Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm not aware of all the precedents, but it's up to Parliament to legislate. We, the officials, are there to implement the law faithfully, as the expression goes. My understanding of the proposed amendment Is that the conditional wording pertains to the applicant's request. That

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Here's what would change. The committee provided statistics that were obtained for the 2022 year—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Madam Chair, I don't currently have statistics before me on the number of requests for accommodation on compassionate grounds. I would have to check what data the department has and provide what is available to this committee at the earliest opportunity. Thank you.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Guidelines would indeed be necessary for the people who would be reviewing applications, in order to give them parameters and prevent any arbitrary application of this provision. We need to ask whether compassionate grounds might include instances in which certain people need fl

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Definitely. That's right.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, we have a long way to go.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Madam Chair, as in my response to another member of this committee moments ago, I would reiterate that those who are benefiting from this bill are generally receiving citizenship automatically by operation of law, so they are not required to go through a citizenship ceremony. Tha

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. The member is correct. The proposed amendment would require an assessment by the department and resources to put behind that, and that would potentially have an impact. It would certainly have an operational impact, and it could have an impact on processi

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I fully agree with it, because the people affected by this bill will not have to go through a ceremony. The debate we are having does not affect lost Canadians or their children, who would benefit much more from the other amendments that were adopted by the committee.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Madam Chair, prior to the pandemic, when ceremonies were in person and when there were not virtual options, people did have to travel in, depending on their location and circumstances, and on where the ceremony was being offered. That may still be the circumstance today, althou

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Madam Chair, normally for a regulatory process that takes about a year to 18 months, we would have the responsibility to prepare the regulatory package for final publication some time after the summer recess. Those would be typical timelines. I can't say for certain on this parti

Citizenship and Immigration committee  At the department, we are very cognizant of the fact that lost Canadians, as has been pointed out repeatedly by several members of the committee, are very eager to see this bill move forward so that they can gain or regain their citizenship. As government officials, we always an

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I don't want to comment on what might or might not happen following an election. But I would simply like to remind everyone that Parliament can always legislate in one way or another.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. As was mentioned previously, this was a regulatory proposal that was put out for public consultation. The public did provide various comments. As part of the regulatory process, the department will compile those comments and prepare the public summary tha

Citizenship and Immigration committee  As was mentioned, prior to the pandemic, ceremonies were all done in person. It was only during the pandemic that the additional option of virtual ceremonies was added. As was mentioned during the previous session, now we have a combination. For those participating online, where