All opposition party members have made a public appeal to the newly appointed immigration minister Sean Fraser about the faulty immigration system and the setbacks concerning it.
Conservative Party representative, Jasraj Singh Hallan, and New Democratic Party’s Jenny Kwan are designated as the minster of shadow in the department of immigration. They check the power of the government and question the authorities. There is a standing Committee of immigration that includes both these ministers. The Standing Committee contains the population from the different political parties across the Canadian Parliament. It is also overhead of the IRCC, the immigration department of Canada.
The present Immigration Minister, Sean Fraser is a liberal party member and also a part of the minority power in the government.
In a four-page letter to the immigration minister, Kwan has listed a few points that discuss concerns regarding immigration and how it can be better.
Firstly, she talks about the setbacks that originated due to the pandemic. The previous minister Mendicino had promised remarkable changes that would definitely change the face of the Canadian immigration system and make it more modern and sophisticated. Kwan stated that this modernization could take five years and even more and as a result, the families who are waiting to immigrate have been kept on hold. This is also resulting in slow economic immigration. Canada is lacking a labor force. There is another problem that has been noted down is that the people who had applied for immigration a long time ago are still stalled, while the more recent ones have been ahead in the process of immigration.
Moreover, last year’s backlogs can take up to three years to be completed, according to Kwan. The applications of TR Temporary Residents and Canada Permanent Residents will be thought upon so that it reaches its goal set as targets for immigration 2021. This may also mean that people who had applied for a permanent residency long ago may have to wait for a longer period.
The letter Kwan has sent enquires about the detailed information of the current state of backlogs and the detailed timeline prepared by the Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada to go through the immigration process.
The letter also demands a more transparent method by Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada that will enable the potential waiting immigrants to check back and know their application status immediately.
She recommended Fraser check the study of how the immigration system was affected by COVID-19, and seek answers from it.
There was another issue regarding the COPR. The documents of the COPR expire during the travel restriction and Kwan says that there must be an automatic renew system that would help IRCC to finish off backlogs.
Another suggestion to the immigration minister, Sean Fraser was that the immigration department should launch more programs for temporary and permanent residents and regularize the undocumented immigrants who are already residing in Canada.
Concluding the letter, Kwan highlighted the Afghan crisis and said that Canada can make efforts to better support the community refugees especially from Afghanistan. She also stated the Hong Kong scenario and the immigration applicants on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. She wants that Canada is the home to many refugees and the Safe Third World Country Agreement with the United States to be finished.
On the other hand, Hallan pointed out that previously when Mendicino was the immigration minister, the liberals had made a promise to support 40,000 refugees from Afghanistan and bring them to Canada as refugees. IRCC formulated two pathways from refugees’ immigration and included the ones from Afghan who were helped by Canadian forces. Canada also supported weak sections of the society that had run away from Afghanistan post-crisis.
It was also pointed out that the Afghan nationals who interacted with Hallan said that IRCC has not communicated to them properly or continuously. They have tried contacting the department and the contact of the few sources that were given to them but every time they take their case forward, there is no response from the authorities. There are no updates on the application status moreover there is no official to talk to. It shows that the IRCC is not paying heed in quickly solving the Afghan crisis.
The letter also covered the data breach concerning 200 Afghans looking for refuge. With time the Afghans are experiencing a dangerous situation. Hallan calls out to Fraser saying “put partisanship aside, develop real plan and timeline” about the Afghan refugees, and ended the letter with that.
