One of the things to note is that the timelines vary enormously among visa offices. In some offices, it often happens within a matter of months, which is, of course, the way it should be, in our view. The disparity among these offices is in itself troubling, because people should not be treated differently depending on where their family members are.
It also points to a problem that exists in visa offices. It seems that some visa officers are simply overwhelmed by the number of files they have to process and it takes them a long time to get to the files that need to be dealt with.
We have talked at some length to the immigration department about the various barriers that exist in the process. Some are things that are beyond the control of the family members of the refugees here in Canada, such as requirements for documents that prove the family relationship. This sometimes leads to immigration officers making a request for DNA testing. It's a process that in itself lengthens the delays because it takes quite a lot of time. Sometimes the refugees have to wait until they can get the money together, because it's very expensive, not to speak of the actual processing time.
A number of efforts have been made by the immigration department to speed it up. But when we see that the delays remain so long despite their attention to this issue, it then brings us back to this question: Why don't we take the bull by the horns, recognize this is unacceptable, let the family members come to Canada, and do the processing in Canada? It would probably be cheaper for us.