Diane Ablonczy, MP
Opposition Critic for Immigration and Citizenship
Dear Mrs. Ablonczy:
This letter is being submitted to you further to your request on Friday, February 18th, 2005, on behalf of www.sponsoryourparents.ca. We met with you and Mr. Stephen Harper, Leader of the Opposition, at the Conservative Party of Canada National Consultation on Canada? Immigration System. At that time you asked us to submit a written summary of our presentation.
The Immigration Ministry has a program which allows Canadians to sponsor their parents and grandparents to Canada; however, over the last three years the numbers of parents allowed into Canada from this program have been slashed from about 20,000 to an estimated 6,000. Meanwhile, the Immigration Ministry is taking fees and applications, but they have failed to process any applications since March 2004, and are constantly pushing back the processing times. The government has accepted our fees and we expect them to fulfill this legal and binding contract.
Canadians who have applied under this program have had their reasonable expectations for waiting times shattered by the Liberal government. Even once a sponsorship is processed within Canada, applications are further delayed in our Embassy? abroad for years. As a result of these inefficiencies, Canada risks losing its status as a choice destination for skilled immigrants.
Even though we have been submitting signatures on our petitions, there have been few responses from Liberal MPs. We ask for parental sponsorship to be once again a government priority as opposed to the zero priority which it is today. We also ask for parents to be permitted to come to Canada as visitors while this processing problem exists.
One of the benefits of the parental sponsorship program is that this will assist the national day-care debate. These parents and grandparents would relieve the government and taxpayers from this burden by taking care of the children in their families at a higher level than state-run institutional childcare services.
Canada also loses independent skilled workers annually due to the lack of legal commitments to sponsoring parents. The Liberals are misleading Canadians with respect to this program, while the lives of millions of Canadians are being affected negatively by this issue. Parents are literally dying before they can enter Canada under this program, which has a tremendous human cost shared by far too many immigrants to this country.
The government is not communicating its immigration policy to the people. Citizens demand accountability and transparency as to how their fees are being spent; they are entitled to truthful waiting times. This issue is damaging the Canadian international reputation and is limiting our rights to bring our parents into Canada. Due to all of the above, the government has opened itself up to a class action lawsuit.
We ask the Conservative Party to help rectify this injustice and restore a principled approach to the Canadian immigration policy.
Respectfully yours,
Eugenia , Chair - www.sponsoryourparents.ca
Opposition Critic for Immigration and Citizenship
Dear Mrs. Ablonczy:
This letter is being submitted to you further to your request on Friday, February 18th, 2005, on behalf of www.sponsoryourparents.ca. We met with you and Mr. Stephen Harper, Leader of the Opposition, at the Conservative Party of Canada National Consultation on Canada? Immigration System. At that time you asked us to submit a written summary of our presentation.
The Immigration Ministry has a program which allows Canadians to sponsor their parents and grandparents to Canada; however, over the last three years the numbers of parents allowed into Canada from this program have been slashed from about 20,000 to an estimated 6,000. Meanwhile, the Immigration Ministry is taking fees and applications, but they have failed to process any applications since March 2004, and are constantly pushing back the processing times. The government has accepted our fees and we expect them to fulfill this legal and binding contract.
Canadians who have applied under this program have had their reasonable expectations for waiting times shattered by the Liberal government. Even once a sponsorship is processed within Canada, applications are further delayed in our Embassy? abroad for years. As a result of these inefficiencies, Canada risks losing its status as a choice destination for skilled immigrants.
Even though we have been submitting signatures on our petitions, there have been few responses from Liberal MPs. We ask for parental sponsorship to be once again a government priority as opposed to the zero priority which it is today. We also ask for parents to be permitted to come to Canada as visitors while this processing problem exists.
One of the benefits of the parental sponsorship program is that this will assist the national day-care debate. These parents and grandparents would relieve the government and taxpayers from this burden by taking care of the children in their families at a higher level than state-run institutional childcare services.
Canada also loses independent skilled workers annually due to the lack of legal commitments to sponsoring parents. The Liberals are misleading Canadians with respect to this program, while the lives of millions of Canadians are being affected negatively by this issue. Parents are literally dying before they can enter Canada under this program, which has a tremendous human cost shared by far too many immigrants to this country.
The government is not communicating its immigration policy to the people. Citizens demand accountability and transparency as to how their fees are being spent; they are entitled to truthful waiting times. This issue is damaging the Canadian international reputation and is limiting our rights to bring our parents into Canada. Due to all of the above, the government has opened itself up to a class action lawsuit.
We ask the Conservative Party to help rectify this injustice and restore a principled approach to the Canadian immigration policy.
Respectfully yours,
Eugenia , Chair - www.sponsoryourparents.ca
