Excellent.
I'm a lawyer and have been working exclusively in immigration for the last 12 years. I've been working alongside Mr. Mokhtari for the last three years. I've been dealing on a daily basis with hundreds of federal skilled worker applications. Most of these applications represent general practitioners and medical specialists.
Overall, we have about 515 applicants and files that we've submitted between February 2, 2008, and June of 2010, which is under the first list of ministerial instructions. It's important to underline that out of the first set of ministerial instructions, these applicants were told that their applications would be processed in 12 months maximum. That was very clear on all the acknowledgments of receipts that were received by our applicants at the time. Only 4.47% got processed under this promised date. My colleague will address this issue a bit more in detail.
Then came along the second set of ministerial instructions, which represented 29 jobs. What is very crucial to underline is that out of this first set and second set, we found 18 professions that were exactly the same on both lists. So we're a bit concerned by how Citizenship and Immigration Canada replied to every one of our applicants, as follows: “Because the second set of ministerial instructions reflects Canada's current market needs, federal skilled worker applications under this set of ministerial instructions, effective as of June 26, 2010, are processed on a priority basis, and we are responding to the most urgent labour market needs first”.
That to us is a bit of a concern. As I said, we are representing medical practitioners. How is being a doctor before 2010 and after 2010 different? How do they not meet the same urgent market needs? We have a specific case that Mr. Mokhtari will address.
Before I conclude, I would like to bring to your attention the fact that we'd sent several correspondences and inquiries to the ministry. We got two separate correspondences, actually one day apart, in May 2011, where again we were told: “It is important to note that applications are processed in the order in which they are received. Procedural fairness dictates that it is not possible to process one person's application ahead of those who have applied before them”.
How can this statement be made in May of 2011 when it is a well-known fact that applications are not being processed on a first come, first served basis? It's a bit of a contradiction on that issue.
I think it's more than time to get back to supporting Canada's reputation as an immigrant-welcoming country.
I'll leave the rest to Mr. Mokhtari.
Thank you.