QUESTION PERIOD — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Processing Backlog
December 15, 2023
Senator Gold, yesterday the Auditor General appeared before the Social Affairs Committee and informed us about her audit of certain departments. She disclosed to us that a 2018 commitment by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC, to look at its capacity has not been completed and is, therefore, severely impacting processing times. For example, the Auditor General compared two offices — one in Italy and the other in Tanzania — that have roughly the same number of employees. Tanzania, however, receives five times the number of applications.
It’s only natural to expect the outcome: A file that gets routed to the Tanzanian office will sit in a backlog for far longer than a file in Rome. This is, in my view, a perfect expression of institutional discrimination.
When will the government follow through with that commitment and reallocate resources to deal with backlogs in certain spots?
Thank you for your question.
Although it is true that all applications are subjected to the same criteria, regardless of the country, it is also true that depending on the nature of the applications, they may take more or less time. I don’t have the ability or knowledge to compare applications in Rome to those in Tanzania.
The question of how much human resources can be deployed in any given office is also a matter where, I imagine, there are factors beyond simply a stroke of the pen by the government. I will have to make inquiries, but I understand that the government is continually monitoring this issue. I thank you for bringing it to my attention.
Thank you, Senator Gold, for following up on that.
The Auditor General also found that the average waiting time for privately sponsored refugees is 13 months. This is a program that Canada is rightfully proud of. It talks about it on the world stage. It is engaged in replicating it in different parts of the world. It sets us apart.
So why the long waiting time? Should we not do better than 13 months, Senator Gold?
We have a global crisis, as we know, with respect to displaced persons. Canada is doing what it can.
My understanding is that the government’s goal is to process 80% of all applications within the appropriate service standards and that the IRCC is continuing to work to reduce its backlogs by digitizing applications, hiring new staff and using technologies to improve their ability to process.
