Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her good question. Supporting francophone immigration is a priority for our government and for me, and I am proud to say that we are launching an improved version of this program. The new program will make it easier to hire fra

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, I am proud of what our government has done for refugees. We have accepted four times as many refugees as the previous government. We have accepted more than 25,000 Syrian refugees. We will be accepting a total of 44 refugees. A total of 99% have already found perman

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, we have said, and I will say again, that language training is key to success. We have committed $600 million to resettlement in 2016-17 and an additional $37 million for Syrian refugees. There has been no cut. There is a three-year rolling average, where provinces th

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, if the government wanted to send somebody somewhere for a photo op, I suspect there are people in this aisle it would probably send before it sent me.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, we will put to one side the reason people were laughing. I think it was perhaps because they thought I was funny. However, in answer to the member's question, we do not consider anything to do with our resources for refugees to be amusing. I mentioned just a minute

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, we certainly have a comprehensive plan to provide language training, because we understand that success in English or French is key to finding a job and key to success in Canada. That is why the government has funded $600 million for settlement in 2016-17. That is $2

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, we are working very hard through our funding to provide language training to men, to women, and to children. We also understand that many of the Syrian refugee mothers have significant numbers of children to look after, and therefore they need child care facilities t

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, far from cutting this program, we cherish the program. The processing times have been coming down over time. As the population ages, older people like my mother, who takes advantage of a Filipino caregiver, will increasingly benefit from the system. As the populatio

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, as I was trying to explain, this is an excellent program that serves Canadians well, both the parents of young children who need care and older Canadians who need care as well. As our population ages, this need for care will accelerate, so more Canadians will be th

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, as we know, many Canadians who have tight budgets use food banks. I have stated that my comments on that issue were insensitive. I regret them. I repeat that in the House. I would also say that by my actions, I think I have shown myself unequivocally welcoming to al

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, in response to the hon. member's question, I certainly do not think he is suggesting we have displayed an indifference toward refugees in general. That has been one of our major commitments. We are also highly aware of the situation of refugees in other countries,

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, I am proud, as a Canadian, of the overwhelmingly positive welcome Canadians have afforded to the Syrian refugees. The downside is, to be frank, the welcome has been so enormous that my department has not been able to keep up with the number of refugees generous Canad

Citizenship Act  moved that the bill be concurred in.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, I would question the premise of that question, but we will certainly look into it. On the whole, we have had great success working with provincial governments on the refugees. I can tell the hon. member that, as of today, 98% of the refugees are in permanent housing

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, juxtaposed with all the benefits I have mentioned, there are also concerns which my colleague has identified. I can assure her that we are in consultation with my colleague at public safety, with members of the Mexican government, to ensure that all the apparatus at