Mr. Speaker, many new citizens come to my office in Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie and say that they want to invite members of their family to come visit them in Canada.
These individuals want to share milestones in their lives, such as a marriage, a birth or other more tragic events, with the members of their family who are still living in their country of origin. Unfortunately, when those family members are citizens of a country for which a visa is required, the whole process becomes an administrative nightmare.
Many of these new Canadian citizens find the process confusing, which shows that there is a blatant lack of resources available to them. The process is not transparent, applications are systematically denied and the applicants are left disappointed.
Vague and ridiculous criteria are used to discriminate against certain cases, such as the family's travel outside the country prior to the application, for example. These people feel that they are being discriminated against, and that the Conservatives consider them second-class citizens.
I therefore join them in calling for change to ensure that from now on all citizens are treated equally.