Lena Metlege Diab

In response to a question from Brad Redekopp

“Officials from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are not allowed into Canada. We are working with border agents to investigate these cases and take action.”

“Mr. Chair, as I said, IRGC officials are inadmissible. Yes, we do work with the Minister of Public Safety and with CBSA. They are investigating all these cases. They will be taking action as required.”

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In response to a question from Jenny Kwan

“We received 46,444 permanent residency applications from people in Hong Kong. So far, 13,160 of them have arrived in Canada.”

“Mr. Chair, the member asked for a number for the Hong Kong PR pathways. We received 46,444 applications for people, and the total that have arrived is 13,160.”

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In response to a question from Jenny Kwan

“We have already set up ways for people from Hong Kong to come to Canada temporarily and permanently.”

“Mr. Chair, in terms of Hong Kong, I believe I already addressed that with another member, but a number of measures have been implemented for Hong Kong, both for permanent resident pathways and temporary resident measures.”

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In response to a question from Jenny Kwan

“The government made a promise, and we are keeping it. The numbers show how many people have arrived and how many applications we have processed.”

“Mr. Chair, as I said, the government made a commitment, and the commitment is being fulfilled. I have cited the numbers of who has already arrived and of the applications that have been processed.”

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In response to a question from Jenny Kwan

“We made a promise about immigration numbers, and we are doing our best to keep it.”

“Mr. Chair, the Government of Canada made a commitment for certain numbers, and we are fulfilling that commitment to the best of our abilities.”

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In response to a question from Jenny Kwan

“In 2024, the government made a plan to bring up to 5,000 extended family members of Canadians from Gaza to Canada temporarily.”

“Mr. Chair, in 2024, prior to me becoming a minister, the government introduced special measures to facilitate temporary residence for up to 5,000 extended family members in Gaza of Canadian citizens and permanent residents.”

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In response to a question from Jenny Kwan

“I do not have the information the member wants. I can say that, as of February 28, Canada approved about 1,360 Palestinians to come here, and about 985 have arrived through special programs.”

“Mr. Chair, I do not believe I can reply to that. I do not think I have what the member is asking for. I can tell the member that, as of February 28, approximately 1,360 Palestinians have been approved to come to Canada and approximately 985 people have arrived through the special measures.”

In response to a question from Jenny Kwan

“Students from Gaza use the same visa application as any other international student. But we have told our officials to process student visas for people in Gaza faster.”

“Mr. Chair, first let me say that when the member speaks of Gaza and the Middle East, my heart goes out to everyone there. Obviously, I know it is very difficult. When the member speaks of students, they all go through the same application as any international student. I can tell the member that we have directed officials to accelerate the student visa processing for people in Gaza, and I can confirm—”

In response to a question from Jenny Kwan

“The immigration department works with other departments to monitor this, and we will keep doing that.”

“Mr. Chair, as I said, IRCC monitors that with the partners we work with. It is not simply IRCC. There are other departments that it works with in order to monitor them, and we will continue to do that.”

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In response to a question from Jenny Kwan

“The department has strong rules in place. The department and its partners keep watching this closely.”

“Mr. Chair, again, as I said, there is a robust framework. There is continuous monitoring by the department, but also by the partners that the department works with.”

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In response to a question from Jenny Kwan

“We watch what happens in the United States very closely to see how it affects our refugee system.”

“Mr. Chair, we do monitor the U.S. We use a robust framework to continuously monitor U.S. developments and their impact on the refugee protection system.”

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In response to a question from Jenny Kwan

“This is not a simple yes-or-no question. I am ready to answer it if the member wants.”

“Mr. Chair, it is not a yes-or-no question. I can answer that question if the member would like.”

In response to a question from Jenny Kwan

“I respect the member's experience with immigration and politics. She asked a good question about our border agreement, and I want to finish answering it.”

“Mr. Chair, I want to welcome my colleague to the discussion here tonight. She is my immigration critic, and I had a great discussion with her in the summer when we were talking about levels and everything else. I very much value her experience in immigration and also in politics, not just federally but provincially. The member does ask a good question on the STCA. Does she mind if I continue?”

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In response to a question from Elizabeth May

“We are keeping our election promises. We plan to lower the number of temporary and permanent immigrants by 2027 while still bringing in skilled workers.”

“Mr. Chair, I appreciate my colleague’s opinion. We are working to deliver for Canadians, to fulfill the commitments we made in the election, to bring down the numbers of temporary and permanent residents in 2027 and to bring in talent.”

In response to a question from Elizabeth May

“We have a clear, open plan, and we are carrying it out. We will keep doing our best.”

“Mr. Chair, we definitely have a plan. We are definitely delivering on that plan. It has been transparent, it has been clear, and perhaps that is part of the reason there have been so many questions from Canadians. We have been so clear and so transparent, and it is different than in past years, and we will continue to do the best that—”

In response to a question from Elizabeth May

“We have an immigration plan that sets numbers for permanent residents. In 2024, Canada also added a plan for temporary residents.”

“Mr. Chair, again, these are excellent questions, and they are ones that Canadians are asking me when I go to different provinces, and the territories that I went to as well. No, it is neither of those. It is the fact that we have a levels plan. The levels plan has a permanent resident number, but for the first time, in 2024, Canada introduced the temporary resident plan—”

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In response to a question from Elizabeth May

“We have set limits on how many temporary residents, like students and workers, we can accept. These limits are in the 2025 budget, and we are working to process people based on them.”

“Mr. Chair, we have levels, in terms of the temporary resident population, that we can accept, whether it is students, workers or the people who are coming on humanitarian pathways. It is all calculated together. It is all in budget 2025, which was tabled in the House. We are working to process those numbers accordingly.”

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In response to a question from Elizabeth May

“We paused the home care worker program because we got too many applications. We need to process the ones we already have before we take more.”

“Mr. Chair, it is a very good question because many people use home care workers. We had to pause the program because we found an abundance of volume there, and we felt, as everybody does now, that it is just not fair to keep accepting more and more applications until we are able to process some of the ones that we have in the queue.”

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In response to a question from Elizabeth May

“We process 80% of immigration files on time, even though we receive a very high number of them. We are also working with our security and border agencies to cut down wait times for security checks.”

“Mr. Chair, it is a very good point. In terms of the IRCC’s processing standards, 80% are processed in time within our standards. We have very high-demand volumes. To go back to the member’s earlier question on security screening, we are working very diligently with both CBSA and CSIS to bring those down.”