moved for leave to introduce Bill C-378, an act to amend the Immigration Act (permanent resident status).
Mr. Speaker, I am extremely pleased to have the opportunity today to introduce my private member's bill. I want to thank the hon. member for York South-Weston for seconding this bill.
The intent of the bill is to amend section 24 of the Immigration Act, which would allow a person seeking to come into and remain permanently in Canada to be deemed a permanent resident if he or she lived in Canada for 25 years or more prior to 1970 before leaving Canada.
This amendment would address the concerns of many Canadians who have reallocated outside Canada for a period of time and are now faced with having to reapply for permanent resident status with of course the appropriate security checks. This has resulted in numerous bureaucratic delays and in many cases the process can be quite cumbersome.
My bill would eliminate a time consuming delay and also allow an immigration officer to make the decision to grant automatic permanent resident status if they are satisfied with the individual's prior resident status.
I look forward to the unanimous consent of the House on this.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)