1. The Issues
  2. Immigration

We live in a time of rising global uncertainty. It is more important than ever that the Canadian immigration system can respond to arising global crises in an expedient and flexible manner. Alarmingly, this is not the case.

Even before major global refugee crises such as the Afghanistan, and Ukrainian crises, IRCC has been struggling with massive backlogs in all the immigration streams. Delayed immigration application is the most common request for assistance at my office, with some applications delayed for years! Behind the delayed applications are separated families, missed opportunities, and in some cases, immigration is a life-and-death situation for people who need to leave dangerous situations.

To start, IRCC should stop the practice of returning applications when there are minor mistakes and missing information and documents that can be easily provided by applicants. IRCC must also end oppressive immigration policies such as the inhumane cap on parent/grandparents’ sponsorship applications, closed work permits for migrant workers, and the unfair treatment of caregivers and domestic workers.

Lack of resources for IRCC is the major root cause of delayed applications. I will continue to advocate for adequate resources for IRCC to process applications in consistently reasonable timeframes and for immigration policies that are more just.

CIMM#35: On the issue of the coming into force date for the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants act

I think at issue here is the question around the OIC coming-into-force date. If you look at the documents that were sent to committee members—and a member asked me to table these documents—you'll see these documents were sent to the clerk. I received a copy as well, separate and apart from that, so committee members, if they have not received them from the clerk already, will, I assume, at some point in time be getting these documents. 

Canadian Press: Cap on international students' working hours should be lifted permanently: advocates

Canadian Press: Cap on international students' working hours should be lifted permanently: advocates

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan is also pushing for a more permanent change. “This change is absolutely necessary, and is necessary for the students’ survival,” Kwan said in an interview.

International students face tuition fees that are as much as three times those of domestic students and must still support themselves while they’re studying.
Kwan said she welcomed the news about the pilot, but worried about the motivations behind it.  When the government changes immigration measures, Kwan said, “it’s never really to support the people who need the changes, but rather, it’s always driven by the economy, or by industry.”

IN THE NEWS: Canadian News: Cap on international students' working hours should be lifted permanently: advocates

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan is also pushing for a more permanent change.
"This change is absolutely necessary, and is necessary for the students' survival," Kwan said in an interview.
International students face tuition fees that are as much as three times those of domestic students and must still support themselves while they're studying.
Kwan said she welcomed the news about the pilot, but worried about the motivations behind it.
When the government changes immigration measures, Kwan said, "it's never really to support the people who need the changes, but rather, it's always driven by the economy, or by industry."

IN THE NEWS: Canadian Press - Federal immigration committee to discuss allegations department misled a judge

IN THE NEWS: Canadian Press - Federal immigration committee to discuss allegations department misled a judge

The House of Commons committee on immigration has called an urgent meeting next week to discuss allegations that the department and former minister misled a federal judge during a trademark infringement case — an allegation former immigration minister Marco Mendicino has categorically denied.

The allegations stem from the creation of a new college to regulate immigration consultants in 2020.

CIMM#34: Should government announced new immigration measures include additional resources intact?

My question really centres around this. What happens a lot is that the government takes the approach of robbing Peter to pay Paul. That is to say, they will introduce new immigration measures without actually providing additional immigration levels or resources to accommodate those new immigration measures. As a result, you have a huge backlog that would be impacted. This means that existing applications would be further delayed. The reality is that, with the privately sponsored refugee stream, there were significant delays even prior to the Afghanistan crisis.
When the government introduces new immigration measures, should they introduce them without ensuring that there are new resources and immigration level numbers to accommodate them, or should they do those special immigration measures with additional resources intact, both level numbers and staffing for processing?

CIM#34: What government should do to address the processing delays crisis

I'd like to ask the representative from LUSO Community Services this question. You raised, I think similarly to the other witnesses, the significance of the delay in processing and what it means. Oftentimes, the government does not even follow its own processing standards. If you look at the website right now, they don't even give you a time; they only say not to expect your application to be processed expeditiously.
Given that this is the situation, I wonder what you think the government should do or what your recommendation is for the government to address this crisis in processing delays within immigration.

Are you ready to take action?

Constituent Resources
Mobile Offices
Contact Jenny

Sign up for updates

Vancouver Constituency Office

Email:
Phone: 604-775-5800
Address:
2572 E Hastings
Vancouver, BC, V5K 1Z3

Ottawa Parliamentary Office

Email:
Phone: 613-992-6030
Address:
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
(postage-free)