Questions and responses All Sessions January 17, 1994, to present

With regard to the Foreign Credentials Referral Office in the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, since January 2008: (a) what are the monthly statistics, by labour market code, of individuals seeking information from any program or service provided by phone, in person or overseas; (b) for each labour market code, what is the breakdown of the programs, services, processes, support or agreements currently in place to assist individuals from those occupations and, if programs or services are not currently available for those labour market codes, the date the department intends to institute programs or services for those occupations; (c) for each labour market code, what is the status of negotiations with provinces, countries and professional organizations for resolving issues relating to foreign credentials; and (d) for each labour market code, what are the monthly statistics of the number of foreign credential problems of individuals successfully resolved by the programs and services of the Foreign Credentials Referral Office?

With regard to programs and services of the Foreign Credentials Referral Office in the Department of Citizenship and Immigration since 2008: (a) what is the budget of each program or service including (i) each expenditure, including contracts under $10,000, (ii) the value of the expenditure, (iii) the goods or services consumed, (iv) the department under which the expenditure is accounted for, (v) whether or not the contract was tendered through an open bidding process if the goods or services were purchased from an outside source, (vi) the name of the outside source, (vii) the contract's reference number, (viii) dates of contracts, (ix) descriptions of the services provided, (x) delivery dates, (xi) original contracts' values, (xii) final contracts' values if different from the original contract's value, (xiii) how much remains unspent for each program and service; (b) what is the breakdown of costs for each meeting, townhall, roundtable and conference related to programs or services provided by the Foreign Credentials Referral Office including, but not limited to, (i) travel, (ii) accommodations, (iii) food, (iv) refreshments, (v) drafting of reports, (vi) drafting of speeches, (vii) drafting of press releases, (viii) drafting of talking points, (ix) drafting of media communications; and (c) what is the total amount spent by the Foreign Credentials Referral Office on advertising since 2008 and identify, in alphabetical order by supplier, (i) how much was spent per print advertisement, (ii) how much was spent per radio advertisement, (iii) how much was spent per Internet advertisement, (iv) how much was spent per television advertisement?

With respect to meetings requested with the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration since January 2008: (a) what are the names of the organizations, lobbyists and individuals who made such requests; and (b) which meetings were attended by the Minister, including the date, time, and locations, and if the Minister did not attend the meeting, which government representatives, ministerial or department staff attended the meeting on the Minister's behalf?

With respect to official requests for attendance at events received by the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages from organizations since January 2008: (a) what were the names of the organizations, the names of the events, the organizers, the dates, times, and locations; and (b) did the Minister attend the event and, if not, what is the name of the government representative who attended the event in lieu of the Minister?

With regard to government action to address the issue of suicide: (a) what programs or organizations have been funded by the federal government to raise awareness about or prevent suicides; (b) how much funding was provided for each program or organization in (a); (c) what partnerships have been made with the provinces or aboriginal communities to address this issue; and (d) what statistics are available regarding suicide and attempted suicides in Canada since 1980?

With regard to government action on HIV/AIDS since January 2006: (a) what national and international programs are run by the government to combat the disease; (b) how much has the government spent on those programs in each year since January 2006; (c) what is the infection rate of HIV/AIDS in Canada for each month since January 2006; (d) what is the mortality rate for HIV/AIDS in Canada for each year since January 2006; and (e) what research to combat the disease is being funded by the government?

With regard to questions on “ethnic origin and visible minorities” and “immigration and citizenship” contained in the long form census: (a) what individuals, businesses, organizations, governments, crown corporations and government departments purchased data or reports based on these questions in the 2006 census; (b) which government programs used data or analysis from these questions for planning purposes or to determine funds, grants or loans and, in detail, how was the data used; (c) what impact does the government project the change to a voluntary household survey will have on these programs and benefits; (d) what steps will be taken to minimize the non-response bias and ensure good response rates with the voluntary household survey; and (e) what is the estimated cost of these steps?

With regard to the government’s handling of fraudulent marriages, for each month since January 2006: (a) how many permanent residency applications have been refused based on fraudulent marriages; (b) how many permanent residents have been deported because of fraudulent marriages; (c) how much has Citizenship and Immigration spent investigating fraudulent marriages; (d) how many government employees are assigned to the investigation of fraudulent marriages; (e) how many reports or “tips” has Citizenship and Immigration received regarding potentially fraudulent marriages; (f) what incentives are provided to encourage reporting of fraudulent marriages; and (g) how much has the government spent training immigration officers to identify fraudulent marriages?

With regard to the Garnishment, Attachment and Pension Diversion Act, for each year from 2006 up to and including the current year, broken down by department: (a) how many federal employees and individual contractors were subject to garnishment of salaries and other remuneration; (b) what is the total amount of money required under the Act to be garnished from the salaries and other remuneration of federal employees and individual contractors; (c) how many times has a cheque been sent to the court or the provincial enforcement agency 16 or more days following the debtor’s pay period; (d) what is the total amount of money that has been sent to the court or the provincial enforcement agency 16 or more days following the debtor’s pay period; and (e) how many times has the Crown been held in contempt of court?

With regard to government action on tuberculosis (TB) since January 2006: (a) what national and international programs are being operated by the government to combat the disease; (b) how much money has the government spent on those programs in each year since January 2006; (c) what is the rate of TB in Canada for each month since January 2006; (d) what is the mortality rate for TB in Canada for each year since January 2006; and (e) what research to combat the disease is being funded by the government?

With regard to government spending on Google adWords since January 2006: (a) how much has each department spent; (b) what keywords were chosen; (c) what daily limits were set; (d) what was the cost of each keyword; and (e) how many clicks were made per keyword?

With regard to addressing child poverty in Canada: (a) what programs has the government created since being elected in January 2006 to specifically address child poverty; (b) how much money has been spent on addressing child poverty and from which government departments did this money come; and (c) how much money has been given to each federal riding to address child poverty?

With regard to addressing youth violence: (a) what programs has the government created since being elected in January 2006 to specifically address youth violence; (b) how much money has been spent on addressing youth violence and from which government departments did this money come; and (c) how much money has been given to each federal riding to address youth violence?

With regard to the last ten appointments to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB): (a) how many individuals were considered for these positions; (b) how many were interviewed; (c) what is the process for vetting potential candidates for IRB appointments; and (d) what criteria are used to determine the appropriate candidate for these positions?

With regard to lifting seniors out of poverty, what has the government done since being elected in January 2006, specifically: (a) what national and local programs have been created to specifically address poverty among seniors; (b) how much money has been spent on addressing poverty among seniors and from which government departments did this money come; (c) how much money has been given to each federal riding to address poverty among seniors; and (d) what initiatives have been undertaken to identify which ethnic groups have the greatest number of seniors living in poverty, and, if identified, what steps have been taken to address the needs of these ethnic groups?

With regard to addressing child poverty in Canada: (a) what programs has the government created since being elected in January 2006 to specifically address child poverty; (b) how much money has been spent on addressing child poverty and from which government departments did this money come; and (c) how much money has been given to each federal riding to address child poverty?

With regard to addressing youth violence: (a) what programs has the government created since being elected in January 2006 to specifically address youth violence; (b) how much money has been spent on addressing youth violence and from which government departments did this money come; and (c) how much money has been given to each federal riding to address youth violence?

With regard to the latest ten appointments to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB): (a) how many individuals were considered for these positions; (b) how many were interviewed; (c) what is the process for vetting potential candidates for IRB appointments; and (d) what criteria are used to determine the appropriate candidate for these positions?

With regard to lifting seniors out of poverty, what has the government done since being elected in January 2006, specifically: (a) what national and local programs have been created to specifically address poverty among seniors; (b) how much money has been spent on addressing poverty among seniors and from which government departments did this money come; (c) how much money has been given to each federal riding to address poverty among seniors; and (d) what initiatives have been undertaken to identify which ethnic groups of seniors have the greatest numbers of individuals living in poverty, and, if identified, what steps have been taken to address the needs of these ethnic groups?

With respect to Ministerial Permits granted by the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, for each month since January 2006 and by country of origin: (a) how many requests were (i) granted, (ii) refused; and (b) how many individuals did not abide by the terms and conditions of the permit?