Thank you, Madam Chair.
The member is correct. The proposed amendment would require an assessment by the department and resources to put behind that, and that would potentially have an impact. It would certainly have an operational impact, and it could have an impact on processing times.
I'd like to also take this opportunity to note that the term “compassionate grounds” is not defined. I'm quite open with people who know me that I'm a cancer survivor. In 2016, I was extremely ill for a period of a year. I went through cancer treatment and was functionally disabled. During that time, I would not have been able to make it to an in-person ceremony, or even a virtual one, because I wouldn't have felt very dignified sitting up in a hospital bed to participate in a virtual ceremony.
The proposal we spoke about earlier—which is a regulatory proposal at this time—that would offer people the opportunity to attend a ceremony, as now, to take their oath, or to take their oath online and celebrate their ceremony at a later date, could account for many compassionate scenarios, including ones where people may be extremely ill and have to go through very taxing treatment. They would still be able to become citizens at the same time as other members of their family without having to go through a laborious decision-making process about whether their individual circumstances and their illness qualify as compassionate circumstances. If, down the line, they feel that they're able to participate in a ceremony at that later date, then that would be possible under that kind of proposal. It's not clear that the proposal that is on the floor for debate would allow that.
Thank you, Madam Chair.