OAG Chapter 2 - Issuing Visas



Citizenship and Immigration Canada


2.77 Recommendation:

In order to meet the objectives of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to protect the health and safety of Canadians, Citizenship and Immigration Canada should

·        develop a strategy based on risks to better identify applicants who present a danger to public health or a danger to public safety, and

·        examine the methodology and process for assessing excessive demand on health and social services and take corrective measures as necessary.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada response (original response to OAG in 2011):

Agreed. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has initiated and continues to develop a risk assessment and management strategy to better address danger to public health and danger to public safety in the immigration context. Among the activities conducted are the completion of a discussion paper on defining danger to public health, and the completion of an HIV policy review. CIC will implement a strategy that will result in consistent admissibility criteria, standardized processes, and improved monitoring of its programs. These measures will be completed by September 2013.

CIC has started examining the excessive demand processes and will pursue its collaboration with the provinces and territories to review factors generating limitations and inconsistencies in the evaluation of excessive demands and will address the identified deficiencies. This measure will be completed by June 2013.

Management Action Plan (updated as of May 2013):

Expected
Completion

Responsible area

Recommendation 1:

·         CIC will develop a risk assessment and management framework to address danger to public health and danger to public safety in the immigration context which will include:


o    continuing the development of reporting tools that will strengthen program monitoring


o    the definition of danger to public health and danger to public safety;


o    criteria to determine inadmissibility on danger to public health and public safety based on new definition and updating the immigration medical examination, as needed;


o    standardized processes for the assessment of the immigration medical examination and service standards across the regional medical offices worldwide;


o    review and update the reporting tools to strengthen program monitoring;

Recommendation 2:

·          CIC has identified an opportunity to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the process to assess excessive demand through:


o    developing a database for the cost of prevalent health and social services  to assist Medical Officers in the assessment of excessive demand cases;


o    centralizing the assessment of excessive demand to facilitate the monitoring and standardization.


o    engaging P/T in the assessment of excessive demand cases.

  • CIC will work with P/T to conduct a comprehensive review of the excessive demand policy to assess its relevancy and effectiveness in protecting the Canadian health and social services system. 







ongoing (completed)

Q1 2013-14
(not yet due)

Q1 2013-14
(not yet due)


Q2 2013-14
(not yet due)

Q2 2013-14
(completed)





Q4 2013-14
(not yet due)

Q4 2013-14
(not yet due)

Q4 2013-14
(not yet due)

Q4 2013-14
(not yet due)

Health Branch





















Health Branch


Citizenship and Immigration Canada


2.81 Recommendation:

Citizenship and Immigration Canada should implement a standard quality assurance process to protect the integrity of the medical examination system and to ensure consistency and quality in the assessment of medical admissibility.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada response (original response to OAG in 2011):

Agreed. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has already completed the development of a Quality Assurance Framework for its immigration medical examination and assessment programs. This framework will be integrated into the departmental Program Integrity Framework, providing the tool required to monitor and evaluate the quality of its immigration health program, worldwide, including the designated medical practitioners, other examiners, and CIC employees involved in the health assessment process. CIC is also in the process of implementing eMedical (an electronic medical system), enabling standardization and centralization of the medical examination process. These measures will be completed by March 2013.

Management Action Plan (updated as of May 2013):

Expected
Completion

Responsible area

·         CIC will improve its immigration medical examination quality assurance standards by:


o    introducing standardization tools for the evaluation of quality of the work done by designated medical practitioners/examiners;


o    developing service standards for the implementation of the quality assurance framework;


o    introducing standardization tools for the evaluation of quality of the work done by CIC employees;


o    developing reports to monitor and evaluate the designated medical practitioners/ examiners network and the assessment of the immigration medical examinations;


o    implementing the eMedical system and the electronic assessment module to support the standardization and centralization of the medical examination process.




Q4 2011-12
(completed)

Q2 2012-13
(completed)

Q2 2012-13
(completed)

Q4 2011-12
(completed)

Q1 2013-14
(not yet due)

Health Branch


Citizenship and Immigration Canada

Canada Border Services Agency


2.94 Recommendation:

Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency should fully implement their joint risk management and performance measurement strategies and monitor the results.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Canada Border Services Agency response (original response to OAG in 2011):

Agreed. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will implement and monitor their joint risk management and performance strategies for the shared delivery of the immigration and refugee program, including visa issuance. In this context, CIC and the CBSA will complete a review of Canada’s admissibility policy, in collaboration with security partners, in order to assess whether it is continuing to meet the needs of Canada and Canadians; to identify any gaps; and to recommend amendments to relevant legislation, regulations, or administrative guidelines.

CIC and the CBSA will complete a joint priority-setting exercise based on key risks with respect to the intelligence program (including visa issuance) and resulting enforcement priorities. CIC and the CBSA will also complete work on key performance indicators with respect to visa issuance, which will be used to monitor the effectiveness of shared programs and to track the implementation of joint priorities.

These measures will be completed by December 2012.

Management Action Plan (updated as of May 2013):

Expected
Completion

Responsible area

MAP 2.94.1:  Joint Strategies.  CIC and CBSA will develop and implement joint risk management and performance measurement strategies with respect to admissibility determination.  This work will be integrated into CIC and CBSA’s overall strategies for risk management and performance measurement, which will be implemented in response to the 2010 Internal Audit of the CIC-CBSA Memorandum of Understanding.

MAP 2.94.2:  Admissibility Review.  In collaboration with security partners, CIC and CBSA are conducting a review of Canada’s admissibility policy, to assess whether it is continuing to meet the needs of Canada and Canadians; to identify any gaps; and recommend amendments to relevant legislation, regulations or administrative guidelines. The results of this exercise will be used to further enhance risk management of the shared program.

June 2012
(completed)



June 2012
(completed)

CIC OPMB & CBSA Vice-President Programs

CIC Admissibility Branch & CBSA Vice-President Programs