Federal Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino met virtually with his provincial and territorial counterparts to find ways of speeding up the processing time for new permanent residents, as well as increasing their numbers and boosting Canadian immigration.
“Immigration is an integral part of any economic recovery, and we have never seen it more necessary to ensure prosperity for all Canadians,” said Arlene Dunn. She cited the unprecedented challenges that immigrants face due to a pandemic but also emphasized immigration’s ability in contributing to our economy through innovation and entrepreneurship.
The ministers used their time to discuss the distribution of immigration, cultural integration strategies, and how best to leverage successes in different immigration programs.
Immigration playing critical role in response to COVID-19
Canadian immigration minister says that Canada can’t afford to turn their back on immigrants and refugees. “Canada’s immigration system has played a critical role in our response to COVID-19, said Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino,” he continued.
The federal government of Canada is aware that the country needs workers from other nations more than ever before due to its economic recovery after CIVID 19 caused billions worth of damage across North America last year. In fact, according to Mendicino this type of support for migrants will continue because it leads Canadians into prosperity while also helping them deal with disasters like COVID-19 which causes widespread destruction on both sides of the border each time they strike again.
“Canada is relying on immigration to help fight the virus and provide economic stability.” He said.
“Today, we had productive discussions with the provinces and territories on how to better and more evenly spread the benefits of immigration across the country,” he added. “Our ongoing collaboration, further strengthened today, has contributed to valuable initiatives that will help support population growth and a modern immigration system.
“Together, we can build a stronger and more diverse Canada.”
The Forum of Ministers’ responsibilities
The Forum of Ministers Responsible for Immigration meets monthly to discuss immigration issues in Canada. The group is comprised of cabinet ministers and their political staff, with independent experts often invited as guests. Issues covered cover a wide range from refugee resettlement plans, temporary foreign worker programs, visa processing rates at Canadian embassies abroad, etc., all the way to relations between different cultural groups within Canada’s borders.
In order to attract talented, educated immigrants for the future of our country and economy, Canada has put in place measures such as speedier processing times via an entirely online application system. This is a huge step forward from last year when there were many barriers that deterred people considering immigration, including long wait periods before their paperwork was processed or jobs could be picked up while they waited for permanent residency status.
The government understands how important it is to not only encourage more immigration but also make it easier than ever with all new initiatives being introduced since this past year which includes speeding up processing time by making everything completely digital on applications like the Start-up Visa program.
Virtual and Touchless Immigration process
“My vision for our immigration system going forward is that it is completely virtual and touchless and that each and every one of these steps is integrated so that we become the envy of the world,” said Mendicino.
“In a world that is increasingly going virtual, we are leading the way, especially when it comes to our immigration system,” said the immigration minister. “We are the only ones that have moved our citizenship ceremony online, to my knowledge, and now we are also moving into the digital space when it comes to testing applicants.”
The IRCC’s innovations during the pandemic boosted permanent resident arrivals despite COVID-19 to improve Canadian immigration.
“The improvement we’re seeing in permanent resident admissions is encouraging and good news for the economy,” said Iain Reeve, associate director of immigration research at the Conference Board of Canada.
