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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 40

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 3, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 40 - Mar/3/22
Hon. Sean Fraser (Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lib.)
  • Mar/3/22 2:46:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the critics of all parties for their spirit of collaboration and co-operation over the past number of days in advance of the announcement we made this morning. That announcement is historic. This will remove many of the barriers that typically result in refusal so we can welcome as many Ukrainians fleeing this war as possible, as quickly as possible. However, I would also point out to the hon. member that we started preparing on January 19, and since the beginning of this year, more than 6,100 Ukrainians have already arrived in Canada, and we will continue to do more, because that is the very Canadian thing to do.
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Context: House Hansard - 40 - Mar/3/22
Hon. Sean Fraser (Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lib.)
  • Mar/3/22 2:47:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, President Putin's war on Ukraine is a war on freedom, democracy and the rights of all Ukrainians. For the past month, we have been prioritizing applications for permanent or temporary residency from Ukrainians who wish to come to Canada. Those who are currently in Canada on a temporary basis can extend their stay. Today we announced new measures that will make it easier, faster and safer for Ukrainians fleeing the war to come to Canada. This is good for Ukraine, and it is good for Canada.
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Context: House Hansard - 40 - Mar/3/22
Hon. Sean Fraser (Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lib.)
  • Mar/3/22 3:07:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to share that over the past few months since I have been appointed minister, I have been working hard to advance investments that would actually have a meaningful impact on processing times. We have hired more than 500 new staff. We have invested more than $85 million. We have moved towards digital features that would boost the productivity of our department. We have increased overall immigration levels. I am proud to report that the combined impact of these investments has allowed us to approve over 100,000 permanent residency applications already in January and February alone. We are going to continue to make investments to improve processing times because Canadians—
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