows:
Pursuant to Standing Order 106(4), the committee commenced consideration of the request by four members of the committee to undertake a study on the use of public funds in relation to the Roxham Road crossing.
René Villemure (BQ) moved, — That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(h), the committee undertake, as soon as possible, a study to assess the ethical standards relating to public office holders related to the awarding of contracts for the reception of refugees and the development of infrastructure to receive asylum seekers in the province of Quebec; that the committee allocate three meetings to conduct this study; that the committee invite the Ministers of Immigration and Public Safety, representative of the RCMP, Public Services and Procurement Canada including Teresa Maioni and Lyne Roy, respectively responsible and coordinator of Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP), officials of the Canada Border Services Agency including Dan Proulx, Executive Director and Chief Privacy Officer, and Mr. Pierre Guay.
Officials from the CBSA and PSPC have been asked to appear on . The Minister of Public Safety has been asked to appear, along with CBSA and RCMP officials, on .
General information
Date: Monday,
Time: 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm
Duration: One hour
Location: Room 420, Wellington Building, 197 Sparks Street
The meeting will be held in a hybrid format, and CBSA officials will attend virtually. IT will be on site to provide assistance.
Witnesses
Public Services and Procurement Canada
- Lorenzo Ieraci, Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Planning and Communications
- Stéphan Déry, Assistant Deputy Minister and/or Jean-Francois Lymburner, Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property Services
- Françoys Bernier, A/Regional Director General, Quebec Region
- Lyne Roy, Senior Director, Access to Information and Privacy and Mail Management Services Directorate
- Teresa Maioni, Team Leader, Access, Privacy, Transparency and Mail Services
Canada Border Services Agency
- Jonathan Moor, Vice-President, Finance and Corporate Management Branch
- Scott Millar, Vice-President, Strategic Policy Branch
- Dan Proulx, Executive Director, Information Sharing, Access to Information and Chief Privacy Office
Opening remarks
At the beginning of the meeting, the Chair will invite officials from the CBSA and PSPC to deliver opening remarks. These should last approximately five minutes and will be followed by questions from committee members.
Rounds of questions
At the Chair's discretion, questions from committee members will proceed as follows:
- First round: 6 minutes for each party in the following order: CPC, LPC, BQ, NDP
- For the second and subsequent rounds: CPC, 5 minutes; LPC, 5 minutes; BQ 2.5 minutes and NDP 2.5 minutes; CPC, 5 minutes ; LPC, 5 minutes
Placemat: Key messages
Processing irregular arrivals at Roxham Road
The Regional Processing Center in St-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Quebec, was created in 2017 in response to an influx of asylum seekers coming through Roxham Road.
Roxham Road is not an official port of entry (POE) – the closest POE St-Bernard-de-Lacolle.
The CBSA provides rigorous operational planning at the Regional Processing Center. To support higher volumes of refugee claimants, CBSA will increase its use of temporary structures at the St-Bernard-de-Lacolle POE to expand its waiting area and comfortably accommodate refugee claimants. It is important to note that these additional spaces will be used to temporarily accommodate asylum seekers while they wait for their application to be processed.
The current capacity at this Regional Processing Center is of 297 person on the site. The addition of the new structures will increase that number to 477.
Since , the CBSA processed over 26,500 irregular arrivals in Quebec.
The CBSA is committed to process refugee applications as quickly as possible. The required time depends on several factors, such as complexity, level of detail, availability of information, and research required.
CBSA treats all refugee claimants with compassion and ensures that they receive a fair and lawful treatment.
Lease agreements and contracts at Roxham Road
This Regional Processing Center in St-Bernard-de-Lacolle was created through multiple lease agreements, for both temporary and fixed infrastructure, to help meet the operational and accommodation requirements to process up to 150 asylum claimants per day.
All leases were contracted under the Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) delegation.
The CBSA spends an average of $3.5 million per year on the processing and accommodation infrastructure for refugee claimants in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, including leases.
The CBSA has undertaken renovations on two buildings, situated near the Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle POE, to consolidate its operations.
Since 2017, CBSA has awarded $20,873,491 in contracts, to various service providers, to help meet its operational and accommodation requirements. These contracts have followed all established government procurement principles and were released to the media in .
Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA)
The Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) was signed in 2002 by Canada and the US and has been in effect since . Under the STCA, people seeking refugee protection must make a claim in the first country they arrive in (US or Canada), unless they qualify for an exception. People who are not eligible to make an asylum claim at the land POE under the STCA are immediately returned to the US.
The primary objectives of the STCA are to enhance the orderly handling of refugee claims, strengthen public confidence in the integrity of our refugee systems, and share the responsibility for protecting people who fit the official definition of "refugees".
The CBSA and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) share a mandate of preserving the integrity of the immigration system. Together, the CBSA and IRCC administer the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), which governs the admissibility of people into Canada, and the identification, arrest, detention and removal of people who are inadmissible.
The STCA generally applies to asylum claimants who are seeking entry to Canada from the US at a land POE. The Agreement does not apply to claims made by people who entered Canada between POEs.
The CBSA and the RCMP have a shared mandate at the border
Border security and integrity is a shared mandate between the CBSA and RCMP.
The CBSA and RCMP play an instrumental role in protecting Canada's border, deterring and intercepting irregular entry to Canada and keeping Canadians safe.
The CBSA is responsible for enforcing Canadian legislation at designated ports of entry in Canada. The RCMP is responsible for enforcing the law between ports of entry. When the RCMP intercepts a person entering in between an official POE, the person is brought to the nearest CBSA POE to be processed and make a refugee claim.
The CBSA treats all people seeking asylum in Canada with compassion and ensures they are afforded due process under the law. The Agency will continue to ensure the security and the safety of all Canadians by following public health guidelines at the border.
How are Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) requests processed at the CBSA?
The CBSA's Information Sharing, Access to Information, and Chief Privacy Office has delegated positions to respond to Access to Information Act and Privacy Act requests on behalf on the Minister of Public Safety.
Once a request is received by the CBSA, the ATIP office sends a notification for document retrieval within our program areas that hold the responsive records. These responsive records are collected and processed in accordance with the legislation.
When records originate from, or concern another government institution or third party, consultations are undertaken. Recommendations received from these consultations are then reviewed.
A final determination on disclosure is made by a CBSA person in a delegated position.
The CBSA strives to provide Canadians with the information to which they have a right in a timely and helpful manner by balancing the right of access with the need to protect the integrity of the border services that support national security and public safety priorities.
Witnesses
The motion, as put forward, focuses on funds related to the the Roxham Road crossing in Quebec.
Our Chief Financial Officer (VP, Finance and Corporate Management Branch) can speak to the Agency's funds dedicated to lease agreements contracted by PSPC.
The VP of Strategic Policy Branch has full delegated authority of final determination on disclosure under the Access to Information Act and Privacy Act.
The following areas also fall under his responsibility – among others:
- Policy areas related to Roxham Road (immigration, asylum, inadmissibility policy, etc.)
- The Information Sharing, Access to Information and Chief Privacy Office (processes ATIP requests)
- The ATIP Policy and Governance Unit (develops policies and procedures to support ATIP requirements within the Agency)
- The Communications Directorate (authority and centre of expertise for communications)
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