To reiterate, there are 294,000 citizenship applications that are backlogged right now that this could apply to. There must be some that have extensive delays assigned to them that this would directly help.
My colleagues have raised the issue that this is.... All of this is germane to the discussion. We're trying to find ways to propose amendments so that, when we go back to our caucus to seek caucus solidarity, we can all vote for the final product that this committee produces for the House to consider, and our Conservative team will be for it.
When this went through our caucus, it was.... Basically, it's what we call a slam dunk. Everybody agrees. We agreed with the original principle and scope of the bill, and we were onside, because there were two different versions of it.
This amendment would help us make the case that the other portions of the amendments that have been introduced and passed over our objections.... This would help us to say, “Okay, we got a few things we like. There are some things we don't like, but on balance, it is, perhaps, a bill that we can live with on a go-forward basis.” This amendment does exactly that. We would be able to achieve that, I think, with our caucus. We would have to go back and convince them that this bill has been used for other purposes to expand to other groups of lost Canadians.
We've been very amenable. We voted for some amendments, like the previous one on matters of adoption. After asking a few questions to get a better understanding of it, Conservative members were for it. It can't be said that we haven't been reasonable when there was reason.
There are other amendments that we could not agree with. Those are amendments that our caucus colleagues will look at and say, “Why did these pass? This is not what was originally agreed to. They go far beyond the original scope.” We'll remind them of what happened in the House. I mentioned in the House that this would essentially be treated like a statutory review, so why not put in a compassionate waiver provision for the minister to consider? That's almost 300,000 applications right there. When there's a backlog of almost two million, that's still a large amount that could be considered. Who knows, into the future, how many more extra ones could occur?
I'm hoping that IRCC, the department, and the minister abandon the plan to do that click citizenship and the attestation format, and that we move back to in-person ceremonies. They are, maybe, more difficult to do, or maybe it's more inconvenient to hold in-person ceremonies, but I think they're important.
Again, I had a naturalization ceremony back in 1989. I think they're very valuable. It's the third word in the department's name and it's the first one in this committee's official name—“citizenship”. That's the whole point of immigration. It's to make new citizens in Canada, and that's what we want.
Providing a waiver for some of these applications that are massively backlogged, and again, only those over five years—it's a very narrow scope—and only those on compassionate grounds.... Maybe there are certain situations whereby a person missed a lot of ceremonies they were invited to. Maybe they were invited to a virtual one and they dropped out before it could be completed. I know that would be a problem as well. Because it's a narrow scope, because it's a delegation of a bit more executive authority by Parliament in the Citizenship Act to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, it's only for waivers on compassionate grounds, only for those over five years and only for citizenship applications. That's what I've come to understand would be the general interpretation of this. I don't see why not. It's a reasonable amendment, and it would help us go back.
I want to remind you, Madam Chair, that you allowed another member from the opposite side to speak. I have a great appreciation for Mr. Dhaliwal. He is a veteran of the House and has been here for a long time. I will remind him that, actually, the number for parents and grandparents, family class and PRs is 39 months right now. That's according to data sent to this committee by IRCC. As of March 2023, it's 60 months for applications for spouses, partners and children. It's way beyond the 12 months. I'm going back to 2019, when it was 12 months. It was very quick. There have been long delays.
When he spoke about the applications that were returned, everybody's money was returned, as well, in that situation. We're not talking about returning the 294,000 applications for citizenship, their money and their applications. That's not what we're doing. We're creating a waiver here.
I would remind him that this was a Liberal backlog that was created. The minister of immigration at the time returned everybody's applications and reset the system, because there was no other choice. It was so backlogged because of what the previous Liberal government had done under former prime minister Paul Martin. It completely jammed the entire system right up. That's just a reminder of history. The numbers provided here are not correct. I checked today and, again, it's 294,000 citizenship applications.
Let's vote yes for this and move on to the next one. I think it's entirely reasonable.
Thank you, Madam Chair.