Thank you very much.
First of all, I really appreciate being here and being able to participate in your committee's discussions.
I will share some observations regarding the costs and impacts of delays and backlogs on specific categories, based on my research, and I have a few suggestions for potential solutions.
Regarding costs and impacts of delays when it comes to economic immigrants, I have heard of the uncertainties that delays have caused to applicants and their families, who may be unable to make essential decisions regarding important life matters, including their jobs, careers, investments, family and health, with potentially detrimental impacts as well as lost opportunities.
Sometimes applicants have secured a job in Canada, and both they and their employer are left in limbo with the risk to the applicant of losing their job and to the employer of facing the consequences of labour shortages.
Meanwhile, applicants who are given a timeline for when they will receive a response or their permit are led to develop expectations and sometimes even to organize and prepare for their arrival to Canada by, for example, by selling their assets and giving notice at their jobs. If delays occur, these applicants and their families then face untenable situations, such as not having a home or not having an income, as we saw in the first year of the pandemic when international borders limited the possibilities for travel. It's also not uncommon for applicants to have to redo the medical exams once, twice or more times at their own cost, given that the results of medical exams are valid only for a limited period, typically around six months.
In particular, my research focuses on francophone immigration and minority contacts. Francophone applicants seem to be facing these challenges at higher rates, as seen recently from a petition signed by 700 francophone immigrants who applied to the provincial nominee program and had received provincial approval but whose files were then unduly delayed. They claimed there were inequities in the way application files were treated. They were in communication with English-speaking provincial candidates, and their files seemed to be moving faster.
With regard to family reunification, in my research I've heard numerous accounts of delays specifically for reunification of spouses and children, with wait times of two years or more. The separation creates uncertainty and tremendous costs for these families who often also have to redo the medical exams, as mentioned previously.
Also, in the case of refugees who have been admitted to Canada and wish to sponsor immediate or extended family members who remain in refugee camps and conflict zones, the delays are tremendous. These individuals undergo significant stress because they are concerned about the well-being of their loved ones, especially children, which as a result means they can't fully focus or invest in their own settlement and integration here in Canada, which further delays their own well-being.
Lastly, with regard to private sponsorship groups, we heard, including during the Syrian refugee resettlement initiative, of the cost that sponsors incurred when they had found housing for the family they were going to receive, and the family didn't come. There were delays and they were left paying rent, for example, for empty apartments, depleting the funds they had prepared.
In terms of recommendations, I'll focus on two ideas that we can discuss further.
The first is regarding francophone immigration. Rather than creating a francophone stream within existing dominant mainstream immigration categories such as express entry or the provincial nominee program, it may be time to consider creating a separate immigration policy or category that is specifically designed for French-speaking immigrants, given that the government and francophone institutions have determined that francophone immigration is a priority for the vitality of francophone communities, and the selection criteria could therefore be different from the mainstream.
The second is for family reunification. It is time to consider modernizing and facilitating or simplifying the process to accelerate processing times to avoid undue strain on families who remain separated for so long.
Thank you.