He considers that his government is the most ambitious of all time in terms of immigration, and is only waiting for an increase in Quebec’s targets to bring in more newcomers. New Federal Minister of Immigration Sean Fraser shared with The duty his vision of what he plans to do with the Canadian immigration system.
Colossal delays, accumulation of untreated files, quality of services criticized, changing rules: the federal Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) has been one of the most criticized since the start of the pandemic. Yet it is one of the pride of the Trudeau government, says Fraser, who agrees that “growing the system at the pace and to the scale that we want is going to create certain challenges.”
A 37-year-old MP, Minister since October, he grew up in a rural community in Nova Scotia, where depopulation could only be slowed down by an influx of newcomers whose families are gradually replenishing the schools. “Immigration is going to affect all aspects of life as we know it here in Canada, for all the foreseeable future. “
Rarely have there been so many jobs available in our history, he notes of the labor shortage. To recover economically from these last difficult months, his solution is therefore to bet on more immigration.
Increase in Quebec targets
What about Quebec? “I believe that Quebec is aware of the need to resort to immigration to ensure that companies find workers”, exposes the new person in charge of the file in Ottawa.
Quebec has lowered its immigration targets since 2019, when Ottawa aims to welcome a record number of 1.2 million immigrants by 2023. The province is catching up after the drop in arrivals in 2020 due to pandemic, but still welcomes less than its demographic share.
Sean Fraser is careful not to criticize the province, but offers some encouragement to do more. “If they want to increase this number, believe me, I am more than ready to work with them,” said Mr. Fraser, recalling that it is the province that transmits its targets to the federal government.
Minister Fraser is preparing to meet his Quebec counterpart, Minister Jean Boulet, on Thursday, with whom he says he is ready to discuss “any of his priorities”.
Since coming to power, François Legault’s government has repeatedly stated its desire to “repatriate” the entire temporary foreign worker program. For the federal minister, the roles will be “always shared”, but he keeps the possibility for Quebec to “indicate the priority candidates” for the temporary positions.
Afghan refugees
Another hot issue that Minister Fraser inherits: the reception of 40,000 Afghan refugees, a Liberal election promise already marred by delays.
Currently, barely 10% of the promised refugees have actually arrived in Canada. “Today is 4700 [réfugiés afghans arrivés]. By the end of the week, there will be 520 more, ”he says, saying he believes the program will take its cruising speed.
There is no question, according to him, of comparing the Afghan operation to that of resettlement of Syrian refugees in 2015. “We have no presence in Afghanistan”, recalled the minister, referring to the difficulty of dealing with the Taliban. “They don’t have any expertise in logistics and moving people, they don’t know how to run an airport professionally, the infrastructure on the ground is just not there. “
The 25,000 Syrian refugees resettled by a previous Liberal government were mostly in camps administered by the United Nations. This time, “one of the main bottlenecks is the ability of our partners on the ground to refer refugees.”
A poorly oiled machine?
All categories, 1.8 milfiles lion are still awaiting treatment, according to IRCC. In Quebec, approximately 50,000 people are waiting for their permanent residence, and the delays are three years on average, much longer than elsewhere in Canada.
This problem of delays has been exacerbated by the pandemic, says Sean Fraser. One of the solutions is the digital shift of the system, which still processes paper files today. He also wants to hire more staff to handle cases.
“But you don’t turn a ship 90 degrees in 10 seconds,” insists the minister. “You have to take it inch by inch and move around as quickly as possible, so that you can keep the system running. “
Francophone immigration
The country still has to succeed in bringing in francophone immigrants. More than 75,000 of them would have been necessary to maintain the weight of Francophones outside Quebec, recently underlined the Commissioner of Official Languages.
Several Quebec politicians have also seen “discrimination” in the increase in the permit refusal rate of French-speaking African students, such as The duty revealed it.
“It is certainly not a deliberate decision to reduce francophone immigration, but it is clear that we have a problem on which we must work,” concedes Minister Fraser. With the energy of the newcomer in these cases, he says however that he sees “an opportunity”: foreign students are integrating well, both linguistically and professionally, he mentions.
Another avenue to increase this immigration is to turn to pools of Francophone refugees, says Mr. Fraser.
The new minister refuses to paint a pessimistic portrait of the Canadian immigration system. He defends the “objective” criteria used to judge candidates for immigration, but it is appropriate that these generate “a systemic result” towards nationals of the poorest countries. We must therefore go beyond this result, he says, without compromising the protection of the system in place.
“There is no shortage of people around the world who want to become Canadians, and we remain a destination of choice,” he concludes.