Thanks, Madam Chair, and thanks for being here, Minister.
I just wanted to mention that I met with Edward Galabaya in my office last week. He was very thankful about being allowed to stay in Canada. I appreciated your last-minute help, but hopefully in the future your department can respond a bit more quickly in cases like this.
I want to talk about the student direct stream. I wrote to you on December 2 last year about including Bangladesh in the student direct stream. It's proven that this is a much more reliable pathway to increase approval rates for students. It's been three months and I've not heard an answer from you.
The High Commissioner of Bangladesh appeared at this committee in February and implored us to make a recommendation that his country be included in the SDS. You have many Bangladeshis watching these proceedings right now. The high commissioner is very engaged in this. Students in Bangladesh are very interested. They're the brightest and the best that Bangladesh has to offer, and it is willing to share them with us. They bring great benefits to our country.
My question for you is this: Do you support Bangladesh being included in the student direct stream, and will you immediately instruct your officials to make this happen?