First of all, thank you, Chair, for having me in your committee today. It's definitely an honour and a privilege.
Thank you to the witnesses for your very positive testimony today with respect to this very important issue.
I think all three of you have spoken about the positive impacts of family reunification not just with respect to economy but also with respect to social life. I think that all of the members of Parliament sitting around this table can relate that we are basically the front-line workers with respect to immigration issues in our constituency offices.
The human stories that we hear on a daily basis really reflect our immigration system, the troubles and the challenges that it faces. I'd like to actually share a story.
Ms. Effat, you talked about parents, so I will say that I have a constituent who had applied for his parents in 2012. His parents are in India where the typical processing time is nine years. The couple had a child in 2014 and wanted to invite his parents on a TRV to meet the newborn. The visitor visa was refused. In 2014, the father of the couple had a heart attack and passed away without seeing his grandchild. The mother is now alone back home, old and sick without any assistance; and since the father passed away, there had to be a change in the principal applicant for their sponsorship application. So that caused further delays in their case. The couple sends money back home to support the mother. I would say that with the number of cases that we see of this, not only does this have a negative impact on the economy here, where dollars are leaving the country, but also there's the social impact on this family, and the stress that they go through.
I'd like to know, Ms. Effat, if you have had similar experiences in your work especially in the Peel region, which is very rife with new immigrants.