Once and for all get rid of the lottery system and just let people apply, just like with any other stream, and get rid of the quota. Then start putting in the resources that are needed to process the applications. What happened in the past—and this was used by the previous government as an excuse to introduce the quota system—is that there were very many applications and it created a backlog when they were not being processed in a timely manner. We only had a backlog because the government was not spending the resources to process these cases, as we do for other types of applications, including spousal applications or independent applications.
I think there should be equitable distribution of resources among the different types of immigration categories. Even within the category of family class there should be equitable resources.
I remember years ago appearing before a standing committee during a different government, during a different time. I was asked whether I should choose between my husband or my father, and which one is more important to me. I tried to explain that I could not choose because they were equally important. I wasn't even married at the time, and I'm still not married.
In our culture, father and husband, spouse, are equally important. I think that's the problem with the current system. It assigns more weight to a spouse than to a parent because it fits more into the western nuclear family model. With more and more people, racialized people in particular from different cultures, we can no longer make that assumption. The only fair and equitable way is to treat all family immigration the same.