Thank you, Ms. Thomson.
Mr. Chair, honourable members, thank you for hearing us this afternoon, which we appreciate.
Ms. Thomson has mentioned our written submission addressing the seven issues identified for this study. This afternoon I'd like to address those issues, and in particular, our recommendations related to reducing obstacles to immigration for members of the family class, including spouses and partners, children, and parents and grandparents.
Our key recommendations are as follows: number one, reduce obstacles to entry to Canada for spouses and partners of Canadians. The Canadian Bar Association commends the Government of Canada on prioritizing the sponsorship of spouses and partners by increasing levels and reducing backlogs, under the 2016 immigration levels plan. Our members note general improvements in processing times in the past year, and we think that's excellent.
We also note the positive effect of spouses obtaining open work permits after about four months in Canada. We recommend that the current pilot project that expires in December be extended and made permanent.
We further recommend improving processes to achieve efficiency and consistency in decision-making, based on officer training, reasonable assessment criteria, particularly for common-law and conjugal partners, communication between officers and applicants, and detailed reasons in the event of a negative decision.
We recommend improving access to appeals, including for sponsorship applications submitted inside Canada, in reasonable time periods.
We recommend issuing open work permits for spouses and partners upon filing applications for permanent residence, or alternatively, on sponsorship approval, which is currently the practice.
We recommend deferring removal of spouses when an in-Canada sponsorship application is in process. The current policy of deferral for about 60 days in limited circumstances is inadequate, particularly when Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada takes 12 to 24 months to process a spousal application.
We recommend eliminating conditional permanent residence for sponsored spouses and partners, including retroactively, as has been said by other witnesses before this committee, and instead, enforcing prohibitions against misrepresentation under the act.
Number two, reduce obstacles to sponsoring dependent children, adopted children, siblings, and other relatives. We recommend repealing paragraph 117(9)(d) of the immigration regulations, which can result in permanent separation from family members. This provision is overly broad, capturing many situations that occur due to innocent mistakes, such as confusion over terms such as “common law”, or lack of knowledge of a living dependant.
The CBA section commends the Government of Canada on reversing the change in age of dependent children. Returning children under age 22 to the family class will avoid hardship for children of immigrants who remain physically, emotionally, and financially dependent on their parents. We urge the government to make this change effective without further delay, with transitional provisions that include dependent children who would have otherwise been eligible since August 2014.
We recommend making children of successful refugee applicants eligible for inclusion as dependent children, notwithstanding their birth in a country that would otherwise make them ineligible, such as birth in the United States.
We recommend improving processing times for routine applications for sponsorship of adopted children.
With respect to parents and grandparents, our third key area, we wish to recommend that Canada retain and improve the parent and grandparent sponsorship program, taking into account the value of economic, social, and cultural contributions of parents and grandparents. This can be done by facilitating immigration by parents and grandparents based on a holistic view of Canadian families and communities, taking into account the benefits of intergenerational families, including child care and financial support.
We recommend eliminating backlogs and reducing processing times to provide certainty for Canadian families and access to the benefits provided by parents and grandparents.
Those are our key points. I thank you for hearing us this afternoon, and we would welcome any questions you have.