Information & Ethics committee  It's a fair question. Increasingly, IRCC has stopped communicating with applicants. Delays in applications reach years now, because there's a an application backlog of 2.5 million. Oftentimes, the only way to get a sense of why there's a delay is to file an ATIP. As a matter o

Information & Ethics committee  I would say yes. Unhappy applicants file ATIP requests to understand what went wrong.

Information & Ethics committee  Currently IRCC has gone through a systematic revamp of their applications in making everything digital first. At the same time, the information that applicants are seeking is digital. It's stored in the GCMS, IRCC's database. In many cases, the GCMS notes are pre-flagged for whet

Information & Ethics committee  No.

Information & Ethics committee  To put a couple of numbers together for you, for the end of 2023, IRCC is projected to receive 223,000 ATIP requests. Of those, it's projected by the OIC that about 6,000 will result in ATIP complaints. Similarly, IRCC's office itself predicts that if 20% of all eligible applican

Information & Ethics committee  I would reiterate the same recommendation I've done: a strong time limit on the length of an extension that can be imposed and, quite honestly, the proactive release of reasons for refusal to applicants when they are rejected in their immigration applications.

Information & Ethics committee  To my knowledge, CILA was not invited to those consultations. Again, we're also straying outside my area of expertise.

Information & Ethics committee  From a perspective of IRCC as it applies to immigration applicants, it's less sabotage and more complacency.

Information & Ethics committee  If the goal is achievable from an immigration end, the increase in immigration will result in an increase of application refusals, which will result in an increase of ATIP requests and then an increase of complaints to the Information Commissioner. If the committee is looking to

Information & Ethics committee  You can go through IRCC and you will be waiting months. When the deadline to challenge your refusal is 15 days or 60 days, you're waiting beyond the time you can take to challenge an unjustified refusal.

Information & Ethics committee  I will clarify that for asylum seekers it is very different. When they have their hearing at the Immigration and Refugee Board, the IRB will provide reasons. For immigration applications, it's primarily outside-of-Canada applicants, such as visas, work permits and study permits,

Information & Ethics committee  I'd like to clarify that point. When applicants are refused, they're not refused access to their records in ATIP; they're refused their immigration applications. They're seeking the reasons for refusal. The reason immigration applicants are going to the Federal Court is that th

Information & Ethics committee  The status quo is unacceptable.

Information & Ethics committee  For immigration applicants, the importance cannot be overstated. To do a credible, robust, complete immigration application requires a full understanding of everything you have submitted and everything that is happening to your application as it moves through the process.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.