This meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security was split into two hours, first studying Bill C-8 on critical cyber systems protection and then Bill C-12, the strengthening Canada's immigration system and borders act. The Minister of Public Safety, Gary Anandasangaree, appeared alongside officials from the Department of Industry, the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, the Canada Border Services Agency, the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Andre Arbour, Director General of the Telecommunications and Internet Policy Branch at the Department of Industry, explained that the authority under part 1 of Bill C-8 allows action to protect the Canadian telecommunications system only when it is "reasonable in relation to the gravity of the threat," and that disconnecting a system would be a last resort. He clarified that the term "telecommunications system" in the bill refers to facilities and services, not the expressive commentary of individuals, and that confidentiality orders exist only where divulging a vulnerability would invite greater cyber-attacks.
Colin MacSween, Director General of the National Cyber Security Directorate at the Department of Public Safety, confirmed that the Government of Canada has a federal cyber-incident response plan requiring reporting of cyber-incidents to the Canadian Centre for Cybersecurity, Treasury Board Secretariat, and Public Safety Canada, but noted that specific incident reports are not made public to his knowledge.
Richard Bilodeau, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister at the Department of Public Safety, explained that the main substantive difference between Bill C-8 and its predecessor Bill C-26 is that Bill C-70's secure administrative review procedure (SARP) replaced the previous piecemeal process for handling confidential information in judicial reviews.
Erin O'Gorman, President of the Canada Border Services Agency, stated that the agency has approximately 1,000 inland enforcement officers, with about half dealing with removals, and that she could not provide a precise number of armed officers or fentanyl-trained dogs without follow-up. She noted that the agency is working with allies to train dogs for fentanyl detection, which is a new and emerging tool, and that the port owners and operators are good partners who welcome the legal certainty provided by Bill C-12's amendments to the Customs Act.
Jean-Marc Gionet, Acting Assistant Deputy Minister at the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, said that Bill C-12 includes measures to make the asylum system more efficient by using a consistent approach for information collection and ensuring information is shared with the IRB at the right time, while maintaining the pre-removal risk assessment process for those deemed inadmissible.
Tara Lang, Director General at the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, explained that the bill's information-sharing changes include a regulation-making authority for IRCC to disclose information to federal partners in prescribed scenarios, mirroring existing authorities for provinces and territories, and that onward sharing to foreign entities is prohibited without IRCC's written consent and compliance with Canada's international obligations against mistreatment.
Jodie Boudreau, Deputy Commissioner of Federal Policing at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, confirmed that the RCMP is also training dogs for fentanyl detection, a process that takes approximately four to six months for multiple profiles, and that the toxicity of fentanyl adds complexity for both trainers and dogs.
The first hour included procedural debate over the relevance of questions about the foreign interference commissioner and removal orders, with the chair allowing the minister to answer. The second hour saw no procedural motions or votes, and the meeting concluded without any formal committee decisions.
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