Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think part of the problem is we're bringing in very large numbers. If you're bringing in large numbers, it's not going to be possible to process them quickly. I lived in an age in the 1980s, when I was in charge of immigration. We had immigration officers abroad. They were usu

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Can I add a postscript to that? The figures I gave you are pretty solid figures—they come from the department and they come from private economists—but probably the best study I could recommend for the committee is one that has been done by a colleague of mine, Martin Collacott

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I'm happy to have the opportunity to speak to the committee. I'm going to be as brief as I can, and get right to the point. I think the real problem with family class is not, of course, with spouses and dependent children. It's with parents an

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I haven't noticed any changes at all, but it has been a short period of time, and we won't know the changes, if there are any. I'm not objecting to the idea that many people who come here can be eligible to apply in the three years, but generally speaking that's not the case.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I've always felt that five years should be the minimum number of years of residence before people are qualified to apply for citizenship. A five-year period seems to be, I would guess, the average of most other countries. Switzerland and Germany require eight years, and some coun

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The first change in the Citizenship Act came in the 1970s, when the domicile requirement was reduced basically to three years. Bill C-24 extended that. I didn't think it extended it quite long enough. I still would have preferred five years, but I think if you value your citizens

Citizenship and Immigration committee  —and we shouldn't do that, in my view. Five years is time enough for people who have come here. Let's take the 25,000 refugees who have come from Syria—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Very few of them speak the language...sorry—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  This is a 2014 report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service in which they make that statement.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I don't remember saying that it is what undermined the charter. I have argued, indeed before this committee, that all immigrants should be interviewed before coming to Canada. All immigrants used to be, but now in the digital age, people can submit their application. It's forwa

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm just saying that this system is inherently set up to have three classes. It's not set up to have 15 or 20, and I wouldn't suggest it should be. The point is that if you're a natural-born citizen it's not a question of choice. It's an accident and if you become a naturalized c

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I wouldn't other than to say that the Canadian Bar Association speaks for the lawyers who belong to the association, but many lawyers who also belong to the association would perhaps disagree with their association's presentation, or at least would have some doubt as to whether t

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No. I was aware that the Canadian Bar Association expressed concern that it might not comply with the charter, but as far as I know, it does comply with the charter. I'm not sure if it's been tested, but certainly, the Department of Justice officials would have looked into that v

Citizenship and Immigration committee  —saying that it was conducive to the public interest. Finally, there's a 2014 government report—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  —that CSIS is aware, or their security forces are aware, of 130 Canadians abroad who are associated with ISIS and other terrorist groups: 80 have come back.