Speaking notes for The Honourable Jason Kenney, P.C., M.P. Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism

At a Haiti Update News Conference CIC’s response to the Haiti earthquake: 6 months after the disaster
Ottawa, Ontario, July 12, 2010

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I am pleased to report that Citizenship and Immigration Canada has responded to the humanitarian disaster in Haiti with speed and diligence.

In the days immediately following the earthquake, CIC’s primary focus was on uniting adopted children with their new parents in Canada. These were cases where parents were in the final stages of the adoption process, and were understandably desperate to bring their children to Canada after the earthquake struck.

Through the collective efforts of everyone involved in Operation Stork, 203 Haitian children were quickly united with their Canadian families. In the space of a few weeks we completed as many Haitian adoption cases as are we normally do in about two years.

I had the privilege of being at the airport to meet a couple of these flights, seeing first-hand the joy of the new parents as their children arrived.

On January 16, we announced extraordinary immigration measures to help reunite Canadian families of Haitian origin with spouses, parents, and children affected by the disaster as quickly as possible. I am happy to report at this time that under the Haiti Special Measures Program, decisions have been made on approximately 95% of cases received before April 1, including those received prior to the earthquake.

The other roughly 5% are being worked on, and in most cases are waiting for more information from the sponsoring families.

This means that a total of 2,355 Haitians sponsored by Canadian citizens or permanent residents have either had their applications approved, refused, or withdrawn, or they are safely in Canada with temporary status while we finalize their case. That is more than five times the number of applications processed in 2009 for the same time frame in the categories covered under the special measures.

It also represents the fastest treatment of such a large number of applications in our immigration history, and the largest number of people ever helped under special measures following a humanitarian disaster.

CIC is still receiving applications under the special immigration measures for Haiti, and we're committed to fast tracking those applications by making a decision within 3 months. This compares to normal timelines of 27 months for such applications.

The Government of Quebec announced in February that it would use its power of selection under the Canada-Quebec Immigration Accord to select a certain number of Haitians based on its own criteria.

To date we have received approximately 90 such applications from Quebec, and we are working to process them on a priority basis.

In addition, our special measures have also helped to provide certainty by granting extending the legal status of some 3,600 Haitian nationals living temporarily in Canada, such as students and temporary workers.

We also granted Temporary Resident Visas and Permits to some 2,500 Haitian citizens since the earthquake, allowing them to travel to Canada, often to accompany family members who were devastated by the earthquake.

Finally, I can report that the Immigration and Refugee Board prioritized the consideration of asylum claims from Haitians following the earthquake, and that they had rendered over 1100 decisions by the end of May, substantially cutting the backlog of pending Haitian asylum claims at the IRB.  The acceptance rate of such claims at the IRB is currently 60%.

In closing, let me thank the hard-working officials in Citizenship and Immigration Canada for their tremendous efforts under difficult circumstances over the past several months to help so many families who lost so much to re-unite, and to start new lives here in Canada.