Nick Noorani Website

Chinese immigrants Anne Lee and her husband, Frank (not their real names), speak with tears in their eyes. “We left our parents behind and came to Canada because we were told that Canada respects our wish to bring our parents here.” It is now five years since they applied to sponsor their parents — in that time, Anne’s mother has passed away.

Frank now worries whether his parents and father-in-law will ever be able to get their family visa.
In a country with a one child rule, every time a Chinese immigrant comes to Canada, they leave behind a parent with no other children to help take care of them as they age. Several immigrants I know have made plans to return to their homelands and their ageing parents … depriving Canada of generations of much-needed labour and future generations of taxpayers. Not to mention a reputation as a country that isn’t upfront with immigrants.
Many immigrants tell us that one of the main reasons they chose Canada was the fact that they could sponsor their parents. I know that was true for Sabrina and me.
According to a recently released report, in 2002 the immigration department deliberately “managed downward” the target for parents and grandparents. According to Richard Kurland, one of the lawyers who has initiated a class action suit, “the immigration department made efforts to conceal the true state of the backlog and delay.”
This delay has meant that in certain countries, processing times for parents could be as long as nine years! What is even more shocking is that the government did not reveal actual processing times by only talking of “historic” processing times.
The lawsuit alleges the department reduced the number of applications processed to 6,000; only last year under Joe Volpe’s leadership was the number brought back to 18,000. The damage however of the last few years has meant that the waiting list has ballooned to 100,000!
Coming so close on the heels of the much trumpeted reduction in the Right of Permanent Residence Fee, it is no surprise that the fee reduction announcement has met with lukewarm response. How does this help immigrants who have already paid their fees … how does this help me?
It will be of help for me when I sponsor my parents and pay their fees, but given the fact that it may take a decade to do so, getting a discount on my dreams of reuniting my family seems rather worthless.