John McCallum, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, visited the city of Surrey on August 16 for a Meet and Greet with the Surrey media. Present along with him were Members of Parliament Sukh Dhaliwal (Surrey-Newton), John Aldag (Cloverdale - Langley City), Ken Hardie (Fleetwood-Port Kells), Randeep Sarai (Surrey Centre) and Jati Sidhu (Mission - Matsqui - Fraser Canyon).
During his introduction, Minister McCallum stated the work his ministry has done so far, namely resettlement of Syrian refugees to Canada, restoring refugee healthcare, the Citizenship Act has passed the House of Commons, relaxed the language test for older people.
He also mentioned that he is currently working on reducing application process time for families and will announce a new system for it in Fall. He also aims at making the immigration system more efficient and effective and one of the things they are going to so is give additional points for express entry to international students
The media in attendance asked Minster McCallum questions on crucial issues pertaining to his ministry. A prominent question asked was about the time taken to process an applicant’s immigration form.
In fact, present at the event were families protesting about the long immigration process and requesting Minister McCallum to look into the matter and find a way for a speedy process. Among the protestors were women and children who have not seen their family members (fathers, husbands) for a long time. Minister McCallum spoke to these families and assured them that he will work to expedite the situation.
Many members from the media industry voiced this question, asking Minister McCallum the solution to this problem.
“It is our number one priority to clear up the backlog of spouses and dependent children who has been waiting for it too long. Once we get to a certain point on that, we will be able to announce a new system for family unification where you will see a substantial reduction in the processing time for children and spouses,” said Minister McCallum.
Others topics addressed were related to Bill C-6, LMO, low-skilled workers, work visa, citizenship, and express entry visa, among others.
