QUESTION PERIOD — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Immigration System
February 25, 2026
My question is for the government leader.
Senator Moreau, we’re learning that your government has transformed the asylum system into a simple paper-sorting operation. Since 2019, tens of thousands of claims have been processed without hearings, without meetings and without any contact with officials. Over 25,000 people coming from dangerous countries obtained refugee status without ever having met with or been interviewed by our officials.
There is only one way to describe it: sheer negligence. Even more worrisome, a former official from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said that security requirements were set aside because the system was overwhelmed. Senator Moreau, did your government willingly relax the screening procedures in order to conceal a significant backlog that it had itself created? Who is taking responsibility for this?
Thank you for the question, Senator Housakos.
The government is committed to providing Canadians with an immigration system that ensures the safety of all Canadians and that thoroughly screens individuals seeking refugee status or asylum in Canada.
We will work very hard to strengthen Canada’s immigration system, and I thank our colleagues who worked on Bill C-12.
No one is getting a free pass. In some cases, refugees who are in extremely difficult situations and pose no danger may be given more direct access, but in every instance, security screening is carried out by border officials before these individuals are allowed to leave the port of entry.
It took 10 years for Bill C-12 to reach the Senate of Canada. This file has been passed from one incompetent minister to another, each one worse than the last. Community organizations can’t even reach Minister Diab. Even some of your Liberal colleagues are saying that she’s unavailable.
When will the government assume its responsibilities? When will you get this under control and restore credibility to Canada’s immigration system?
I believe the government is making considerable efforts, as evidenced by the insistence with which questions were put to officials from the Department of Immigration when Bill C-12 was being studied.
I was at the standing committee just two days ago. All the questions that needed to be asked were asked to reassure us that the system is working and that the improvements we wanted to make will indeed keep Canadians safe.
