The government of François Legault refuses to let Ottawa bypass its immigration thresholds in the family reunification category. A choice which risks being “lose-lose”, according to the federal Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller.
The waiting list for family reunification may be close to 40,000 people, but the Quebec Minister of Immigration, Christine Fréchette, recently refused an outstretched hand from the federal government to process all “permanent residence applications which have received a CSQ [Certificat de sélection du Québec] “. “The threshold for family reunification was set during the last multi-year plan submitted in November,” Ms.’s office simply said.me Fréchette in a text message exchange, Friday.
Quebec has set its family reunification targets at around 10,000 new arrivals for the next two years. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, which processes admission applications, cannot exceed this total. However, processing times in this area have climbed to the point of waiting more than three years in Quebec.
The Canadian Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller, therefore proposed to Mr.me Fréchette that the federal administrative apparatus can bypass Quebec’s thresholds while waiting to have reduced the delays. “If no steps are taken in this direction, it will be a lose-lose for both levels of government,” he argued.
But the CAQ government rejected it.
Questioned on Friday, the office of Mme Fréchette said he encouraged Ottawa to process requests in this category “on a first-come, first-served basis,” that is, by focusing first on the oldest files.
On the social network “ [La ministre] has just missed the opportunity to show that his government is capable of showing humanity and recognizing that Quebec families deserve consideration,” he said.
Guillaume Cliche-Rivard deplored the “lack of sensitivity” of Minister Fréchette. “Are you deliberately separating Quebec families? It’s terrible and distressing,” he wrote.
If he agrees that Quebec has the right to set its own migration thresholds, the PQ immigration spokesperson, Stéphane Handfield, agreed that Mme Fréchette could “modulate his targets”. ” She could […] place greater importance on family reunification over the next two years,” he said.
The long delays in family reunification caused the government of Quebec and that of Canada to be put on notice by a lawyer this week. Me Maxime Lapointe gives them 60 days to find a solution to the backlog of several tens of thousands of requests.