QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Processing Backlog
October 8, 2024
Minister, I want to talk about citizenship applications.
Your own service standard is to process these applications within 12 months. Your target is to meet this standard on at least 80% of the applications submitted. The Liberals made this commitment in November 2015, when they first came to power. Yet your own figures show that only 36% of applications were processed within the standard in 2022-23. Minister, a student who gets a mark of 36% fails his year. An employee who achieves only 36% of his objectives is fired. Are you proud of this result?
With regard to timelines, you don’t necessarily have to take my word for it. The Auditor General has said unequivocally that these have improved significantly in recent years. There’s always room for improvement. I know that people waiting for their Canadian citizenship take this very seriously, and it’s important for me to ensure that our department meets the standards we’ve set ourselves.
Thank you. What concrete action have you taken to achieve these objectives? Are you going to fire civil servants who don’t reach 50%, or have you given them bonuses? What concrete action have you taken?
As minister, I have a very important duty to Canadians. Within my department, my deputy minister has the very important responsibility of managing personnel. He can’t just decide to fire everybody — that’s dramatic and unprofessional. When I’m disappointed with something, I communicate it directly to my deputy minister and he takes note.
