Citizenship and Immigration

Opening remarks

Hello, and thank you for having me. My name is Ranya Elfil, and I'm a board member of the Sudanese Canadian Communities Association. Since the war in Sudan began in April 2023, I have worked extensively with IRCC to advocate for humanitarian pathways for Sudanese impacted by the war—a tradition Canada has upheld for many communities in times of crisis. Sudan is facing genocide and the largest humanitarian and displacement crisis in the world. Today I'm here to share our community's experience with prolonged delays, inequitable processing and systemic disparities, and to outline how we can ensure no future community endures what we have. When the war began, we submitted a policy brief calling for multiple immigration pathways. Initially, IRCC focused on a family reunification pathway, recognizing the direct impact on Canadians and permanent residents with loved ones trapped in Sudan. The program launched—after many delays—10 months later, in February 2024. It was capped at 3,250 applicants and later increased to 5,000. Sponsors were required to assume full financial responsibility and demonstrate substantial income, or tens of thousands of dollars in available funds.…

Opening remarks

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for the invitation. My thanks also to the C.D. Howe Institute for its support with the publication last month of my paper on the subject of the Immigration and Refugee Board's file review policy. The file review policy involves the rapid acceptance of asylum claims without conducting a hearing or asking any questions of the claimant. For example, between January 2019 and February 2023, the IRB accepted 24,599 asylum claimants into Canada without asking them a single question. This policy remains in effect, and I think it's problematic for a number of reasons. Firstly, it has not worked. During the relevant time, the backlog of claims increased from 17,000 in 2016 to 300,000 in 2025, an increase of more than 1,400%. Secondly, the policy may also increase risk to Canada. The refugee hearing functions as a screen for national security risk and fraud. During the hearing, if questioning raises a red flag, the IRB member must stop the hearing and notify the minister to give the minister the chance to intervene. If the IRB accepts claims without conducting hearings or asking questions, those risks will never be detected, the minister's ability to…

Opening remarks

Thank you very much. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today on behalf of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and our new immigration council to provide testimony to your study on the immigration system. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is the country's largest business association, with an active network of 400 chambers across the country representing nearly 200,000 businesses. We exist in almost all sectors, across almost all regions and certainly in most ridings in Canada. Immigration is a key driver of economic growth in Canada. For thousands of businesses, temporary and permanent immigration is not optional. It's an economic imperative. That economic imperative became even more relevant last January with the inauguration of the current U.S. administration. Since then, Canadian businesses have been under strain due to the real or potential risk of tariffs that might shut down their sector. They're under strain because of aggressive changes to U.S. tax policy, and they're being asked to diversify to new markets. At a time when Canadian businesses are having to compete in ways they haven't before, adding one more…

Opening remarks

Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for inviting the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada, or FCFA, to testify today. My name is Liane Roy, and I have with me our executive director, Alain Dupuis. For 50 years, the FCFA has been the national and international voice of minority francophones and Acadians in nine provinces and three territories. It runs a network of several hundred francophone organizations and institutions across the country. It is the federal government's voice when it comes to the vitality of our communities. In 2001, the FCFA and its network made francophone immigration a priority in the national development of our communities. The FCFA quickly took a national leadership role on the issue. In 25 years, our communities have come a long way. For example, every province and territory now has at least one reception and settlement service in French. Recruitment is improving, but it's still more mixed. In 2003, the government and the communities jointly adopted a target of 4.4% for francophone immigration to minority communities. It took us 19 years to reach that target. In the meantime, there have been…

Opening remarks

Thank you for your question. In our opinion, francophone immigration outside Quebec must first and foremost meet the economic needs of the francophone minority. As we know, we are dealing with labour shortages in key areas such as education. In fact, there is a shortage of at least 15,000 French and second-language teachers outside Quebec. Consequently, if we want to maintain a bilingual Canada, we certainly need qualified teachers. We are also short 75,000 francophone day care spots. It's very difficult to place your children in a French-language day care outside Quebec. As we know, if children aren't educated in French during their early childhood, they won't go to a French-language school. Those are the two sectors fundamental to the future of bilingualism in Canada, but there is also potential to develop bilingualism in other sectors. We know that the transportation and tourism sectors, for example, require bilingualism to properly welcome Canadians and enable them to travel. We can also count on the bilingualization of more sectors of the Canadian economy in all provinces and territories. The Canadian economy is in a period of diversification. The more we use Canada's…