Thank you to the witnesses for appearing this morning, because of course we're not here to prevent people from coming to our country. We would like to welcome people to Canada, yet for all the people who go through the proper procedures and are doing it legitimately, any time there is a case of fraud, or certainly a serious threat to our public security, that endangers the potential for other new Canadians to come here.
I'm trying to get a grip on what the process is like. It sounds to me like it's largely organic. I'd like to understand that a little more. What does a typical application process look like? Is it one agent who is charged with processing the applicant from A to Z? There are problems associated with that; you can have a change of agent where they lose track. The types of stories we hear in our offices are about files being lost or documents being requested but not in a timely manner. That leads not just to frustration but to genuine hardship for people who are trying to come here.
At the same time, I'm not at all an advocate of rushing application processes, so I'm even a little concerned that we went from 2.5 years to less than a year. I don't know if that's the kind of quality improvement we're looking for if people are getting through the cracks.
I'd also like you to address the issue of fraudulent consultants. Maybe some of our security witnesses can deal with that.
Mrs. Biguzs.