Madam Speaker, the hon. member has posed some important questions. Canadian citizenship is valued around the world and every year more and more people ask to join the Canadian family. They want to contribute more fully to our growth as a nation and benefit from the rights and responsibilities that go along with being citizens.
Every year we grant citizenship to nearly 160,000 applicants, after they meet the statutory requirements. Average processing times can vary from one city to the next, but across the country, the majority of applications are completed in 12 months or less.
In Q-3 of this fiscal year, for example, 76% of all applications were completed in a 12 month period or less, while 3% took 15 months or less. Just last month, 636 newcomers from the Ottawa area took an oath of citizenship and are now full Canadians. Through 2003, we granted 5,644 awards of citizenship in the Ottawa area, with 985 awarded in September alone.
That having been said, the Department of Citizenship and Immigration is working on ways to expedite the processing of the increasing number of citizenship applications received every year, particularly by changing its procedures.
This year, the department also obtained additional funds from Treasury Board to respond to the unprecedented increase in the number of applications.
Compared to the same period one year earlier, citizenship applications increased by nearly 40% from October 1, 2002 to September 30, 2003. This bodes well for our future as a country.
However, that kind of increase also creates a strain on existing resources and could further increase processing times unless we take action. We have taken action in the past, we are taking action today, and we will continue to take action to respond to these needs regardless of the timing of an election.
The hon. member from Ottawa West—Nepean said that some individuals did not apply for permanent resident cards on the assumption that their citizenship application would be completed before they were required to travel. I would like to report that as of March 2004 the Department of Citizenship and Immigration produced 996,000 permanent resident cards in just over 20 months and is now issuing approximately 65,000 a month.
We want to provide proper service to newcomers to Canada, while at the same time ensuring that all citizenship applicants meet the requirements set out in the law.
We therefore need to ensure that applicants have no criminal records and represent no security risks, and this we continue to do even as we take steps to maintain processing times. As a result, while providing appropriate service, we are still fulfilling our responsibilities to protect the integrity of Canadian citizenship.
I am pleased to report that the additional funds from Treasury Board are being used to help us in our efforts to maintain the current average processing times of 10 to 12 months in spite of increased applications, while ensuring that each application meets the normal security residency and language requirements for citizenship.