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MEDIA RELEASE: New Democrats Force the Liberals to Act: Wins for Everyday Canadians

Whether it’s sky-high rent and housing costs, gas pump gouging, or record-high grocery bills – working families are feeling the squeeze of inflation as big box stores and CEOs earn massive profits. At the NDP caucus retreat in Halifax last week, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh reiterated ​urgent calls for inflationary relief measures ​to address the affordability crisis.
New Democrats used their power in the minority parliament to get wins for everyday people, forcing the Liberals to finally agree to ​take action on a historic expansion of Canada’s healthcare system through the establishment of a dental care program for families earning less than $90,000 without insurance and an increase to the Canadian Housing Benefit – real measures that will help household budgets. 

IN THE NEWS: Van Sun - Ottawa bumps up social housing funds for shortchanged B.C.

Two years ago, NDP MP Jenny Kwan protested that the federal Liberals were directing less than one per cent of their social housing budget to B.C., despite the province being home to 11 per cent of the nation’s population.
The stark imbalance has improved since Kwan aired her complaints.
“Since exposing that B.C. only got 0.5 per cent of the funding, I’m glad to report that more funds have begun to flow to B.C.”

IN THE NEWS: National Observer - Jamaican farm worker ask their government for help to improve working and living conditions in Canada

“I think it's actually shameful for the Canadian government to see such a letter be issued by the workers to the Jamaican government pleading for help,” Jenny Kwan, NDP critic for immigration, refugees and citizenship, told Canada’s National Observer. “Our immigration policy for migrant workers subjects them to exploitation and abuses. And this has gone on for a very long time now.”
At the very minimum, the labour code must be enforced, said Kwan. However, this letter indicates that's not happening — little has changed since migrant workers were dying from COVID-19 in overcrowded living quarters and facing barriers to health care, Kwan said.

IN THE NEWS: Canadian Press - Visa delays leaving international students in limbo for fall semester

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said there doesn't appear to by any rhyme or reason when it comes to why some applications have been processed on time and others haven't.
She has heard from students who are feeling incredibly stressed about whether they're going to be moving across the world to study in Canada in a few weeks.
"September is just around the corner as the school year is gonna start, and they don't know what's going on with their application," Kwan said in an interview.
The fact that so many students are likely to find out at the last moment shows the department doesn't recognize the real-life experiences people are going through, she said. "They have to find living quarters, for example, get housing in place, get familiar with how to get to and from school."
Everything from course selection to orientation is jeopardized, she added, and the delays cause uncertainty for institutions as well.

OPEN LETTER: The disastrous state of IRCC

It is with grave concerns that we write to you as the leader of the New Democratic Party, as the NDP critic for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, and as Caucus Chair, to demand immediate action to address the ongoing system-wide delays and utter chaos at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). It’s important to remember that these are more than just files in a system, each application number corresponds to an individual and delays often have profound and expensive effects on their lives and prevents loved ones from being able to reunite.
One of the highest demands at a MP office is on immigration-related issues. Sadly, IRCC is in complete chaos with over 2 million applications stuck in the backlog that continues to escalate. The unprecedented massive delays in processing in virtually every immigration stream is far beyond a few months above processing standards, whether it’s a permanent resident application, family reunification, renewal of CoPRs, verification of citizenship, work permit or study permit application or renewal, PR card renewal, or refugee applications. Applicants are informed of a processing timeline, only to have it changed months later. The Canadian Council for Refugees latest report highlights the dire backlog and slow processing times for permanent residence of those who have received refugee protection in Canada. For some, the threats are so severe that it’s a matter of life and death. Meanwhile, thousands of Afghans who have previously assisted Canada’s missions abroad are left behind and are being hunted down by the Taliban.

IN THE NEWS: CP24 - More than 1.3M immigration applications in backlog amid humanitarian crises

NDP Immigration critic Jenny Kwan said the minister's optimism is of little comfort to people who have spent months or even years languishing in the system.
“I find it astounding that the minister would talk glowingly about the work that he's doing, meanwhile, there's so many people who are struggling, who are suffering as a result of immigration processing delays,” Kwan said in an interview.
She wrote a joint letter with NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to express their concerns about the “utter chaos” at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

IN THE NEWS: Hill Times - Advocates, politicos urge feds to lead on ending 'appalling practice' of immigrant detention

NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.), her party’s immigration critic, told The Hill Times that it is “absolutely appalling” that the government continues to hold immigrants and asylum seekers indefinitely, affording more due process to violent offenders, and that she was “delighted” to see the B.C. government end the practice in the province.
Kwan also said that the pandemic had further shown that the government was detaining many of them needlessly, pointing to the fact that CBSA released detainees in their centres to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“It shows that it’s absolutely unnecessary,” Kwan said.  While creating added oversight for CBSA was a “step in the right direction” for Kwan, she said the government still needs to “get its house in order” to ensure complete transparency and accountability for the agency.
“[The NDP] has had a bill calling for independent oversight of CBSA forever now, and the Liberals just do not have the wherewithal to see that bill to fruition,” Kwan said. “But every time they call an unnecessary election, the bill dies on the Order Paper; lather, rinse, repeat.”

UBCIC JOINT LETTER: Urgent Housing Crisis Emergency

Follow-Up Open Letter Re: Urgent Housing Crisis Emergency

We write you with renewed urgency about how the ongoing national housing crisis affects residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES). The dire and life-threatening situation facing unhoused people will not resolve without federal leadership and immediate intervention and we plead for your action. The situation is a mounting human rights crisis as governments are failing to ensure the right to safe dignified shelter to those most in need and requires an urgent distinction and rights-based approach.

IN THE NEWS: National Oberserver - Ontario tribunal ruled DNA collection from migrant workers was a human rights abuse

While the decision is undoubtedly positive for migrant workers, it doesn’t address the underlying causes of the abuse migrant workers face, Jenny Kwan, NDP critic for immigration, refugees and citizenship, told Canada’s National Observer.

“What the NDP wants the government to do is provide all migrant workers with permanent resident status on arrival, so that when they land here in Canada, they have their rights and they're protected,” said Kwan.

IN THE NEWS: CBC - Afghan advisers who helped Canada’s military say gov’t has further delayed rescue of families from Taliban

‘Blood will be on Canadian government’s hands,’ says federal NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan.

"These advisers wore the Canadian uniform, essential to Canada's missions, yet in their greatest time of need when families are in grave danger, the Canadian government says get through normal immigration process," Kwan said.  Extended family members are not eligible for the family sponsorship immigration route. Kwan noted that the processing times for regular immigration streams are very long.

Kwan said Canada is being racist. "Canada is using differential treatment for people in Afghanistan more than that of Ukraine, even though both are under siege and at great risk," she said. "Why is that? Is it the colour of their skin? Is that the prevailing reason? This is outright discrimination."
Kwan said the department can easily issue temporary residence visas or "single travel journey documents" for those families to expeditiously arrive in Canada.
"The government has to do what is necessary and our legal and moral responsibility," she said. "Knowing that many lives are threatened and we are not doing everything to bring them here to safety, blood will be on the Canadian government's hands."

IN THE NEWS: The News Forum - MP Jenny Kwan on Ottawa's "Disgraceful" Treatment of Afghans Fleeing the Taliban

MP Jenny Kwan rebuting the Immigration Minister in this tv interview

IN THE NEWS: Global - Ex-B.C. journalist and democracy activist placed on Chinese ‘wanted’ list

In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, Vancouver-East MP Jenny Kwan and Edmonton-Strathcona MP Heather McPhereson said any application of the law to Ho was a violation of his rights protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“Notwithstanding whatever his views are on how to address these issues (in Hong Kong), the critical issue is this: Here in Canada we have what we cherish very much, our charter rights,” Kwan told Global News in an interview, “our right to free speech, our right to free association, our rights to our beliefs and thoughts and the right for the freedom of the press.”

The Canadian government, she said, needs to be vocal about the rights of Ho and all other Canadians to free speech.