Good afternoon, everybody. I call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number 37 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.
I would like to welcome the new members to this committee. We have with us Mr. Maguire, Mr. Kmiec and Ms. Rempel Garner.
Welcome to the immigration and citizenship committee.
Today we will continue our study on application backlogs and processing times.
I would like to welcome the witnesses who are appearing before this committee. All witnesses will have five minutes for their opening remarks, and then we will proceed to a round of questioning.
In our first panel today, we are joined by Elizabeth Long, a barrister and solicitor for Long Mangalji LLP; Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees; and Mary Roman, executive director of the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization.
Welcome to this committee. Each of you will have five minutes for your opening remarks, and then we will go into our round of questioning.
We will start with Ms. Long.
Ms. Long, please begin. You will have five minutes for your opening remarks.