Immigration Minister Mark Miller said further reforms to Canada’s immigration and asylum system will be proposed in the coming weeks.
The federal government recently significantly reduced the target number of permanent residents to be allowed into Canada over the next two years and tightened rules for allowing temporary workers.
According to statistics provided by Canadian authorities, the average waiting time for processing refugee and asylum applications is approximately 44 months.
Miller told the House Immigration Committee on Monday that the asylum and refugee system is not working as well as it should due to volume and inefficiency.
“I want to reform the system,” Miller said. “The increase in applications we are currently seeing in the interior is not unexpected. This is because people are increasingly discouraged from wanting to remain in Canada and are being encouraged to apply for asylum in places they should not be applying. It’s something that I see in people who have the ability to do that. ”
Inland asylum applications are applications made outside of normal ports of entry. People must have been in Canada for at least two weeks before making such a claim. According to government data, 635 of these claims were processed between January and September this year.
Mr. Miller opened his testimony by saying that more people are filing asylum claims on student visas.
At the committee, as Miller finished testifying, protesters chanted, “Don’t deport us! Don’t racist! Don’t cut back on our rights! Status for all!” He held up a placard written on it.
As the minister left the committee room, one demonstrator from the group Migrant Workers Alliance for Change told him: “We are the ones you are trying to kick out of this country.” .
The group of about 20 people was escorted out of the building by National Guard Bureau personnel.
In a series of questions, NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan addressed calls to reverse recent immigration changes.
Mr. Miller responded that being a Canadian citizen is not a right.
The federal government has reduced the projected number of new permanent residents and changed eligibility for graduate work permits for international students, among other measures. Immigration Minister Mark Miller appeared before the House of Commons Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Monday to discuss immigration levels and how the government will implement the new rules.
“It’s not a right to be a permanent resident. It’s not a right to be a Canadian citizen. If you don’t do that, it’s diminished. That’s what I strongly believe.”
“That doesn’t mean treating people unfairly at the same time, and those who have promised on their visas to leave once this situation is over obviously have to honor that.”
Miller added that the issue is sensitive, which is why the goal is to have 40 per cent of new permanent residents come from people already living in Canada.
As of the end of September, nearly 250,000 asylum applications had been decided, and 48,000 asylum applications had been processed since the beginning of the year.
