Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Mr. Waldman. Usually I would defer to you, but I think you and I are in agreement. The weighted draw is a very, very simple suggestion. It can be easily implemented. A lottery is a lottery, which means that theoretically someone can apply for five years or 10 years a

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would agree with Mr. Waldman and Mr. Cliche-Rivard. It's low-hanging fruit, in that they're already here. Processing in Canada is relatively unaffected, as opposed to processing in other countries. Prioritize everyone who is here first. I don't know whether the targets can be

Citizenship and Immigration committee  From my point of view, I agree with Mr. Waldman in terms of innovations such as landing via email. You don't need to do that in person. Let's continue that. In terms of refugee notification eligibility, let's have whoever issues eligibility issue the work permit. There's no reaso

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Again, it's common sense. Issue the work permit when there's a determination of eligibility for the refugee claimant inside Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I agree with Mr. Waldman that perhaps an ombudsman is what's required. I don't think MP resources should be utilized to do status checks. With regard to what Mr. Waldman's reference to the court, that's called a mandamus application. Our office probably files about 50 or more ma

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would agree, but only where there's a sponsorship application, so only where you have a permanent resident or a Canadian citizen who is seeking to bring their spouse to Canada. I would not extend that special visa, for example, to the spouses of students or individuals here on

Citizenship and Immigration committee  There have been great strides by IRCC to digitize, so APRs, applications for permanent residence, and express entries are already electronic. As Mr. Waldman said, there are many applications that are not. We've already moved the TRVs, the temporary resident visas, online as well

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I welcome the changes to regulation 179(b). It's interesting. This is kind of like what's old is new again. Many years ago before IRPA, there was something called a fiancé visa. Individuals were able to get engaged and then come to Canada. Perhaps there was some abuse there, a

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, sir. In terms of permanent residency, the challenge is that the express entry or the federal immigration system prioritizes the economic class, and the economic class is restricted, more or less, to the so-called high-skilled individuals. Here, I just want to point ou

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Sir, in the past, pre-2012, there was a pass/fail Canadian experience class, again, restricted to skilled occupations, but the current system could easily be modified. Obviously this committee can't tell the provinces what to do, and different provinces will prioritize what they

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would agree. You have hundreds of thousands of individuals in Canada as temporary foreign workers, irrespective of their NOC codes or skill or low skill. You also have, of course, hundreds of thousands of international students. They are, indeed, low-hanging fruit. That would

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Madam Chair and committee members. It's my pleasure to appear before this committee again and to speak to you regarding the impact of COVID-19 on our immigration system. COVID-19 has caused an unprecedented disruption to our immigration system. It is something complet

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Are you talking about section 91, or the provincial law societies versus the ability to practise immigration law?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  There are provincial nominee programs—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  —and they have their own blacklists, which they actually enforce. For example, the Saskatchewan immigrant nominee program has done that. The provincial nominee programs seem to be far more responsive to this issue.