Consular Services to Canadians Abroad—Global Affairs Canada
Opening Statement to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development
Consular Services to Canadians Abroad—Global Affairs Canada
(Report 7—2018 Spring Reports of the Auditor General of Canada)
17 September 2018
Michael Ferguson, Chartered Professional AccountantCPA, Chartered AccountantCA
Fellow Chartered Professional AccountantFCPA, Fellow Chartered AccountantFCA (New Brunswick)
Auditor General of Canada
Mr. Chair, thank you for this opportunity to discuss our report on consular services to Canadians abroad. Joining me at the table is Carol McCalla, who was responsible for the audit.
This audit examined how Global Affairs Canada responded to requests for consular assistance from Canadians travelling or living abroad. Canadians requested things like help during an international crisis such as a natural disaster, new travel documents to replace lost or stolen passports, or assistance because they had been arrested or detained abroad.
We found that Global Affairs Canada was able to deploy staff quickly to help Canadians during a crisis in a foreign country, and that it updated its online travel advisories as crises evolved. We also found that the Department was able to issue urgent travel documents quickly, through its missions abroad.
However, we found that in about two thirds of the cases we examined involving a Canadian arrested or detained abroad, consular officers had not contacted the detained Canadian within 24 hours of being notified, as required by the Department. Consular officers were able to contact most of these individuals within a month, but some were never contacted. When a consular officer did contact a Canadian arrested or detained abroad, it was usually by email or telephone, and not in person. In-person contact is important for assessing the well-being of individuals and determining how much help they need.
Significantly, we found that Global Affairs Canada took too long to assess allegations of the possible mistreatment or torture of Canadians detained abroad.
In 2004, Justice Dennis O’Connor investigated the actions of Canadian officials in relation to the arrest and detention of Maher Arar. In his report, Justice O’Connor recommended that Global Affairs Canada train its staff to identify signs of torture and mistreatment, and inform the Minister quickly of those cases.
We found that more than a decade later, Global Affairs Canada’s approach to cases of arrest and detention was still not sufficient. The Department provided its consular officers with only general training on how to conduct prison visits and how to identify signs that torture or mistreatment had occurred. Also, we found that in one case, the Department took seven months to inform the Minister about the likely torture of a detained Canadian.
These gaps are critical for Canadians in distress. Global Affairs Canada must ensure that its consular officers are properly prepared and supported to help Canadians arrested or detained abroad.
When we looked at the level of service provided by missions abroad, we found inconsistent performance. For example, 4 of the 10 highest-volume missions did not meet their performance targets for the timely delivery of regular passports. Also, Global Affairs Canada did not allocate its resources according to expected workloads at its missions to ensure an effective and consistent level of service.
Finally, we found that Global Affairs Canada did not track the performance of most of its consular services, because of poor data quality. This lack of tracking made it difficult for the Department to know whether it was deploying its staff in a way that best delivered the services that the government had promised to Canadians travelling or living abroad.
We made seven recommendations, and Global Affairs Canada agreed with all of them.
Mr. Chair, this concludes my opening remarks. We would be pleased to answer any questions the Committee may have. Thank you.