LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Fear-mongering on the issue of parents and grandparents
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Fear-mongering on the issue of parents and grandparents
Re: Parents and Grandparents
Dear Editor,
I wish to respond to Joe Rivera’s inaccurate and misleading reporting on December 23 about the Government’s changes to the parents and grandparents immigration program.
I understand the importance of family and family reunifications to all Canadians. That is why I believe it is important to avoid the kind of fear-mongering that Mr. Rivera engages in.
As Mr. Rivera noted himself, I introduced changes to this program to deal with a large backlog of 165,000 persons in the parents and grandparents immigration category. As a result of years of inaction by the previous Liberal government, parents and grandparents applying to come to Canada in 2011 could expect to wait up to eight years before their applications are processed. If I hadn’t taken action, those times would have continued to grow. That is why I introduced a four-step Action Plan for Faster Family Immigration to address the problem of unacceptable wait times and reduce the backlog.
These are the four steps of our plan: First, our government has increased the number of parents and grandparents accepted as permanent residents, from nearly 15,500 admissions in 2010 to 25,000 in 2012. That’s an increase of more than 60%.
Second, we introduced the very popular Parent and Grandparent Super Visas that allow parents and grandparents to visit Canada for 24 months at a time. We are currently issuing the Super Visas in under 8 weeks as opposed to the 8 years wait time for the previous program.
Third, we committed to consulting with Canadians on how to redesign the parents and grandparents program to ensure that it is sustainable in the future. I have said that the redesigned program must avoid future large backlogs and be sensitive to fiscal constraints.
Finally, we placed a temporary pause of two years on acceptance of new sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents. A temporary pause on applications for up to two years will allow us to focus on those applicants already awaiting a decision and reduce the backlog in the parents and grandparents category much more quickly.
Joe Rivera incorrectly told your readers that this temporary pause will likely be increased by two more years. I have said on multiple occasions that it will not be. In two years, a new, redesigned program will be open for applications.
Mr. Rivera also incorrectly stated that the problem lies within our lack of efficiency in processing applications, rather than with the number of applications themselves.
But the challenge we face is a very simple math problem: when the number of applications exceeds the number of people admitted in a particular program, we end up with a growing backlog and longer wait times. It doesn’t matter if applications are processed faster – we still receive more applications each year than the number of parents and grandparents we can admit in accordance with our published levels plan.
We also recognize that the challenge we face is also a problem of the heart: families are divided as a result of the backlog and long wait times. That is why we have committed to the four steps in Phase 1 of the Action Plan for Faster Family Reunification. I look forward to hearing from you and your readers on how we can redesign the program so that it is responsive to the needs of all Canadians.
The Honourable Jason Kenney
Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism
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