Speaking Notes - The Honourable Joe Volpe, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, before a meeting of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration

Ottawa, Ontario, February 24, 2005

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Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I appreciate the invitation to be here today. I’m especially happy to have this opportunity to speak with you about some of the initiatives currently underway in my Department, and how I see things moving forward over the coming months.

This committee has a very important role to play in helping improve the immigration program. I’m looking forward in this regard to receiving your input from the upcoming cross-Canada consultations. So let me first extend my warmest greeting to each of you, and my hope that by moving forward together we can deliver a program that indeed benefits all Canadians.

Where do we begin? I recently outlined a six-point plan. Thanks to yesterday’s budget, my Government has dedicated some of the extra resources needed to carry it out. So this is what I’d like to talk about this morning.

I’m very happy to note that the Budget provides the Department with $398 million in settlement and client service funding that will help us improve access to information and service delivery for our clients and also provide many more newcomers with further access to the services such as language training that make such a difference to how quickly and well they adapt to their new lives in Canada. This is good news for everyone.

One of the first areas I think we need to look at is the length of time it can take for some newcomers to get here. This is particularly true for many of the foreign-trained skilled workers who want to bring their talents and ideas to Canada and help our businesses become more competitive.

Some wish to stay for only a short time. Many more want to make Canada their new home permanently. I think in all cases we have to find a way to work more closely with businesses and unions to get the workers and skills Canada needs much faster than today. My Department is currently looking at a number of options in this regard, and we’re also working very hard to find ways that we can make the immigration program more responsive to labour market needs.

One group of workers of particular concern to all of us are those who remain in Canada without legal status. These workers too provide needed skills especially in the trades sectors.

So we need to find a way that they can be recognized as full and productive members of Canadian society without jeopardizing the integrity of Canada’s immigration program or signalling to those who would abuse Canada’s hospitality that there are no repercussions for disregarding the rules.

This is a very complex issue. But I’d like to assure the committee that my Department is actively engaged in examining all possible solutions with our partners and other stakeholders.

International students also represent a current and future pool of talent for many businesses right across Canada. That’s why my Department is currently looking at ways to make sure Canada can attract more foreign students to come and study at Canadian universities and colleges and to better integrate into the labour market those who wish to gain Canadian work experience. We’ve taken some steps forward in this regard by launching a variety of pilot agreements with our Provincial partners. But we can and will do much more.

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. The 2005 Budget provides my Department 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. By providing community-specific information, the portal will be a useful promotion tool for provinces, communities and municipalities that want to attract and retain more newcomers. It’s also going to provide a coordinated access point for online information and services to help newcomers make informed decisions about coming to Canada as well as preparing for the Canadian labour market before they arrive.

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 Immigration and Refugee Board is working on addressing that backlog, and I support their efforts.

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.

One of the first priorities for many newcomers — whether they arrive under the skilled worker program or not — 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 the committee that my 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 week I was pleased to announce a change for out-of-status spouses in Canada as part of that effort.

All newcomers to Canada, of course, enrich us socially and economically. The reality today however is that a large majority choose to settle in Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal. I’ve said in the past that we need to work with communities across Canada to help them attract and retain the newcomers many will need to thrive and prosper in the future. This is what we’re doing, so that all regions in Canada can benefit from immigration.

My Department is currently working very hard with our provincial and territorial partners to develop strategies especially for smaller centres including Francophone minority communities.

A clear majority of newcomers to Canada choose to demonstrate their commitment to this country by becoming citizens. Yet our present Citizenship Act is more than 25 years old.

I believe we need to examine and address how Canadians and newcomers regard citizenship. We need to modernize Canada’s citizenship legislation to reflect today’s realities and I’m looking forward to working with this committee over the coming months to move this initiative forward.

I think that by working together as equal partners to strengthen and improve the immigration program, we can help ensure Canada’s prosperity and national growth for both this and future generations yet to come.

Thank you.