Thank you, Madam Chair.
One thing about rural Canada is that it's where we experience high rates of employment. That's where a lot of immigrants are actually relocating to because of the job opportunities that they have in the smaller communities—for example, in rural Saskatchewan. They become vital members of those communities. They're much appreciated, and the work they do is very much respected and, again, appreciated.
However, it still comes back to the fact that you're going to do something this important in their lives over Zoom. Really...? Is that what we're going to do? Is that what we've denigrated the citizenship of a Canadian to be—just click on Zoom and you're done? It needs to be more. This isn't good enough. This amendment speaks directly to that. Why would you be so heartless and not give them a chance to actually be at and experience a proper presentation of that citizenship? Why would you sit there and say, “Good enough. Zoom is good enough”?
Then you put them into rural Saskatchewan where they may not have Internet access or may have very limited Internet access, so they're halfway through the ceremony and all of a sudden it cuts out. Are they half citizens or full citizens? It's not Ottawa. It's not Toronto. It's not downtown Vancouver. There are some real reality problems with this proposal of doing it over Zoom. I just think it's impersonal. I just think it's wrong. I think it's unimaginable that we think this is a good idea. Why would we go down this path? I just don't understand what we're trying to save or do here. It just seems ridiculous to me.
Hopefully I will see some consensus around this table, just out of common decency and the understanding of the types of people we're bringing into this country—the really, really good people coming into rural parts of our country. Let's give them a proper citizenship ceremony. I'm sorry, but Zoom doesn't cut it. Teams doesn't cut it. You have to be face to face.
Thank you, Madam Chair.