Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, exactly.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would say that, obviously, digital offers the opportunity to do things much more quickly and efficiently, but we haven't necessarily seen that paying off. Instead, what we've seen is that more and more, the applicants have the burden of doing all the paperwork, often with onlin

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We believe that we really should suspend the agreement or withdraw from it altogether. We at the Canadian Council for Refugees believe that our withdrawal from or the suspension of the agreement would be of benefit to everyone. Claimants would be able to present themselves in an

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. We find that there is a lot of systemic racism within the department, and it's good news that the department recognizes this. We see some good progress being made through the working group that has been set up within the department. We have been able to have discussions with

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We have made a submission, which is available on our website, and we had a meeting with the department to discuss our submission.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Of course, you'll have to speak to the Immigration and Refugee Board to have a sense of their capacity, but there has been a very welcome increase in capacity at the Immigration and Refugee Board. They have adapted. I think they were one of the institutions that adapted the most

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It was the order in council that was part of the pandemic border ban. It didn't prevent them from making refugee claims, but it directed them back, so people who came up to the border and made a refugee claim at an irregular point were told to return to the U.S. and that they wou

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think that was happening mostly last year. They had some contact information because, when the person came to the border, they took contact information, so they used that information. They also worked through the non-governmental organizations that the CCR brings together under

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Before the pandemic border ban was lifted, they were given individual appointments to return, but at the end of November of last year, when the border ban was lifted, they could choose to come at any time they wanted. I think most of them have either come or are probably not goin

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We have followed the news and the rumours like you have, but we don't have any privileged information. I'll take the opportunity to say that we would hope the government would withdraw from the safe third country agreement, and then there would be no more irregular crossings.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you for the invitation to address the committee as part of your study on application backlogs and processing times. The Canadian Council for Refugees has many concerns about backlogs and processing times, but today I would like to focus on applications for permanent resid

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. The oral hearing is only one part of what is in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to give the framework for hearings before the IRB. We mentioned designated representatives. There's a whole series of articles in the law that deal with refugee hearings before the I

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We'll share the presentation. I'll start.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you. The Canadian Council for Refugees calls on the committee to reject the proposed amendments in their entirety. Changes to the refugee system do not belong in a budget bill. The proposed changes would place many people at increased risk of being sent back to face persec