IRCC Minister Transition Binder 2023: Federal-Provincial-Territorial and International Relations - Fundamental Brief

Context

Increasing global migration and displacement create opportunities and challenges for Canada – both domestically and internationally:

Domestically:

• An opportunity to access human capital to meet Canada’s economic needs, contribute to population growth, and fulfill our humanitarian obligations.
• High numbers of asylum claimants and responses to multiple international crises and humanitarian situations can present challenges domestically.

Internationally:

• Migration and international protection are transnational issues that requires global cooperation. Canada is recognized as a global leader on migration and refugee protection - upholding safe, orderly and regular migration and international protection obligations.
• Strong international engagement advances Canadian priorities, builds support for Canada’s position on migration, allows Canada to learn and share best practices, and builds capacity internationally.
• Immigration measures are increasingly part of Government of Canada responses to international crises and other humanitarian situations.

Engagement with provincial/territorial governments, and international counterparts, organizations, and partners, is crucial to effectively deliver the Department’s mandate, including maintaining public support for immigration, and to address global migration challenges.

Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) Relations

• Immigration is a shared jurisdiction under the Constitution, with federal paramountcy.
• FPT governments work collaboratively to use immigration as a means to grow the economy and address national and regional labour market needs, as well as meet humanitarian and family reunification commitments.
  • The federal government is responsible for setting immigration levels as well as federal economic immigration, family class immigration, refugees, protected persons, and assessing the admissibility of all cases.
  • Provincial and territorial governments are responsible for nominations under Provincial Nominee Programs. FPT governments collaborate on other initiatives including the Atlantic Immigration Program, the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot, and Francophone immigration.

IRCC engages provinces and territories multilaterally through the Forum of Ministers Responsible for Immigration (FMRI).

Bilateral engagement with PTs is guided by legally-binding bilateral agreements. 

FPT Relations – Quebec

The bilateral relationship with Quebec on immigration is defined by the Canada-Quebec Accord (the Accord), and is guided by the principle that immigration should support the preservation of Quebec’s demographic importance in Canada and its distinct identity. 

• The Accord is designed to ensure collaboration between both levels of governments throughout the immigration process, in all immigration categories. Quebec’s sophisticated immigration system requires and benefits from the cooperation of both levels of government.
• The Accord allows Quebec to:
  • Establish its own desired immigration levels in all categories;
  • Establish its own selection criteria for economic immigrants;
  • Establish and assess financial criteria for family class sponsorship;
  • Select resettled refugees (both government-assisted and privately sponsored) while sharing overall responsibility with the federal government;
  • Deliver settlement and integration services in the province; and,
  • Receive federal funding to support the delivery of settlement and integration services for permanent residents in the province.
• The federal government is responsible for selecting permanent residents in the family class and protected persons, and for determining the admissibility of all immigrants to the Canadian territory and issuing permanent resident visas.

FPT Relations – Key Issues

• Provinces and territories have been focused on a broad range of immigration issues including:

Economic Immigration

Provincial and territorial (PT) governments want increased involvement in the selection of economic immigrants, increased proportion (economic currently 60% of permanent admissions) and  faster processing times.

The federal government is consulting PTs on a more agile, client-centred economic immigration system that better meets economic and regional needs.

Regionalization

A key priority is to grow immigration outside of major urban centres to address labour market needs, while continuing to work together to ensure the absorptive capacity of communities to welcome newcomers.

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Asylum and Humanitarian Responses

Increasing numbers of asylum seekers and international humanitarian cohorts (Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine) are placing pressure on social services and housing, implicating provinces that provide these services.

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Quebec

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International Relations – Why and How We Engage

IRCC engages internationally through:

• Bilateral and Regional Relationships
• Multilateral Forums
• Capacity Building

Through broad participation:

• Minister and Deputy Ministers
• Senior-level executives
• Subject matter experts
• Operational staff

Active international engagement and cooperation provides opportunities to:

• Advance whole-of-government initiatives and Canada’s international migration and refugee protection objectives and priorities – while deterring irregular migration and addressing forced displacement.
• Strengthen Canada’s international relationships (bilateral, regional, and international) and cooperation with key government counterparts and organizations; manage migration-related irritants; and support IRCC’s operational needs.
• Influence other countries’ approaches to managing migration and providing protection, and build their capacity to better manage migration and provide protection.
• Leverage connections with international development, humanitarian assistance, gender equality, and human rights to advance Canada’s migration and protection objectives and priorities.
• Grow public support for immigration, including by fostering a balanced, evidence-based migration narrative.
• Enable Canada to respond to international crises and other humanitarian situations with migration measures.

International Bilateral Relations with the United States

The United States is Canada’s Key International Bilateral Relationship.

IRCC has a strong and longstanding migration relationship with United States counterparts, regularly collaborating on issues relating to border security, information-sharing and asylum in the North American perimeter, as well as international migration and refugee protection issues.

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Key areas of Canada-U.S. collaboration:

• Management of the Canada-U.S. land border, including through the new Additional Protocol to the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA).
• Addressing irregular migration and forced displacement in the Americas, as part of efforts to secure the North American perimeter: U.S.-Canada-Mexico North American Leaders’ Summit (NALS); the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection; and Canada’s Americas commitment to welcome 15,000 persons from the region by March 2024.
• Information sharing to assist in the administration and enforcement of respective immigration and citizenship laws.
• Close cooperation on resettling vulnerable refugees from Afghanistan

International Bilateral and Regional Engagement

IRCC conducts regular engagements with Embassies and High Commissions in Ottawa to advance bilateral and regional migration relations.

Recent Key Engagements by IRCC Include:

• Strengthening engagement with the European Union (EU), a close and like-minded partner for Canada.
• Facilitating a wide range of engagements with Germany, which has consistently used Canada as a public example of good migration management.
• Engaging with Mexico through twice-yearly High Level Dialogues on Mobility.
• Engaging with India, via the Canada-India Consular Dialogue [Redacted]
• Advancing Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, by bolstering immigration application processing and enhancing the International Student Program.
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Recent Engagements on International Crises and Other Humanitarian Situations:

• Afghanistan: Engaging bilaterally with third country partners and like-minded states to increase protection space and facilitate resettlement.
• Russia's war on Ukraine: Exchanging best practices on temporary protection pathways and the Canada-Ukraine Emergency Authorization for Travel (CUAET).
• Hong Kong: Coordinating special measures [Redacted]
• Venezuelan refugee and migrants: Strengthening the capacity of host countries, and engaging in regional cooperation mechanisms.

International Multilateral Engagement

Engagement and participation in various international multilateral forums support IRCC’s and Canada’s mandate, including the resettlement of refugees, to identify collective solutions to global challenges, to support regular migration pathways, and to promote a positive narrative on migration.

Key International Forums and Organizations for IRCC:

• Migration Five: Composed of senior officials from the immigration agencies of Canada’s closest partners – the “Five Eyes” countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States) and serves as a platform to collaborate in addressing common migration challenges. The Migration Five receives direction from the Five Country Ministerial, an annual meeting of “Five Eyes” public safety and immigration ministers.
• United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR): Relied on by IRCC to identify the most vulnerable refugees around the world in need of resettlement, UNHCR also monitors Canada’s compliance with its international legal obligations to protect refugees.
• United Nations Migration Agency – the International Organization for Migration (IOM): The IOM has a key role in developing responses to the shifting dynamics of global migration and it is an essential partner in Canada’s refugee resettlement efforts, providing transportation, pre-departure medical services, and orientation to refugees.

Key Areas of IRCC Engagement:

• Upholding and championing the implementation of the Global Compact for Migration, and the Global Compact on Refugees.
• Leading/chairing various international initiatives: the Global Task Force on Labour Mobility on complementary pathways for refugee labour mobility; and promoting balanced narratives on migrants and refugees to counter xenophobia.
• Participating actively in global migration and protection discussions: United Nations Network on Migration, Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), Intergovernmental Consultations on Migration, Asylum and Refugees (IGC).

International Capacity Building

Through capacity building, IRCC helps countries develop tools and policies to manage migration, strengthen asylum systems, and deal with migration and protection challenges. These efforts support both safe and regular pathways for migration, the deterrence of irregular migration, as well as strengthen protection systems.

Global Refugee Sponsorship Initiative (GRSI)

• IRCC shares its experience in private sponsorship of refugees with other countries and helps them to create similar programs, expanding the number of resettlement spaces available globally. Since GRSI’s  establishment in December 2016, an estimated 1,000+ new protection spaces have been created worldwide.

Comprehensive Regional Framework for Protection and Solution (MIRPS) Support Platform

• This mechanism supports responsibility-sharing on forced displacement in the seven MIRPS countries (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Mexico) to offer protection, seek solutions and to mobilize support from other conventional and unconventional players in these efforts. Canada was the chair of the MIRPS Support Platform in 2021-2022.

International Migration Capacity Building Program (grant program)

• Through financial support, Canada works with partners to strengthen migration and asylum management systems worldwide and influence the global discourse on international mobility, to advance Canada’s migration and protection priorities.
• Funding envelopes under the program include core funding for migration or protection-related projects, and separate funding to: strengthen removal cooperation; address irregular migration and forced displacement in the Americas; support countries hosting Venezuelan refugees and migrants; and, support efforts in countries neighbouring Afghanistan.

Key Takeaways

• Engagement with provincial and territorial government, and international partners, is key to the effective delivery of the Department’s mandate, as well as to address global migration challenges.
• While provinces and territories remain supportive of immigration as a means to grow the economy, meaningful collaboration is required on a range of immigration issues such as faster processing times, additional allocations under the Provincial Nominee Program, and compensation for asylum costs.
• Increasing global migration flows without a corresponding increase in regular pathways for immigration has led to an increase in irregular migration, which has posed challenges for receiving countries in terms of managing arrivals, returns and growing anti-immigrant sentiment. This trend is expected to continue.
• Canada has a balanced narrative on migration and refugees that is viewed positively and allows us to present a positive approach to migration and refugee protection on the world stage.
• International engagement to deter irregular migration and support returns is an important component of efforts to support the integrity of Canada’s migration and asylum system and to help preserve public confidence in Canada’s capacity to effectively manage migration, while upholding its commitments to refugees under international law