News in Toronto Star

Harper Conservatives leave new immigrants in citizenship limbo

With over 300,000 permanent residents sitting in a Conservative-created backlog waiting for their Canadian citizenship, it is clear the responsible minister, Jason Kenney, cares more about photo ops and his public image than he does about improving the immigration system and managing his own department.

In 2005, the former Liberal government invested $69 million to specifically improve citizenship processing times towards an average of 12 months for a grant of citizenship and four months for a proof of citizenship. We successfully proved that improvements in processing applications are possible.

Since the Conservatives took office in 2006, the processing period to acquire citizenship is now approaching two years for the average applicant and can take four to six years if a proof of residency or hearing is required. Permanent residents who pay their taxes in Canada are unfairly denied the right to vote because Minister Kenney cannot get his priorities straight and ensure his department is run effectively.

A few days ago on January 15, Liberal Multiculturalism critic Jim Karygiannis and I held a press conference calling on the Minister to address the dismal citizenship processing times that have become endemic on his watch. We requested that without delay he provide his department with the necessary resources to efficiently handle these applications.

And while Jason Kenney’s office claimed to the press that we got the numbers wrong, recently released internal documents from Citizenship and Immigration Canada reveal that in 2012 only 2.9% of fully eligible permanent residents obtained their citizenship. This is an astounding drop from the rate of 76% in 2005 under the Liberals.

A few days later, the Minister tried again to explain away the Harper government’s dramatic increase in backlog and processing times. This time though, he blamed the situation on his department having fewer resources to process more permanent residents – a direct result of the deep budget cuts passed solely by the Conservatives.

The truth of the matter is that Jason Kenney consistently manipulates and distorts immigration issues to give false impressions, however absurd his excuses may appear. I would challenge the Minister to face me in a public forum anywhere in Canada and at his preferred time. I will wait for him to accept my offer and prove he is accountable to all Canadians