One of the challenges I have is that we want to increase cultural awareness by having, to the extent possible, locally engaged staff who understand the intricacies of what a person may be dealing with who is applying to come to Canada from a given country.
On the flip side of that coin, establishing a physical presence in every country where I would like to have that expertise could significantly hamper the ability of our department to process people efficiently and effectively, given our ambitious immigration targets. Trying to incorporate people who have that expertise into a more centralized system is a really challenging thing to do.
I think we have a unique opportunity—and this is not informed by years of policy work in the department but something I've been personally thinking on—to use some learning during the pandemic. We can actually be tapping into expertise that exists all over the world without necessarily putting up a new building in Dakar or elsewhere. This would allow us to understand those 16 or so other countries that are serviced from that location without necessarily compromising productivity.
However, I'm not ready to implement a new policy along these lines, because we have to understand what the consequences of an approach like that might be.