We have unanimous consent to proceed. We will have the opening remarks by the minister, and then we will suspend the meeting for a few minutes.
Members and witnesses may speak in the official language of their choice. Interpretation services are available for this meeting. You have the choice, at the bottom of your screen, of floor, English or French. If interpretation is lost, please inform me immediately, and we will ensure interpretation is properly restored before resuming the proceedings. The “raise hand” feature at the bottom of the screen can be used at any time if you wish to speak or alert the chair.
Today we are here to receive a briefing on current and projected processing timelines and acceptance rates at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
I would like to welcome the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. Welcome, Minister, and thanks for appearing before the committee.
He is joined by IRCC officials Marian Campbell Jarvis, senior assistant deputy minister, strategic and program policy; and Daniel Mills, senior assistant deputy minister, operations.
I would like to make a few comments for the benefit of all the witnesses.
Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. When you are ready to speak, you can click on the microphone icon to activate your mike. As a reminder, all comments should be addressed through the chair. Interpretation in this video conference will work very much like in a regular meeting. When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you are not speaking, your mike should be on mute.
Witnesses will have five minutes for opening remarks. During the rounds of questioning, I will raise coloured time cards to the screen to indicate when one minute is left. We'll be using a one-minute card, a 30-second card, and a stop sign. I hope everyone takes due consideration of this.
With that, I would like to welcome Minister Fraser, who will begin our discussions with five minutes of opening remarks.
Minister, the floor is yours. You can begin, please.