Debates of May 24th, 2018

Department of Citizenship and Immigration—Main Estimates, 2018-19

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Chair, that was not my question. My question was, how many Iranian nationals are stuck in the system and faced with 300 to 1,200% delays in their permanent resident applications?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Madam Chair, it is not uncommon for permanent resident applications to be delayed by security screening when the latter is affected by the complexity of the case, the delay in which the applicant provides the necessary information, and the overall volume of security screening applications.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Chair, the minister either does not know the answer or he is not answering. I asked how many people are stuck in the system. The average processing time is six months, and for Iranian nationals it is 18 months. Do the math.

In every single stream there are extraordinary delays. Therefore, how many people are stuck in the system across the country?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Madam Chair, the officials from the IRCC as well as Public Safety have met with the Iranian Canadian Congress, as well as other community representatives, on this issue. They have committed to working with the community to address their concerns and are engaged in working together with the community to process the applications efficiently.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Chair, so the minister does not know how much money is being spent by his government to fight a court case on the constitutionality of the safe third country agreement. He does not know how many people are stuck in the system, because he will not or cannot provide the answer. I am not quite sure exactly what the minister does know.

Now he says that they are doing something about this. How much longer do they have to wait?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Madam Chair, the hon. member clearly knows that I am not the Minister of Public Safety and that security screening is done by the Department of Public Safety.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Chair, that is right.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Madam Chair, I would encourage the hon. member to follow up with my colleague, the Minister of Public Safety, who is responsible for security screening. Having said that, officials from my department, as well as Public Safety officials, have met with the Iranian Canadian Congress to address this issue.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Chair, what I do clearly know is that the minister is supposed to work across government to get these cases moving. The minister himself has acknowledged there is a problem, yet he does not know how many permanent resident applications are stuck in the system in his ministry and are not getting through. He does not know how much longer the applicants have to wait.

The government says that it actually wants this talent here in Canada to support innovation and the economy, yet the minister cannot answer basic questions. I am not quite sure exactly what questions the minister can answer.

Now I want to ask the minister this. Aside from Iranians, we have caregivers who are also stuck in the system. In fact, some of them have now been stuck in the system for 10 years. These are particularly the individuals with have a spouse, who may have been involved with the military at some point, or the police or the correctional system, but they have been in the system for 10 years. Does that sound reasonable to the minister, for someone to have to wait for more than 10 years to reunite with their family?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Madam Chair, the member opposite is absolutely right. We value the invaluable services that caregivers provide to Canadian families. We care about the plight of caregivers. For us, caregivers are important to our Canadian economy and provide invaluable services to Canadian families. That is why we have prioritized the work that needed to be done and the extra resources that needed to be put in place to reduce the backlog in live-in caregiver programs and family reunification.

We have also reduced the processing time for live-in caregiver programs and family reunification from five to seven years under the previous Harper Conservatives to 12 months. I have made a commitment to the caregiver community that we will eliminate the remaining cases in the backlog by the end of 2018. Caregivers are an important segment of our population. They provide an invaluable service and we want to reunite them with their family members.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Chair, if I am right, then the minister needs to do something. Let me just put this on the record. Roselie Dael arrived in November 2010 and is still waiting. Mercelina Domingo arrived in February 2011 and is still waiting. Wilma Dulin arrived in August 2011 and is still waiting. Gloria Ancheta arrived in September 2011 and is still waiting. The list goes on and on.

I actually have a spreadsheet of people who have been waiting, and they have been waiting for more than 10 years to reunite with their family members. This is not right. I would ask the minister to get on with it and to fix the system.

On family reunification, which the minister likes to speak so well of, I would like to know how many people's applications in the parents and grandparents stream have been approved through this year's lottery?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Madam Chair, we are very proud of our record with respect to caregivers. We inherited a system in which caregivers were waiting five to seven years to reunite with their family members. We engaged with the community. We promised them that we would work on this issue. We put resources and a tighter team in place to ensure that we reduced processing times from between five and seven years to 12 months. We reduced the backlog in the live-in caregiver program by 63%.

For the remaining cases in the live-in caregiver program, we have committed to the community that we will eliminate the remainder of the cases in that program by the end of 2018. In addition to that, I have committed publicly in the media, as well as to the caregiver community, that as a government we will always maintain pathways to permanent residency for caregivers in Canada.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Chair, the government can congratulate itself all it wants, but the truth of the matter is that those families who have been waiting for years and years to reunite with their families are not congratulating the government because they are still waiting. The names that I read off are not fictitious but real names. By the way, l have a whole spreadsheet of them from across the country.

To the government House leader, maybe she should take that under advisement and figure it out for her constituents to make sure they get processed accordingly.

I ask the minister how many applicants were submitted in the parents and grandparents lottery this year?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Madam Chair, under the parent and grandparent program, we inherited a system that had only 5,000 applications. We promised Canadians that we would double that number once we formed government, and we kept that promise, going from 5,000 to 10,000 applicants.

We also inherited a system that was very unfair and not based on a random selection process that treated everyone equally. We have introduced a random selection process that now treats everyone equally. We kept our promise to double the numbers and the system is ongoing. Selected potential sponsors have until May 25, 2018 to submit their complete applications to sponsor their parents and grandparents.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Chair, how many applications has the government received to date?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Madam Chair, in response to the launch of the 2018 program, after the removal of duplicates, the department has received approximately 23,836 interest-to-sponsor submissions. Out of these, 10,000 complete applications will be selected.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Chair, how many full applications have been received?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Madam Chair, as the member opposite knows, we receive interest-to-sponsor submissions. We then eliminate any duplicates. We then make sure that we have selected potential sponsors and out of that we will have 10,000 complete applications.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Chair, in the first year the government did this, 500 application spots were left open. That is to say, only 9,500 full applications were received and 500 spots were lost. Will the minister commit to using in this year's quota those 500 spots that were not used in the first year that the Liberals implemented the lottery system

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Madam Chair, we are in the month of May 2018, and so far, 8,600 complete applications have been received. That is a very good track record so far, and I am very confident that with the work that we are proceeding with in respect to parent and grandparent applications, we will receive 10,000 complete applications way before the end of 2018.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Chair, for last year, when the government first started this, 500 spots were lost because the government did not receive the full applications. That is 500 families that have been waiting and waiting to be reunited through the parents and grandparents stream.

My question for the minister is fairly straightforward. Will he use those 500 lost spots from the previous year and apply them to this year's quota in addition to the 10,000?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Madam Chair, we inherited a system that only had 5,000 spots in the parent and grandparent program. We promised Canadians we would double that number. We have kept that promise. We also promised Canadians that we would introduce a much fairer system of random selection, which we have. So far, we have received 8,600 complete applications, and it is not even June of this year. By the end of the year, I am confident we will receive 10,000 complete applications.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Chair, the minister will not answer my question. What that tells me is those 500 spots will not be utilized. Those 500 spots are families that have been waiting for years to try to be reunited with their family members. They will not be able to do so because 500 spots have been lost.

The minister will say that they are doing a great job on this. Let me be clear. The lottery system is the only stream where family reunification, getting loved ones together, is based on a lottery. They literally have to win a lottery to reunite with their family. Does that sound right to the minister?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Madam Chair, the member opposite knows that under the previous system if one person was willing to spend a lot of money compared to the next person, he or she had a better chance of getting selected. If one person lived closer to the processing centre than the next person, he or she had a better chance of getting selected. That was not a fair system.

We introduced a system that treats everyone equally, which is in line with what Canadians expect of us. We also doubled the number of parents and grandparents. Applications received in 2015 and 2016 are in process. We will ensure we eliminate those folks from the backlog, and parents and grandparents levels will actually increase in 2019 and 2020.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Chair, the old system was not fair. This system is not fair either. I cannot believe the minister would actually think reuniting with one's parents or grandparents based on a lottery is a fair system. No other stream in immigration in Canada is reliant on the lottery, the luck of the draw. That is what it is reduced to, and somehow the minister is proud of that. I am not.

My question for the minister is with respect to the 500 spots lost. The minister will not answer this question. He promised 10,000. The first year he implemented the lottery he lost 500 spots. Will he make up for those 500 spots that have been lost?