Statement on 2nd anniversary of the death of Mahsa Jina Amini
MP Jenny Kwan Statement on the Federal Government Quietly Offering Settlement to Halt Lawsuits Over Parent Immigration Program
On January 28, the IRCC website opened to accept Interest to Sponsor applications from family members wishing to apply for family reunification under the Parents/Grandparents Program. Within 7 minutes, the application process was shut down. 11 minutes after the application opened, IRCC announced via Twitter that the annual limit had been reached and the application was closed.
The media revealed that a number of individuals who were not able to submit an application to reunite with their loved ones under the parents/grandparents reunification process filled a lawsuit against the government. The Federal Liberal government then quietly settled with the litigants by offering them 70 coveted spots in the parents/grandparents sponsorship program.
The fact that the government quietly offered a side deal to 70 families who threatened to sue the Liberal government is indicative that the process is inherently flawed and unfair. With this side deal, the Minister is effectively telling Canadians that you have to take the government to court to be treated fairly. It should not have come to this. All families want to do is be reunited with their loved ones. They should not have to go through such pain and anguish to be with their parents or grandparents. They certainly should not have to threaten to sue the government. Our process should be one that is open, accountable and fair.
Sadly the Liberal government’s handling of this file has been deplorable from the beginning – whether it’s following the Conservative’s process that allowed people with resources to get in front of the line, or the Liberal’s process based on the luck of the draw lottery system, or this flawed and unfair online system, all have been a miserable failure.
It is time for the Liberals to do what is right: allow families to make their applications in a fair and orderly fashion by lifting the arbitrary cap on family reunification.
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Hill Times: ‘Structural solutions not inflammatory conclusions’ required to fix foreign worker program: Senator Omidvar
NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.), her party’s immigration critic, said the UN report should come as no surprise to the government, as it echoes “what migrant workers and labour advocates have been saying for a very long time.”
NDP MP Jenny Kwan says the power imbalance that leads to abuse is structural to the temporary foreign worker program, not just its low-wage stream. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
“The way the program is set up exposes workers to exploitation and abuse because they’re reliant on their employer to retain their status in Canada,” Kwan explained. “If they face abuse and exploitation and complain about it, they stand to lose their job, and—in the worst-case scenario—they stand to be deported back to their country of origin.”
Kwan said the government has taken a “haphazard approach” to addressing problems with the TFWP to date, focused almost solely on the low-wage stream, but—while misuse of that stream is “particularly deplorable”—she said the root of the problem is structural to the entire program.
“The government has to address the main structural issue, and that is the power imbalance that exists between the temporary foreign worker and the employer,” Kwan said. “The only way to do that is to ensure that the temporary foreign workers actually have landed status on arrival, then they are not dependent on the employer, and would not have to suffer potential abuses and exploitation.”
“It doesn’t matter what stream it is, all the temporary foreign workers programs subject migrant workers to potential exploitation because of that power imbalance,” Kwan said, adding, though, that the NDP supports calls to end the program’s low-wage stream.
While the government and groups like the Canadian Chamber of Commerce may reject the UN rapporteur’s characterization of the program, the recent Senate report found similar abuses within the program.
CBC: 'Disgusted' immigration minister looking into revoking citizenship of Toronto terror suspect
"People are rightfully furious and deeply concerned to learn that a man allegedly linked to a terrorist group and heinous terrorist acts was given Canadian citizenship by the Liberal government," she said in a statement.
"This alarming failure only adds to the concerns that Canadians already have about Canada's public safety and immigration system."
On Tuesday, a parliamentary committee agreed to investigate the case amid questions about the immigration screening process for both men.
The committee hearings, set to begin later this month, will likely zero in on Canada's immigration process, its security screening capacity and how security officials handle domestic threats.