Thank you.
First of all, Mr. Chairman, we have tried to be very responsive to extraordinary cases of this nature. I don't know whether it's statistically true or not, but it certainly seems, in my anecdotal experience, that in the live-in caregiver program there have been a disproportionate number of caregivers who have unfortunately become very ill during their tenure in Canada.
That's one of the reasons, Mr. Chairman, that in the reforms to that program that we made in 2011 we effectively waived the requirement for a second medical evaluation to be done, so that if caregivers became very sick during the period of their temporary residency, that would not disqualify them from obtaining permanent residency on grounds of medical inadmissibility. That is an important change that has allowed, for example Ms. Gerente, to become a permanent resident.
I recently met with representatives of organizations advocating on behalf of live-in caregivers to discuss potential further changes to the program in addition to the broad package of reforms we introduced in 2011. We recognize that the inventory is unmanageable, ungovernable, as I said before. There are currently 45,000 people with applications in the system who are waiting for permanent residency, in addition to another 40,000 temporary residents in the program who eventually, we anticipate, will make PR applications.
We are looking for solutions, and if the member has ideas, I'm very keen to hear them. The challenge is that the program constantly cycles through people, so as soon as people get permanent residency they leave live-in caregiver work.