Close X
Thursday, November 28, 2024
ADVT 
National

Humanitarian crises worsen immigration backlog

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 24 Aug, 2022 02:52 PM
  • Humanitarian crises worsen immigration backlog

OTTAWA - Canada's immigration minister now projects it will take only a few months longer than originally hoped to get application wait times back on track, even though the crisis in Ukraine and other "external" events have worsened the backlogs.

In January, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser vowed to eliminate backlogs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by the end of the year. That was before Canada launched a major response to the refugee crisis sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and approved hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and their families to come to Canada temporarily to escape the war.

Those efforts, combined with updates to the government's aging technology, have led to longer waits for people who want to come to Canada, Fraser said.

As of the end of July, approximately 1.3 million immigration applications in the system have taken longer to process than the government's service standards dictate they should. That's about 54 per cent of all the pending applications in the system. 

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Fraser said the department may need a few extra months before all immigration streams are back to normal processing times.

"Based on what we're looking at right now, we shouldn't be too, too far off the projection of getting back to service standards for work and study permits by the end of this year, and I expect that within a few months of that the visitors visas will be back to service standards," Fraser said. 

That's barring any new international disasters, he said. 

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. 

Fraser said the Canadian immigration system is seeing unprecedented demand, in addition to humanitarian crises. 

As of July 31, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada had issued more than 349,000 new work permits this year, compared to 199,000 in all of 2021. 

At a news conference Wednesday, Fraser announced the Immigration Department is in the midst of a hiring spree to bring 1,250 new employees on board by the end of the fall to tackle the massive backlogs in processing applications and the increased demand.

Fraser said the new hires have so far allowed the government to get wait times back on track for new applicants to the express entry permanent residence program, the main economic stream for new permanent residents to Canada.

"In the weeks and months ahead there's going to be a series of new measures that we're going to be releasing that's going to help bring workers here more quickly, make it simpler for families to be reunited with their loved ones, and to hold ourselves accountable by being transparent," Fraser said at the news conference outside the Vancouver Convention Centre. 

The backlogs have been of growing concern since shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic began, when health restrictions made borders more difficult to cross and immigration slowed considerably. 

At the end of last year, the government dedicated $85 million to reducing wait times. Another $187.3 million was set aside for the next five years in the 2022 budget.

In June, the prime minister announced ministers would form a task force to deal with growing delays for immigration applications and other government services. 

Conservative immigration critic Jasraj Singh Hallan says he has little faith the added resources will translate into meaningful change.

"This is the Liberal pattern, throw more money at a problem, create a bloated public service costing taxpayers more, and get no results," Hallan said in a statement. 

"Newcomers, Canadians, and businesses deserve better than Liberal-made backlogs and more empty promises.”

MORE National ARTICLES

B.C. announces consumer protection for homebuyers

B.C. announces consumer protection for homebuyers
Finance Minister Selina Robinson says the consumer protection policy effective Jan. 1 is aimed at providing people with peace of mind as unconditional offers are common and could later end up costing buyers thousands of dollars in repairs.

B.C. announces consumer protection for homebuyers

Darpan's 10 with City of Surrey Councillor Mandeep Nagra

Darpan's 10 with City of Surrey Councillor Mandeep Nagra
There are number of things that I am always going to be very proud of that we achieved in last four years as a team. We are building Newton Recreation Centre which is going to have an Olympic size pool, volleyball courts, badminton courts, and a number of other facilities on 7 acres. 150 million dollars for this project has already been allocated in the budget.

Darpan's 10 with City of Surrey Councillor Mandeep Nagra

2 men arrested and charged with assault and armed robbery in New Westminster

2 men arrested and charged with assault and armed robbery in New Westminster
2 people have been arrested by the New West Police after an assault and armed robbery took place near the corner of McKenzie Street and Clarkson Street. The two committed the assault and armed robbery on July 13th and one person landed in hospital as a result of this incident. 

2 men arrested and charged with assault and armed robbery in New Westminster

Heat warnings issued or expected across Canada

Heat warnings issued or expected across Canada
Environment Canada says heat in the mid- to high 20s should reach the south coast and parts of the northern Interior by next week, while the Okanagan, central and southeastern B.C. could see temperatures nudging the high 30s over the same period.

Heat warnings issued or expected across Canada

Senior officer faces military charges

Senior officer faces military charges
The office of Canada's military police chief announced on Wednesday that Lt.-Gen. Steven Whelan is facing two counts under the National Defence Act related to "conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline."

Senior officer faces military charges

Theft of bronze statue at Surrey church

Theft of bronze statue at Surrey church
The statue is described as two metres tall and depicts St. Andrew Kim. According to police, it is difficult to make out a suspect description based on the current evidence. The investigation is ongoing and police are actively working to identify the suspects.

Theft of bronze statue at Surrey church