Mr. Speaker, I would think that each of us has a significant number of constituents who come to us asking for help with immigration cases. I know I do in Vancouver East. I would say that around 60%, 70%, maybe even 80% of my caseload is about immigration. As the critic, I often get cases from all over the place. In fact, just now my constituency assistant sent me another email to say that 13 people came into the office asking for help on an LGBTQ issue for someone who is being persecuted. The application is in process but is being delayed and delayed. Each moment the application is delayed, that person's life is further at risk. This is happening a lot.
We all know that this is a non-partisan thing. We need to make sure that the integrity of our immigration system is intact. The government refuses to acknowledge the chair of the IRB coming forward to the minister to say that we need resources so we do not have backlogs occurring in our system. Right now we have a backlog of 24,000 cases and are adding another 1,000 cases each month. If the Liberals do not think that is a problem, they have another thing coming. The minister said we would deal with it with efficiency. The IRB is trying to deal with it with efficiency, but it will not be enough, and the chair said explicitly that it will not be enough. The IRB needs resources to deal with it. When the government chooses to ignore the situation and stick its head in the sand and say that there is no problem, it undermines the integrity of the entire system. That is not good for anyone. That is not what we want here in Canada.
For those who are in dire situations, their lives in limbo and at risk, it is life or death for them. We can do better. Canada and the Prime Minister say that we want to welcome refugees, “welcome to Canada.” They should match those words to action. That is all I ask for.