Citizenship and Immigration committee  I also would like to recommend that IRCC develop an online application system for the caregiver program. It will be a lot easier. They could have an AOR right away and hopefully receive an open work permit as soon as the application is open. Caregivers outside of Canada must have an open work permit, and the processing time should be less than a year—approximately six months is my recommendation—so that they can have a life here in Canada as soon as possible.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We've been advocating that all those applying from outside and overseas should be given permanent residency upon arrival. Nowadays, when applicants from outside are applying for this program, they have to wait for one year. It should not be the case. Most of the time, these applicants from outside....

Citizenship and Immigration committee  They should open different pathways for them, exclusively for caregivers, because they have been here for such a long time and they're still waiting for their permanent residency. The pathways should be exclusive to caregivers, with no cap, and accessible. The English language test should be removed, because this is clearly a barrier for them—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Actually, that's the same question we asked the former IRCC minister, Ahmed Hussen, because during the announcement of the introduction of the interim pathway and the new program, he said there was going to be one year of processing for these PR applications. When the interim pathway opened in February 2019, and in the fall, he said the processing time was one year.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The cap for caregivers is 2,750 for home child care providers. Recently, on April 8, they made an announcement that the cap is almost reached and the IRCC is encouraging caregivers to apply for the new public policy. Unfortunately, this new public policy is very disproportionately distributed.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Vilma Pagaduan, and I thank you so much for this privilege. I came to Canada in August 2007 under the live-in caregiver program. My experience of having gone through the system myself has led me to become an advocate for men and women when their voices can't be heard.