B.C. permanent resident's bid to sponsor parents thwarted after program postponed
Families found out Dec. 30 that they wouldn't be able to apply this January
While most celebrated the start of a new year on Jan. 1, Harmeet Singh worried about telling his parents in India they wouldn't be joining him in Canada anytime soon after the government delayed its family reunification program.
Singh, a permanent resident living in Burnaby, had hoped to apply this month to bring his family to B.C. from India.
"I was shocked," he said. "You plan for it the whole year. You plan that you're going to have your family here."
The Liberal government announced on Dec. 30 it would be postponing the next round of its family reunification program months after a new, first-come-first-serve system implemented in 2019 came under fire.
That next round was scheduled to begin on Jan. 1, 2020.
Singh began filling out his forms at 9 a.m. PT on January 27 of last year. Under the online system, the government set aside a date and time for online applications and was set to accept a maximum of 27,000 applications. Of those, 20,000 would continue to the next steps for sponsorship.
Singh says he was ready to submit his application by 9:09 a.m., but by then, the first 27,000 applications had already been filed. The system closed and Singh was not able to submit his application.
He had hoped this January would be different with the Liberal government promising to improve the process to make it more equitable.
In its Monday statement, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says it's working on implementing a new application system "as early as possible in 2020" that will give all sponsors a fair shot at applying.
More than 100,000 would-be sponsors in 2019
Singh wants the government to give priority to older parents and grandparents waiting to come to Canada, and also to consider the number of years family members have been living apart.
He recently married in April 2019 and his wife has been living with his mother, 56, and father, 60, because he doesn't want them to be alone in India.
"You're just losing touch as well [with] the family," said Singh who's lived apart from his family for 10 years. "And what you're going to teach your coming generation, how they're going to live and how the children are going to learn about your community."
He also believes the 27,000 limit on applications is too low to meet demand. After last year's online system closed within minutes, the government confirmed that more than 100,000 people had attempted to access an online form to express interest.
However, Vancouver immigration lawyer Zool Suleman says raising the cap on family reunification applications is a political challenge.
"We have an overall cap of how many immigrants we take," he said. "If we were to take up to say 100,000 parents and grandparents, it would mean we'd have to make cuts in the other categories [of immigration]."
Randeep Sarai, the Liberal MP for Surrey Centre, a federal riding with a large population of immigrants, says reunification is crucial to building newcomers long-term connections in Canadian communities.
"One of the most vital issues for a new family is to have their families reunified," said Sarai. "I want to get this right and my colleagues, especially those in Surrey, also want to get this right so they're working very hard to make sure the government has a good system."
Singh says he's thinking about helping his parents apply for a long-term visitor visa so they can be temporarily reunited. But it's still a risk because they wouldn't be covered by provincial healthcare.
"I'm scared about it... But I have to do it now. I cannot just keep living separate from my family."
He's disappointed things have been put on hold, but he's hopeful the delay means the federal government is committed to finding a better way to reunite families.
"You chose Canada as your home. You should have your family here."