Speaking Notes

The Honourable Joe Volpe, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, at a meeting with la Table de concertation au service des réfugiés et des immigrants (TCRI)

Montreal, Quebec, March 18, 2005

Check against delivery

Thank you. It’s a pleasure for me to be here, and to have this opportunity to meet with so many of you who have played such a vital role in helping improve Canada’s immigration and refugee program.

I’m immensely proud of your many contributions to helping ensure that newcomers who come to this province can play a full and active role in our society and that those such as refugees are given special attention. I’m looking forward to hearing your views and ideas on how we should move forward through this type of meeting and through many other forums at which we share a place at the table.

This afternoon, I’d like to briefly speak with you about some initiatives currently underway at Citizenship and Immigration Canada. But I’m also here to listen to some of your thoughts and give ear to some of your concerns. So I look forward to engaging in an honest and open dialogue.

One of my first actions as Minister was to develop a six point plan listing several areas of the immigration and refugee program that needed addressing. The plan includes a commitment to accelerate processing times, improve the temporary worker program, and deal with the backlog of family reunification applications.

Today, Citizenship and Immigration Canada is working very hard on each of these initiatives. But I want to emphasize that we cannot act alone. All of you have a critical role to play. We need to hear your views, get your input, and benefit from your participation in order to succeed.

One of the first priorities for many newcomers, of course, is to reunite with loved ones from overseas. Family reunification is one of the foundations of Canada’s immigration program, and support for families is a clear priority of the Government of Canada.

We therefore need to make sure that we continually improve processing times for all family-class applications — especially for spouses and children. Again, I’d like to assure you that the Department is currently exploring ways we can do that, while also working hard to find a way to draw down our current inventories in the family class. That’s why last month I was pleased to announce a change for out-of-status spouses in Canada as part of that effort.

Improving client service is also high on my list of priorities — especially as it relates to giving newcomers access to programs and information about their files. Budget 2005 provides Citizenship and Immigration Canada with the resources to help improve many aspects of service delivery — including making it easier for newcomers to get information about their applications or about their new life in Canada through the development of an online information portal.

Service delivery also applies to refugees. Today’s system is internationally recognized as one of the best in the world in terms of fairness and compassion. But it also results in large inventories and places lives in limbo. The process needs to be streamlined through every phase. — from the time someone enters into the system, through the determination by the IRB and then the multiple processes that exist beyond the IRB decision. The Immigration and Refugee Board and other partners are working on addressing their backlogs, and I support these efforts as they support improved performance of the process as a whole.

What we need is a fast, fair and efficient system that meets our service delivery goals by quickly landing those in genuine need of protection and quickly removing those who are found not to need it so all can get on with their lives.

We need to ensure that Canada’s assistance goes to those in genuine need of protection and our collective efforts or resources go towards helping as many refugees as possible. This is plainly in the best interests of everyone. It’s also just plain common sense.

Today’s realities perhaps call for a more balanced approach to how the government allocates its resources. Can we create a much faster, more streamlined, and fairer way of identifying those in genuine need who arrive at our borders? Will this support a firmer commitment to implementing permanent solutions to the plight of refugees worldwide, and for Canada to play a more active leadership role internationally? These are the questions that need to be answered.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada is currently reviewing many aspects to the refugee program with a view to improving how we can more quickly identify, process and land those individuals in genuine need of protection and how we can provide more assistance to more legitimate refugees. Your input and participation in these efforts will be critical to our success.

The Safe Third Country Agreement has been in full operation, of course, since December and is working well. It’s still early, but so far there have been no disputes between the parties, and everything indicates that cases are being handled in a generous and efficient manner. Nor has there been any increase in inland claims or any indication that individuals are being denied protection as a result of the Agreement. So we’re making progress.

Let me emphasize that protection will continue to be a guiding principle for any reform the Department undertakes. Canada does not today return individuals to countries where they face persecution or torture. Nor is it our intention to begin doing so. The current system provides protection to those who need it — and indeed has been recognized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as setting an example for other countries.

But we can take steps to make improvements both at individual stages and to the smoother functioning of the continuum as a whole, with the goal of a refugee determination system that provides protection in a manner that is faster, fairer and more efficient.

Today I think we need to work together to ensure that this remains the case and help ensure that Canada continues to proudly uphold its humanitarian track record around the world in the months and years ahead.

Thank you.