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House Hansard - 103

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 27, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 103 - Sep/27/22
Mrs. Marie-France Lalonde (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lib.)
  • Sep/27/22 6:33:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am happy about the questions, because I hope they are going to help my hon. colleague to maybe answer some of his constituents and give me the chance to talk here about the accomplishments the government has achieved to strengthen and expand our immigration and refugee system. As I hope the member for Spadina—Fort York is aware, the pandemic presented challenges to our immigration program that had not been seen before. Actually, the government has taken action to reduce wait times, expand online services and provide better information to clients on their applications, all to provide better services to Canadians. Our plan is working: Canada was able to achieve record-setting admissions of permanent residents. In 2021, we set a record, bringing in more than 405,000 new permanent residents. Our goal for 2022 is to bring in 431,000 permanent residents, and we are on track to reach that goal, with about 309,000 admissions between January 1 and August 31. Never before have we brought in that many people that fast. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC, also issued more than 199,000 work permits in 2021. This year, we issued over 349,000 work permits between January 1 and July 31, compared to approximately 112,000 permits issued during the same period last year. That includes over 220,000 open work permits. Every day, these work permits enable up to 1,700 new people to come work in Canada and contribute to our economic growth. Canada is also a destination of choice for foreign students. In 2021, IRCC finalized nearly 560,000 applications for study permits, breaking the previous record set in 2019 by 31%. This year, IRCC is on track to break that record too, having finalized nearly 452,000 study permits between January 1 and August 31, 2022, compared to 367,000 permits during the same period in 2021. That is a 23% increase. We have also taken actions to support those already here. We have extended post-graduation work permits for recent international graduates. Those whose permits have already expired are eligible for an additional open-work permit of 18 months. The government has invested to improve processing. By the end of this year, we will have added up to 1,250 new staff to increase processing capacity. Also, some of our new system improvements are already increasing efficiency, with more coming to make processes more sustainable in the long term. The government is committed to providing regular progress on reducing inventories and delays. This is why IRCC publishes monthly updates on its website. This all demonstrates that our immigration system is returning to its previous activity and will again achieve Canada's proud standard of welcoming immigrants and refugees.
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