Thank you for the question.
As mentioned, the department has undertaken a number of modernization measures over the last couple of years. We have brought applications online. We conduct online tests and online citizenship ceremonies, as has been mentioned. Resources have been added and significant progress has been made to reduce inventories and processing times. In the grant of citizenship business line, there is still more work to be done, and the department is working hard to continue to improve its service to citizenship applicants, though, as I mentioned, we had record grants of citizenship last year.
Where the bill is extending citizenship automatically to some under the bill as drafted, those applications would be instead for a proof of Canadian citizenship, which is the smaller business line, if I could put it that way, because the grant business line for newcomers, for immigrants to Canada, is a much larger one. As I mentioned, we had 374,000 new citizens last year. The grant business line is more in the tens of thousands by comparison, and those who, under the bill, may wish to come forward and have evidence of their Canadian citizenship would need to apply for what's called a “proof of citizenship”. The department would undertake the necessary implementation preparations to be able to issue those if Parliament passes the bill and we then are called upon to implement it.