Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Minister, two days ago in the House of Commons when I asked you about the secret family class quotas for 2011 for parents and grandparents from Ukraine, only 25 reunifications for a community of 1.2 million Ukrainian Canadians, you refused to address this heartless quota of only 25 and instead switched the channel by stating, “...we are now benefiting from more immigration of Ukrainians to Canada than was the case under the previous government”.
I have pulled off and printed a document from Citizenship and Immigration called “Facts and Figures - Immigration Overview”, by source country from 2000 and 2009. It clearly shows that under the previous government the average immigration from Ukraine was 2,998, and from 2006 to the present time it dropped to 2,056, a drop of 46%. You didn't address the issue of this quota of 25 for Ukraine. You misstated that immigration went up when in fact it went down from that source country.
Not only that, Minister, when we take a look at the 25 that have been targeted, the quota of 25 for Ukraine, last year there were 260 parental and grandparental family class reunifications. We're down to 25. Do you believe it's fair for parents and grandparents from Ukraine to have to wait over a decade to be reunified with their children, and will you consider changing that quota of 25?