Immigration Corner | Trudeau’s mandate to immigration minister

Dear Miss Powell,

Will Canada change its immigration systems for the new year? I’m still interested in going to Canada and would just like to know if there will be any new programmes or changes to the system that will make it easier for people to go to Canada. Looking forward to your response.

– KW

Dear KW,

The government of Canada is focused on continuing and improving programmes to welcome newcomers to Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently issued mandate letters to all his ministers of government. Mandate letters outline Trudeau’s expectations of his ministers and is used as guide for policymaking.

The key mandate to the minister of immigration, refugee and citizenship Canada is to “strengthen Canada’s immigration and refugee system, including bringing in more newcomers to all regions of Canada, who will support Canada’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic”. The prime minister further emphasised that Immigration Minister Sean Frazer “will continue to strengthen family reunification and reduce application processing times”.

The key mandate to the immigration minister highlighted that policies should be implemented to improve the temporary workers, economic immigration, family reunification, francophone immigration and refugees’ programmes, as well as citizenship applications.

NEWCOMERS TO CANADA

The minister is commissioned to continue with the 2021-2023 immigration level plans. That means implementing and strengthening programmes to realise the plan to welcome 401,000 new permanent residents in 2021; 411,000 in 2022; and 421,000 in 2023. The pandemic interrupted these plans. However, Canada continued to grant permanent residence and landed 313,880 persons by October, and therefore could reach the target by the end of the year.

The mandate includes the creation of more permanent pathways via the Express Entry System for international students and temporary foreign workers; create new programmes, so that there will be a broader distribution of immigrants to smaller communities through new municipal nominee programmes, such as the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot and the Atlantic Immigration Pilot.

For undocumented workers, the minister is required to promote pilot programmes to identify and regularise undocumented workers and provide a pathway to permanent residence to those who qualify. This could be helpful, especially for those serving on the frontlines during the pandemic.

TEMPORARY FOREIGN WORKERS

Frazer should establish a trusted employer system for Canadian companies as a part of improving the global talent stream and to simplify the work permit-renewal process. A key part of reducing wait time is to restore the two-week processing time for applications.

REFUGEES

Apart from continuing the mandate to assist Afghans, there should be an expanded new immigration stream for human-rights defenders. This means that the government is focused on increasing the number of eligible refugees from 20,000 to at least 40,000. The programmes should build on the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot to welcome skilled refugees to Canada.

FAMILY UNIFICATION

The government is expected to introduce new systems to improve the processing of family sponsorship applications. Many Canadians and permanent residents are pleased to know that Frazer is commissioned to provide temporary residence to spouses and children while they await the processing of their permanent resident applications.

Canada is committed to improving its immigration system and we expect that Fraser will announce his new plans in February, which should detail how he plans to carry out his mandate. This could mean the introduction of new programmes. Stay tuned!

Deidre S. Powell, is a Canadian immigration lawyer and notary public. Connect with her via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your questions and comments via www.deidrepowell.com.