Immigration: Minister Marc Miller proposes several changes

OTTAWA –

Immigration Minister Marc Miller says further reforms to Canada’s immigration and asylum systems will be proposed in the coming weeks.

This comes on the heels of a significant cut in the targeted number of permanent residents admitted to Canada over the next two years and tighter rules around temporary work permits.

Statistics provided by Canadian officials show that the average wait time to process refugee and asylum applications is about 44 months.

Miller told the House of Commons immigration committee on Monday that the asylum and refugee system is not working as it should because of volume and inefficiency.

“I want to reform the system; it’s not working the way it should,” Miller said.

“The growing claims that we’re seeing now, domestically, are not unexpected. They’re what we saw with people who had less and less hope of staying in Canada and who were being advised to file, I think unfairly, asylum applications where they should not have the ability to do so.”

Inland asylum applications are those made outside regular ports of entry. People must have been in Canada for at least two weeks before making such a claim. According to government data, 635 of these claims were processed between January and September this year.

Earlier in the testimony, Miller said an increasing number of people on student visas have filed for asylum.

This can be an emotional issue, as protesters at the committee held up signs that said, “Don’t deport us! Don’t be racist! Rights not cuts! Status for all!” at the end of Miller’s testimony.

One of the protesters from the group Migrant Workers Alliance for Change told the minister that “we are the people you are trying to kick out of this country,” as the minister left the committee room. The group of around 20 people were escorted from the building by Parliamentary Protection Services.

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan brought calls to reverse recent immigration changes, which say migrants are being scapegoated for issues like the housing crisis, in her line of questioning.

Miller responded that becoming a Canadian citizen is not a right.

“It’s not a right to become a permanent resident. It’s not a right to become a Canadian citizen, otherwise you dilute the value of that. That’s something I firmly believe in,” Miller said.

“It doesn’t mean at the same time that you’re treating people unfairly, and those who have undertaken in their own visas that they want to leave this obviously have to respect that.”

Miller added that there are nuances to the issue, which is why there is a goal to draw 40 percent of new permanent residents from people already in Canada.

There were almost 250,000 refugee claims to be decided at the end of September. In the same time frame, 48,000 asylum applications had been processed since the beginning of this year.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on November 25, 2024