Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'd like to give notice of the following motion, which my office will make available to the clerk:
That Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada table in both English and French with the committee, until further notice, the previous month's number of people entering Canada through non-official points of entry who claim asylum, not later than the 5th of the month succeeding the data.
Thank you.
I have a number of questions I'd like to proceed with for Ms. Dench today. I'll get right into them.
Ms. Dench, after reviewing the statistics on the Immigration and Refugee Board's website, their most up-to-date data has 13,389 pending asylum claims from irregular border crossers. We know that the number will rise drastically, as the RCMP has already intercepted 23,358 individuals as of August 2022. It's also clear that we're on track for over 30,000 irregular border crossers for this year. Is the Immigration and Refugee Board prepared to process this dramatic increase in asylum claims so people aren't waiting for years to get either a yes or a no?