Good morning, everyone. This is the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, meeting number 9, on Tuesday, November 15, 2011.
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), this is the study of the immigration application backlogs in light of the action plan for faster immigration.
We have three witnesses this morning from our missions abroad. We also have Ms. Sharon Chomyn, who is the director general of the international region in Ottawa. I understand her purpose here is to introduce the witnesses, one of whom is speaking from India, one from Pakistan, and one from the Philippines.
Each of the three speakers will have up to eight minutes to speak and then there will be questions from members of the committee. I suppose it's fair if you feel you can make a contribution as well, Ms. Chomyn, but that would be part of the time I've spoken of.
Welcome to the committee, Ms. Chomyn. I'm going to ask you to help us with these backlogs issues and to introduce your colleagues, please.