Thank you, Chair.
I appreciate Mr. Karygiannis bringing forward this motion, and I agree that there is a particular situation of importance in Lebanon. However, I don't think Lebanon is the only place where such a situation exists, and there are other places where people have immigration applications outstanding where they're also experiencing the ravages of war or civil strife or even a natural disaster, as Mr. Karygiannis mentioned.
So I'd like to propose an amendment that in the first line we delete the phrase “due to the continuing strife in Lebanon” and that in the third line we take out the words “the affected area” and replace that phrase with “areas affected by war, civil strife, or natural disaster”. So essentially we can say that there should be some attention and expedited processing for anyone who has an immigration application in from an area that's affected by war, civil strife, or natural disaster.
Chair, I believe that's often the practice of the department in any case. But I think it wouldn't hurt to make that very explicit. So I'd like to propose that amendment.