(Ottawa) In recent months, Quebec has issued virtually the same number of immigration selection certificates in the family reunification category as before, contrary to what federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller has stated.
The latter has indicated on several occasions that he had noticed a decline, which is contradicted by data from the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration of Quebec (MIFI) obtained by The Canadian Press through an access to information request.
According to Minister Miller, the decrease came after he sent a letter last March criticizing Quebec for approving more Quebec Selection Certificates (CSQ) for family reunification than its threshold for admission in this category. Ottawa deplores that this disparity creates a bottleneck at its level since the federal government cannot grant permanent residence to all CSQ holders, because of the province’s threshold.
In his letter, Mr. Miller warned his Quebec counterpart, Christine Fréchette, that he was now allowing his department to approve family reunification files beyond the threshold of 10,400 admissions per year, which was received as an “affront” by François Legault’s government. Ottawa counted “approximately 20,500 [dossiers] as of January 31, 2024” for which there was a CSQ.
At the end of April, a little over a month after sending this letter, Mr. Miller said in a press scrum that he had observed a decrease in CSQs granted by Quebec for family reunification. Then at the end of May, he repeated this information during an interview with The Canadian Press, specifying that this decrease had been occurring “for the last few months.”
MIFI data shows that from March onwards, the number of CSQs dropped significantly compared to the previous month, from 1,282 to 993. This latter figure is still higher than the number of CSQs granted a few months earlier, in December (980), well before Mr. Miller sent his letter.
Another slight decrease of five CSQs was then observed from March to April. Then, from April to June, an increase occurred to reach 1451, the highest number of CSQs issued per month since last December.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) argued in a written statement that “the minister stated that the number of Quebec selection certificates issued during the month of March had decreased,” which does not exactly correspond to what Mr. Miller said.
“This number is likely to fluctuate over time,” it added.
Furthermore, the ministry indicated that it does not plan to exceed the Legault government’s thresholds “in any category, including family reunification intended for Quebec.”
“IRCC has begun increasing the processing of family class applications destined for Quebec in order to slow the growth of inventories and processing times related to family reunification in this province.”
Minister Fréchette’s office stated in an email that “it is essential that the number of CSQs issued respect the admissions objectives planned for the years 2024 and 2025 as well as those of 2026 which will result from the next multi-year planning, while ensuring an adequate inventory to reach the next admissions targets of 2027.”
So, Mme Fréchette set a “maximum ceiling of requests to be received” at the end of June and established “a specific period for receiving these requests,” it was added.
“After reaching the maximum number of commitment requests estimated at around 13,000, the minister will no longer receive requests, with the exception of certain specific cases ‘outside the ceiling’,” it was explained.
It remains to be seen to what extent these measures will result in a reduction in CSQs issued and whether this reduction will satisfy Ottawa.