Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is a large department that deals with a wide range of situations, in Canada and around the world.
According to its website (www.cic.gc.ca), it is charged with developing and implementing policies, programs and services that:
-Facilitate the arrival of people and their integration into Canada in a way that maximizes their contribution to the country, while protecting the health, safety and security of Canadians.
-Maintain Canada’s humanitarian tradition by protecting refugees and people in need of protection.
-Enhance the values and promote the rights and responsibilities of Canadian citizenship and reach out to all Canadians and foster increased intercultural understanding and an integrated society with equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, ethnicity and religion.
Advancing global migration policies in a way that supports Canada’s immigration and humanitarian objectives.
Unfortunately, since the Conservatives first became government, already lengthy application processing times have become even longer.
Sponsoring parents and grandparents as permanent residents was taking five to seven years, so this program has been suspended for the next two years in order to catch up on the backlog.
Although the new multiple-entry Super Visa has been created to allow visits to Canada of up to a total of two years over a 10-year period, I wonder how many will be actually issued. Currently, many people already have great difficulty meeting the criteria to enter Canada for short visits at times of family crises or celebrations.
Many people also have first-hand experience of the long waiting times for bringing dependent children to Canada. These kinds of applications should be processed immediately, as lengthy separations from parents can have negative effects on children, including a profound effect on their ability to develop healthy attachments.
Surely the government can find a better solution for meeting public safety requirements while making family reunification a priority.
The Conservative government’s business-friendly emphasis has created explosive growth in the numbers of temporary foreign workers coming to Canada. Their legitimate standing in our country is very limited and if they wish to stay, they must endure the stress and expense of regularly applying for work permit extensions.
Due to processing backlogs, many foreign workers only have “implied status,” allowing them to continue working pending the decision on their extension application.
In the process, some lose their legal status, forcing them to incur significant costs to restore it. In the interim, should they need to leave Canada for any reason, they risk not being granted re-entry.
In response to complaints about immigration fraud, it has been suggested by the government that, when a spouse is sponsored to come to Canada, she or he would enter with a conditional visa that would be converted to Permanent Resident (PR) status after two years.
I trust that any new requirements will include provisions, which will be responsive to genuine cases of marital dysfunction or abuse.
Breaking news: effective Nov. 8, 2011, CIC will no longer process incomplete applications for Canadian Citizenship, Proof of Citizenship (citizenship cards) and PR Cards – these will be returned to the applicant. Serious complications could result, given the already long waiting times in the queue before these applications are opened.
It is my hope that all changes to immigration policy, now and in the future, will be consistent with Canadian laws and Canadian values.
In spite of the problems in the system, my staff has found that many workers at CIC, whether here or abroad, go out of their way to help people in difficult situations.
I want to thank them for the work they do on our behalf.
– Alex Atamanenko is MP for the B.C. Southern Interior