Thank you so much, Madam Chair.
I'll present the opening statement highlighting the issues with the IRCC public policy of December 9, 2021, for the former interpreters' extended family members.
I have a confirmation on timelines. The former chief of staff to the previous minister at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada assured former Canadian Armed Forces interpreters that the public policy would be announced on December 9, 2021, to bring the extended families of former Canadian interpreters to Canada, and that when the applications were received by the intake office at IRCC, the applicants would start receiving UCI and G numbers within a window of 24 to 48 hours.
However, contrary to the promises made by the IRCC, the majority of our former interpreter applicants have not received their UCI and G numbers since the applications were received by the intake office three months ago.
IRCC also promised us that the first batch of arrivals of former interpreters' extended families would begin in the first quarter of 2022 and that they would start arriving within the first three to four months of the year.
We have advised IRCC numerous times about the challenges the former interpreters are facing. Some of the challenges and problems we've shared with IRCC include that the UCI numbers are not fully issued for the group; medical tests in Pakistan have longer than a 30-day wait or delay times; and IRCC has requested the same documentation multiple times, such as schedule A and form 153.
I'll move on to accommodation.
Accommodations are still not provided for the applicants in Pakistan more than 15 days after confirmation of passing eligibility. Due to the current situation in Pakistan, local housing became unaffordable to sustain for long periods of time for the former interpreters' families. A local point of contact should be provided to assist with these questions and with better tracking of who was assisted and who is pending. The IRCC is relying on the IOM—the International Organization for Migration—and Aman Lara to fully coordinate this work without overseeing fully the time frames it has done.
On providing a clear pathway, IRCC should provide a single travel document to travel to Pakistan and to lift medical requirements to be done in Canada upon arrival, as in the other programs that Canada has offered before. It should open discussions with Qatar and Tajikistan to accommodate families of former interpreters temporarily before they're processed to come to Canada.
On the SIM program, IRCC should provide the same level of generosity and services in terms of support upon arrival to Canada for the former interpreters' extended families as has been provided to any other immigrants arriving in Canada, such as the Syrians and Ukrainians.
On eligibility, there are requests to include four to five families in the public policy that was announced on December 9. These families left Afghanistan earlier than July 22, 2021. The policy was updated to limit this program to 5,000 people. However, the concern is that the IRCC did not yet issue all the UCI and G numbers to our applicants, and the program might reach the limit, leaving some people not receiving UCI and G numbers afterwards, as promised to the former interpreters by IRCC.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.