The mayor of Vegreville, Alta. says he's been given new energy in his battle with the Liberal government over the planned closure of an immigration and refugee processing centre.
Conservative and NDP MPs have pledged to unite in their efforts to aid Mayor Myron Hayduk's cause.
The federal government plans to move the centre from Vegreville to Edmonton in 2018 and take about 230 jobs with it.
(From CBC article: http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/edmonton/vegreville-immigration-centre-relocate-edmonton-federal-hayduk-1.4213252)
Hayduk hosted a meeting in Vegreville on Wednesday that included Jenny Kwan, NDP MP for Vancouver East, Shannon Stubbs, Conservative MP for Lakeland, and Linda Duncan, NDP MP for Edmonton Strathcona.
"This is kind of like the third wind we got," said Hayduk. "For the town, for council, this has given us a great boost."
Kwan, the NDP critic for immigration, refugees and citizenship, has written a letter to Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen about the Vegreville closure. She calls for Hussen to reconsider moving the centre.
"The decision to close CPC Vegreville is wrong," writes Kwan, the NDP critic for immigration, refugees and citizenship.
"The community stands ready to work with you. I respectfully urge you to listen to its many, many voices and to reverse your plans."
Other communities also concerned
What's happening in Vegreville could happen in any rural community in Canada, Kwan said during her visit to the town 100 kilometres east of Edmonton.
Hayduk said the fight is not only for Vegreville, because other towns and cities are also concerned about losing federal government offices.
"I don't have positive proof of it but the intent is to remove federal offices from rural Canada," he said.
'This will not kill us'
Losing the centre will have a big impact on Vegreville, the mayor said. He foresees economic and social costs for the town of 5,700.
"Vegreville is a very strong community," Hayduk said. "This will not kill us. It's going to cripple us a little bit, but we'd be getting back on our feet."
Immigration centre employees who decide to continue living in Vegreville but commute into Edmonton will be adding two hours of travel time to each workday, he said.
"That is going to take away from the volunteer time. It's going to take away from family time."
During a visit to Edmonton in May, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood by his government's decision to relocate the centre to Edmonton.
"This is something we need to do to ensure the continued high quality of services that Canadians expect from their government," Trudeau said at the time.
The federal immigration department is being criticized by Acadian history specialists for unfair treatment of members of the French-speaking diaspora community, after it said they may not be entitled to Canadian citizenship because the sources of their family records are not acceptable.
Acadians living outside Canada who obtained citizenship after the November passing of a new law extending citizenship by descent are among those whom the department recently informed may have been granted the right to a Canadian passport in error.
Peggy Sun, the registrar of Canadian Citizenship, wrote in June to about 100 “Lost Canadians” saying she had reasonable grounds to believe that their citizenship status is not valid and informing them it is now under review.
Most of those sent such letters have now had their citizenship certificates and passports restored. But others have been told, in a subsequent letter, that they may have been granted a citizenship certificate in error.
In the case of Acadians, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has taken issue with some baptismal records, birth records and other documents sourced from France and the U.S.
Acadians, emigrants from France, established distinct communities in what is now Atlantic Canada in the 17th century. But sovereignty over much of their land passed to Britain after the signing of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht when much French territory in North America was ceded to Britain.
British colonial authorities suspected Acadians were helping the French, including by trading with their forces. And they found that some fought alongside the French against them. The British forcibly expelled about 11,500 of the 14,000 Acadians between 1755 and 1764 from their territory in the Maritimes.
Some were deported to England, where they were imprisoned and later released. Some hid and others fled to regions under French control including in what is now Quebec and Prince Edward Island, or across the border into what is now the United States. Others were displaced to France, with many eventually finding refuge in Louisiana in what was then a Spanish colony.
Academics specializing in Acadian history say it is unjust for IRCC to penalize Acadians whose forebears were forced out by the British in the 18th century. Many records, including those held by churches and individual families were destroyed in the upheaval.
NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said it was deeply concerning that Acadians were “being denied recognition of legitimate historical records from France and the United States, even though these jurisdictions hold many of the primary archival documents.”
For six years, Rajesh Sharma has watched his parents grow older from half a world away.
The Vancouver area small businessman came to Canada from India, built a career, bought a home and met the income requirements to sponsor his mother and father.
His father’s health is failing. His mother now struggles to manage their home alone. Sharma spends his evenings arranging medical appointments from Canada and wondering how many more birthdays and family milestones they will miss.
Ottawa’s recent decision to suspend new applications for the Parent and Grandparent Program (PGP) until further notice has turned that uncertainty into something more final.
For Sharma and thousands of other immigrants, there is now no application date, no place in the queue and no assurance their aging parents will ever be able to join them permanently in Canada.
NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said the decision leaves Canadians and permanent residents with no date to apply, no guarantee the program will reopen and little hope of reuniting with aging parents caught outside the country.
“The government has shamefully once again suspended new intakes to the Parent and Grandparent sponsorship program,” she said.
“At this rate, it will take decades to clear the backlog. Families cannot afford to wait decades to be reunited with their parents and grandparents.”
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced July 15 that it will stop accepting new interest-to-sponsor forms and will not invite more potential sponsors to submit applications until further notice.
The department said it will continue processing applications already in the system and plans to approve up to 15,000 parents and grandparents for permanent residence in 2026.
The department currently has about 60,500 permanent residence applications under the Parents and Grandparents Program in progress.
Processing times are approximately 33 months outside Quebec and can reach 66 months in Quebec. About 54,000 expressions of interest from the original 2020 pool were still outstanding as of September 2025.
Kwan said the government is managing the backlog by restricting access rather than fixing a system that has kept families waiting for years.
“It has remained closed since 2020, shattering dreams of family reunification for thousands of Canadians and permanent residents,” she said.
“Families who have been eagerly waiting for the application system to reopen are once again being told by the Liberals that they are out of luck. It is a slap in the face of families who have waited so long to reunite with their loved ones.”
The suspension comes as Ottawa sharply reduces the number of parents and grandparents it plans to admit.
Under the 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan, the federal government has set a target of 15,000 admissions through the program in each of the next three years.
The previous plan had called for 21,500 admissions in 2026, meaning the new target represents a reduction of about 30 per cent.
When the federal government launched the permanent residence pathways for Hong Kong residents, it was described as a faster route for eligible Hong Kong nationals already in Canada to become permanent residents.
Five years later, the Hong Kong pathway is set to close Aug. 31, while tens of thousands of applicants are still waiting.
For applicants like Roger Yeung, the wait is no longer just about immigration paperwork. It is affecting careers, education, and the ability to plan a future in Canada.
Roger Yeung has been living in Vancouver since April 2023. He applied for permanent residence under the Hong Kong pathway in October 2024, but says there has been no progress.
NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan says the wait is unacceptable.
Kwan says the federal government originally promised expedited processing for Hong Kongers under the lifeboat program, and that the process appeared to work in the first year.
“The government, in this first year of implementation of the Lifeboat Stream A, Stream B program, they did expedite the process,” Kwan said.
“But then, over the years, we started to notice that the government was slowing down in the processing.”
Kwan says the problem grew after Hong Kong pathway applications were grouped under the Humanitarian and Compassionate and Other category.
She said that category also includes other urgent commitments, including Ukraine and Sudan, leaving Hong Kong applicants competing for limited space.
“For Hong Kongers, there are over 33,000 applications waiting in the backlog, and that’s just for Hong Kongers,” Kwan said.
“If you add in Ukraine and Sudan, you can just imagine how lengthy the wait is.”
To clear the backlog, Kwan says the federal government should change the Immigration Levels Plan quota and allocate enough spaces to process existing applications. She also called on Ottawa to restore immigration staffing levels.
“Rebuild the trust. Honour what you promised Hong Kongers, and deliver on the program. Change the quota now,” Kwan said.