Canada’s Standing Committee On CIMM invited the Immigration Minister & Deputy Minister to discuss IRCC objectives.
The role of the immigration minister is to work with IRCC stakeholders & provincial/ territorial governments to create immigration strategies which strengthen the nation’s economy, reunite families, & welcome refugees. In addition, the immigration minister also has a mandate to promote the French language outside the province of Quebec.
Similarly, Canada’s Deputy Minister (Christiane Fox) is the senior-most civil servant. This implies that her role is non-political. Moreover, her job is to oversee IRCC’s management, including implementing policies & strategies, internal duties, etc.
Measures To Strengthen International Student Program
Marc Miller spoke about international student fraud recently. He said he would declare certain measures to strengthen the international student program’s integrity in the forthcoming weeks.
Moreover, one of the IRCC objectives is to work on the Trusted Institutions Framework. Well, this is to enhance the integrity of Canada’s International Student Program. The details are less, but it will heavily rely on assessing DLIs for criteria. The criteria demonstrate that they are reliable partners regarding sustainable intake, identifying genuine applicants, monitoring & reporting on their compliance, & providing a safe & enriching experience.
In addition, Miller reiterated that he did not favor setting a cap on the number of international student admissions.
IRCC Objectives: Yeates Report
Former IRCC Deputy Minister Neil Yeates produced a report stating how IRCC can improve its efficiency. Moreover, IRCC commissioned the report to evaluate if the present department’s structure was the best method for the department to fulfill its mandates.
In addition, the report found that the present organizational structure at IRCC isn’t efficient. Also, numerous recommendations were even made. Well, the present Deputy Minister Fox told the committee that the entire report would be shared with them within the next two weeks.
She further stated that it had not been released previously because she wanted all IRCC employees to have a chance to read & discuss it.
Express Entry
Committee members noted that there has been a slowdown in the number of Express Entry draws.
Moreover, Christiane Fox states that the reduction in the number of draws & ITAs is because of an IT glitch during the launch of category-based selection draws. Well, they will make up the numbers as they go.
In response to questions related to skilled trades professionals, Minister Fox stated that category-based draws for Express Entry applicants will occur by December this year.
CIMM
CIMM consists of 12 members of Canada’s parliament. Moreover, at least one member from every significant political party is sitting on the committee. Well, their job is to monitor federal policy relating to multiculturalism & immigration.
In addition, to fulfill IRCC objectives, the committee regularly meets to discuss relevant immigration issues. Recent areas of exploration include application backlogs & bills, like Bill S-245, which is an act to amend the Citizenship Act & international student irregularities.
Moreover, they also provide oversight on the government, thus encouraging it to act on specific issues, like amending special immigration measures for Hong Kong people and staying the deportation of 700 Indian Students who were found to have been admitted with fraudulent acceptance letters.
IRCC Objectives: Immigration Levels Plan 2024 – 2026
As a part of IRCC objectives, the department will release the Immigration Levels Plan for 2024-26 by November 1st.
The plan is significant as it helps the government to anticipate population increase & plan accordingly to ensure that there is adequate infrastructure, like education, healthcare, housing, settlement services for newcomers, etc. This needs to be balanced to meet the needs of the existing population in Canada. The plan must support the economic priorities of the nation, welcome refugees, & reunite families.
However, support for immigration has been waning because of the nation’s high cost of living & lack of affordable housing. Miller has said that increasing the number of skilled newcomers is essential to getting more homes built.
Moreover, he also said in an interview that the new plan will likely maintain or increase the current targets set in the 2023-25 plan, wherein Canada plans to admit over 500,000 new permanent residents every year by the end of 2025.