Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Oct. 7th, 2022

Evidence of meeting #34 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was witnesses.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Application Backlogs and Processing Times

Committee Business

MPs speaking

Salma Zahid

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe

Also speaking

Clerk of the Committee Ms. Stephanie Bond

Michel Leblanc President and Chief Executive Officer, Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal

Irena Sompaseuth Settlement Services Manager, LUSO Community Services

Stéphanie Valois Lawyer and President, Quebec Immigration Lawyers Association

Krishna Gagné Lawyer and Vice-President for Economic Affairs, Quebec Immigration Lawyers Association

Dory Jade Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants

Rudy Ovcjak Director, Office for Refugees, Archdiocese of Toronto

3 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

Could the government not have two parallel processes to ensure that those in the backlog are being targeted as well and, given the urgency of the current situation, that they also have another stream to do it? It's not robbing Peter to pay Paul, but having two parallel processes in place to address both the backlog and new applications.

3 p.m.

Director, Office for Refugees, Archdiocese of Toronto

Deacon Rudy Ovcjak

That's a brilliant approach, and I think it would be one that I would absolutely support. Again, that kind of goes back to the point that, if you're going to set extraordinary targets, additional resources need to be deployed and provided for that additional stream.

3:05 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

Thank you very much.

I have the same question for Mr. Jade.

3:05 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants

Dory Jade

In answer to this, we have proposed non-regulatory options, and this is why. If you look at the backlog, there are different sections. While refugees are very important, it is not the largest group. Reducing the largest group, the largest number of applications, which is temporary residents, would lead to resources being available for other streams, like permanent residency, including refugees. This is exactly what we proposed to the government and to IRCC. The fact that you reduce the backlog of temporary files will allow you more space. It's like a big machine that needs to move forward.

3:05 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

Because there are different streams, sometimes for the government to conflate one stream with another doesn't make sense either. Therefore, should the government not ensure that there are adequate resources, both in staffing and in immigration levels, in place for each of the different streams? Otherwise there'll always be a stream left behind—

3:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid

I'm sorry for interrupting, but time is up.

With that, our panel comes to an end.

On behalf of all the members of the committee, I really want to thank the witnesses for appearing before this committee on a Friday afternoon and providing important information. If there is anything you would like to bring to the notice of the members, you can send a written submission, and we will take it into consideration when we are drafting the report.

I want to let members know that our next meeting will take place on Tuesday, October 18. We will have one panel on the application processing times and backlogs. We will then have our subcommittee meeting following at 4:30.

With that, I want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. I hope all of you will be able to spend some time with your families, be thankful for all the blessings we have and think about those who need a little extra hand.

Thank you to our staff, who are always there to provide us support. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving with your families.

The meeting is adjourned.