Refugees who are being sponsored in Quebec are not about to arrive: the Immigration Department has not only not started processing private sponsorship files submitted at the beginning of 2022, it has not completed the study of applications submitted in 2021.
“At this time, no request has been received. [dans le cadre de l’appel de candidatures de 2022] has not been examined and has not obtained a decision of acceptance”, indicated Arianne Méthot, spokesperson for the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI). It is expected that the case review will be completed in December 2023, she added.
The duty had already revealed on Thursday that the processing of these files had not started, which the MIFI ended up confirming on Friday. Several organizations or groups of 2 to 5 people who filed sponsorship applications were concerned about the radio silence in Quebec, while elsewhere in Canada, refugees were beginning to arrive. The Jesuit Refugee Service in Canada, which submitted six sponsorship files, said it had no news of its two files filed in Quebec, while with regard to the four files filed in other Canadian provinces, at least one family has arrived and the others are expected this summer.
Thursday, in reaction to the article in the Duty, the Minister of Immigration, Christine Fréchette, had promised to work “to improve delays”. The opposition parties were nevertheless indignant at the long delays of this private sponsorship program, which is entirely the responsibility of organizations, often religious congregations, and groups of individuals who are keen to bring their loved ones or participate to the humanitarian effort to save people fleeing war or situations justifying asylum.
“There is no justification for the MIFI to keep files for nearly two years without transferring them to the federal government, especially in the context where the lives of these people are in danger,” said Quebec Solidarity MP Guillaume Cliche. – Rivard. “The Minister must correct the situation without delay. »
The Liberal MP for Nelligan and spokesperson for immigration affirmed that it is “the entire CAQ immigration system that is broken”. “The deadlines are at the level of the PEQ [Programme de l’expérience québécoise], with the permanent immigration programs and they accumulate at the sponsorship level. Name me one program where it works,” Monsef Derraji said. “We have a real stake and it affects the credibility of Quebec. »
The private sponsorship program (also called “collective sponsorship”) has been reformed many times in recent years. Since 2021, sponsoring organizations and groups must now submit a commitment request during the ministry’s call for applications. Once the draw has been made among the files deemed eligible, the sponsors then have 60 days to submit further information, in particular on their financial capacity. Only when they get approval from MIFI can they file their cases with the federal government, which makes a final decision after medical and security checks.
Several sponsors deplore this additional Quebec step, which generates long delays, which the other Canadian provinces do not have.
Explanations of the MIFI
According to the most recent data from the ministry, after the draw and the 60 days that sponsors have to submit their financial documentation, 637 applications, submitted at the beginning of 2022, will be analyzed, in addition to some remaining applications from other years.
These long processing times of almost two years are said to be due in particular to the delay caused by the fact that in 2021, only groups of 2 to 5 people had been authorized to submit sponsorship applications – the organizations having been rejected due to suspicions of fraud which weighed on some of them, as had been revealed The duty. “While organizations can submit up to 30 applications, [groupes 2 à 5] can only present two. Thus, for the sponsorship of the same overall number of people, we must examine the situation of many more guarantors than usual”, explained the spokesperson of the MIFI.
Other programs, such as family reunification and locally recognized refugees, would also have drawn on departmental resources.