Mr. Speaker, the simple answer to her question is that the processing capacity was increased in the region to compensate for the fact that the office in Damascus was closed, with the offices in Beirut and Amman becoming full-service offices. I can appreciate the anxiety and concern Canadians have for their friends and families in Syria. Officials are working to process family class and privately sponsored refugee applications from Syria as quickly as possible given the difficult operational environment.
Having said that, I am happy to say that almost all spousal sponsorships that were pending have been finalized. For family class cases with compelling circumstances, visa officers are issuing temporary resident visas to allow applicants to come to Canada while their applications are being processed, and permanent resident applications are being processed as expeditiously as possible, while ensuring, of course, security and admissibility checks are performed.