Right from the beginning, Kwan and advocates for Hong Kongers had pointed out to the Liberal government that the 5-year graduation rule meant that many Hong Kongers would not be eligible under the program. This was proven to be the case when it was revealed that as of the end of October last year, only 134 Hong Kongers had come to Canada under the lifeboat scheme.
"Since the lifeboat scheme was first announced in November 2020, I continually brought the concerns directly to the attention of the Immigration Minister. I spoke with him directly, had the issue studied by the Standing Committee on Citizenship, Immigration, and Refugees (CIMM) and most recently, CIMM issued a press release calling for action. Today's announcement is a step in the right direction. However, more needs to be done", added Kwan.
Hong Kong officials are working hard to promote the message that Hong Kong is returning to normal, however, the Hong Kong government is still aggressively using the national security law to persecute dissidents, journalists and including those who participated in the primary election of the Legislative Council. Too many Hong Kongers find themselves accused of violating the national security law. For the lifeboat scheme to be effective, the Canadian government recognize this and lift the criminal record check requirement for these Hong Kongers.
MP Jenny Kwan Calls For Removal of Immigration Minister Lena Diab
Enough is enough. I am calling on Prime Minister Carney to immediately fire the Minister of Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship, Lena Diab.
We have now learned that the minister responsible for Canada’s refugee system did not appear to know about the Singh case—the landmark Supreme Court decision that established fundamental Charter protections for refugee claimants and helped lay the foundation for Canada’s refugee determination system. That is not a minor gaffe. It is a profound failure of leadership.
Sadly, this is not an isolated incident. Not only has she proven herself to be inaccessible and unresponsive to major stakeholders including her own colleagues across all parties in parliament, Minister Diab has repeatedly demonstrated a complete lack of command over her portfolio, as she lurched from one disaster to another. To just name a few examples, these include the debacle in the revocation of Lost-Canadian families' citizenship certificates and passports; the back-pedalling of her stated timeline to process Palestinian graduate student visas within 10 days; and her use of "commercial and monetized social media platforms" to drop partial details about an upcoming temporary resident to a permanent resident program creating mass public confusion, speculation and an environment for predatory actors to exploit vulnerable applicants.
Minister Diab has overseen one of the worst periods of immigration policy in Canada in decades with drastic cuts to Canada's immigration levels plan, resettlement organizations and staffing resources. Her lack of leadership coupled with IRCC 's capacity crisis has only further escalated significant processing delays causing immense undue hardship for thousands of applicants and their families. She led the draconian asylum restrictions in Bill C-12 which is now subject to an active court challenge.
This government cannot keep asking people to pay the price for its incompetence. Minister Diab has lost the confidence of many this system is supposed to serve. I stand with frontline advocates and families who are calling for an immediate reset. Prime Minister Carney should fire Minister Diab.
