Thank you, Mr. Hallan.
I think I've already touched on the problems that we're currently facing as a country overall.
Canada is an immigration-friendly country. When I say that, it means we pride ourselves on being one of the best countries attracting immigrants from all across the world. However, this pandemic has shown that we are not ready for it, unfortunately. Family members are not being united with each other. There was the complete seizure and close-down of offices around the world. Visa centres closed down. The Immigration and Refugee Board, for the time being, was on a halt. Our system was completely shut down.
These problems may come again in our lifetime and we should be ready for them. We have no excuse not to be ready for them. I think what this committee and the government can do is to implement planning that can, in the future, avoid such types of issues. For example, I had spoken about the triage system. We can fast-track some applications and we can put some applications through the normal process. Obviously, we should reopen all visa centres across the globe and make sure that health and safety is a priority there.
Also, spousal application interviews can be held by webcam, the same way as we are currently conducting those meetings. We can certainly have online submissions of packages. We're still sending paper-based applications. This is so twentieth century. I think we can move with the times, and online submissions can take place for spousal applications as well.
I could certainly go on and on about it, but I'm mindful of the time of this committee.