ARCHIVED – Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration, 2006

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Section 7
Conclusion and Key Challenges for the Future

Immigration has largely defined what Canada is today. Immigration has contributed to the building and transformation of the population while making significant contributions to the development of our economy, our society, and our culture. Moving forward, immigration will continue to play a critical role in building the Canada of tomorrow. The future success of Canada’s immigration will depend on maintaining a balance between addressing Canada’s economic, social, cultural, and demographic needs while protecting the health, safety, and security of Canadians.

Significant progress has been made by the Department in strengthening the fundamentals of the immigration system, and in refining the programs and operational tools we use to provide more efficient, quality services to our clients. There is still the need, however, to continue on this process of improvement. While Canada’s immigration system provides a strong foundation upon which to build, CIC needs to take action to ensure the program is well-positioned to meet new and emerging challenges in terms of changing demographic, labour market, and international contexts while at the same time maintaining the integrity of the program and public confidence.

CIC has established three priorities for the future to guide the Department in strengthening its work and addressing the challenges that it faces. Starting in 2006-2007, the Department’s priorities will be implementing an integrated policy framework; improving client service; and building the work force of the future.

The integrated policy framework will guide the development of policies and programs that will help address the challenges faced by CIC clients across all of our lines of business – in terms of immigration, refugees, and citizenship including integration and settlement. To date, efforts have largely focused on the challenges facing the immigration program. It is time to expand the effort and confirm potential new policy and program directions not only in immigration, but also in respect to refugees, integration, and citizenship. The successful development of an integrated framework and associated policies and programs will require working in close partnership with other Government of Canada departments, provinces/territories, and other key players such as communities, employers, and non-governmental organizations.

In respect to client service, some improvements have been made in the last period, specifically regarding the processing times in some categories, and in the functioning of the call centre. While a positive step forward, they are not yet sufficient to improve public perceptions regarding the system. A client service improvement plan will be developed to support the new policy framework in a way that more effectively and coherently responds to the evolving needs and expectations of clients, ensuring that Canada continues to be an attractive destination of choice. Service improvements must be introduced progressively to allow for the building of the required capacity that will improve application management, processing times and client service.

Building the work force of the future will allow CIC to achieve its objectives and will be key to the success of its work. The dedicated employees of CIC have made great efforts during the past year to support and advance the immigration program. They stand ready to do so again. Given such a foundation, Canada is well-positioned to use immigration as a key instrument for its future economic, social, and cultural development.

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