MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT

Hon. Lena Metlege Diab

Liberal Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship 261 statements translated

Diab rarely gives a clear yes or no answer and frequently dodges around questions in the House, filling time with slogans about 'protecting Canadians' and the government's plans. She openly says she won't answer specific questions if they're 'traps' or demands she doesn't like, and often pretends not to understand the real point. When she does give concrete numbers, they're usually self-flattering stats or promises of deportations she claims will happen eventually.

Government Orders

Business of Supply

2026-05-28

“I'm defending our program. It's only temporary help for a small group of vulnerable people, and it will save money in the long run.”

“I don't want to kick them out. I want to say we've made it easier to apply to be a permanent resident doctor instead.”

“I'm going to talk about something else and ignore your question.”

“I'm going to ignore your question and repeat my talking point about asylum claims going down.”

“I'm filling time with kind words and saying nothing anyone could pin down later.”

“I am filling time with compliments and saying nothing anyone could pin down later.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, first, let me begin by thanking the member for Spadina—Harbourfront for her real advocacy. She is a real champion for people who need humanitarian protection and for settlement organizations. I did visit with her, in her community, Centre francophone, and I saw the great work the settlement organization is doing. I very much appreciated her remarks, particularly when she referred to the estimates and the fact that we need to balance our compassion with responsible planning. That is exactly what we are doing. We are managing our migration system. The main estimates support the people, the partnerships and the operational tools needed to maintain that balance. Canada has a global leadership role in protecting and resettling the world's most vulnerable. The target for refugees and protected persons for this year is 49,300. We plan, this year, to invest $935.7 million in settlement services, with over 530 service providers across the country. I very much appreciate the member and the organizations that are in her community. I also had a chance to visit many parts of this beautiful country, and I have visited many settlement organizations. I want to thank them here tonight for all the work they are doing on behalf of the most vulnerable and also on behalf of Canadians.

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“I want more French-speaking immigrants too. That makes me and the MP look good. We're spending lots of money on this. New Brunswick is doing what we want. I hope others copy them.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, I would like to begin by thanking my colleague, the member for Madawaska—Restigouche, for his hard work over the past decade on behalf of his community in New Brunswick, as well as the Canadian francophone community and Acadians. I want to congratulate him once again on the research and the work he did before entering politics to support official language minority communities. It has been a pleasure to work with him and his constituents over the past year. They are very fortunate to have such a dedicated member of Parliament. For me, the French language is central to Canadian identity and culture. By protecting it, we are preserving part of what sets us apart as a country. Thanks to our programs, we have met and even exceeded, as the member said, our target for francophone immigration outside Quebec for four consecutive years, which puts us on track to achieve 12% francophone immigration by 2029. This year, we are reserving an additional 5,000 spaces for the provinces and territories to welcome francophone immigrants. I would like to take this opportunity to say that New Brunswick is a leader in filling these spaces, and I hope that many provinces will follow suit. This is a new initiative I have launched as minister. We did so because we realize that we need to increase francophone immigration and strengthen our partnership with the provinces, territories, communities and organizations. We are also continuing to invest in community projects that inform, attract and integrate francophone immigrants outside Quebec. We are making modifications to the settlement program and protecting it.

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“We have lots of offices. They try to do their jobs.”

“They help. They're important. Ignore that other stuff.”

“You keep asking about specific numbers. I won't give them to you. We passed a bill. Our plan is working. Numbers are down.”

“I don't want to give you the number you asked for. I will talk about other things instead. Look, we did some stuff. Doesn't that sound good?”

“I will talk about fraud detection and removal instead of the number you asked for.”

“I want to skip your question about undocumented people and talk about rules for temporary residents instead.”

“I won't give the real numbers you asked for. Instead let me change the subject and talk about the small number of bad people we remove.”

“The system is working. We are helping temporary residents follow the law.”

“We didn't have an exit tracking system before. Now we're building one.”

“We could review some cases before. But we did not have a comprehensive system to track everyone leaving until now. I want you to think I am just fixing a problem. Do not ask why we did not do this earlier.”

“You caught me. I'm filling time with kind words and saying nothing anyone could pin down later.”

“We are focused on removing criminals. I am saying nothing about the rules you asked about.”

“I don't want to answer that. The IRB says it won't happen much. It's not a big deal.”