Mr. Speaker, the minister continues to brush aside legitimate concerns from fed up Canadians and their loved ones, who are rightfully frustrated and exhausted with the spousal sponsorship process.
Here are the facts. As of November 5, 2020, the backlogs numbered more than 50,000 applications for spousal sponsorship. Last month, it was reported the average processing time went up to 17 months for overseas applications compared to 12 months prior to the pandemic.
Every day I hear heart-wrenching stories of Canadians experiencing significant mental, emotional and financial hardships from being separated from their loved ones because of IRCC backlogs and lengthy processing times, and in some cases even leading to suicide.
It is beyond overdue. The minister needs to finally clear the backlogs and bring these loved ones back together again. The government was slow to close borders, slow with the vaccine rollout, slow or non-existent to declaring Uighur genocide and slow to reunite families, all of which are costing lives.