I had no intention of wandering into the weeds regarding the particular measures IRCC should adopt in the current situation. And I still don't. NOT worth it. We do not know anywhere near enough about what IRCC is actually doing to second-guess its ongoing response to Covid-19.
Albeit slowly, it appears IRCC is actively engaged in addressing the situation with an agenda to restore application processing. There are no indicators suggesting cause to doubt the integrity, ability, or intentions of those in the government pursuing these efforts, let alone to suggest that the government is not engaged in such efforts. There is no cause to second-guess what IRCC is doing.
In particular, there is NO reason to believe that IRCC will fail to take appropriate, reasonable steps to proceed with grant citizenship applications.
Those who have a grant citizenship application in process, or who will be submitting an application in the near future, have NO REASON to WORRY about this. Which, again, is not to overlook the fact that the process is going to take longer now. Yes, it will take longer.
And to be clear, the point of my observations is not to discourage those who will engage in activist measures; for those inclined to "
mobilize today before tomorrow," and to "
make noise, protest, and demand solutions . . . " Have at it. Recruit your
Sancho Panza and pick your
windmills.
But pretending to not incite undue, exaggerated fear, while banging "
horror scenario" drums, will NOT fly without some push back. Not here. This forum has many functions, ranging from a place to share or vent even, to a place where immigrants make an effort to help one another. Unfortunately, like similar venues, it is vulnerable to exaggerations, distortions, misinformation, and sometimes outright fear-mongering.
Let's be clear. And honest.
As I have said, YES, the process will go longer now.
Duh! Not because of incompetence, deliberate disregard, or malfeasance. Not due to the influence of hostility toward immigrants. But because there is a global pandemic happening, the worst of it looming large within 200k of the vast majority of Canadians, and IRCC is a large bureaucracy . . . remembering,
bureaucracy is what bureaucracy does . . . which rarely suggests doing anything quickly and definitely does not suggest rapid adaptation.
In contrast, for example, despite claims otherwise (asserting "
with all due respect to you . . . "),
@piotrqc deliberately misstates what I say:
No, I never said the "
outcome of the proceeding will take'a little longer'." Actually I said "
Yes, it will take longer now. It appears that it could be quite a bit longer."
Is this difference a big deal? So what
@piotrqc misquotes, twists words . . . is this twisting words just a little?
Consider another disclaimer
@piotrqc asserts: "
I do not want to be pessimistic and scare you to the extreme . . . "
Yeah, there's a "but."
No particular emphasis on the "BUT" in this, BUT what followed that "but" conflates the current situation, adapting procedures during and in the wake of a global pandemic, with the threat of a major upheaval in government implementing draconian anti-immigrant policies and AS IF this would threaten the processing of those who have already qualified for and made an application for citizenship. Regarding which
@piotrqc asserts "
Everything I have said is not science fiction, it is very likely and very possible!" Again, AS IF even those who have already qualified for and made an application for citizenship are at risk. A very likely risk.
The current situation is about a process that is bogged down due to the difficulty a huge bureaucracy is having dealing with procedures which for decades have involved an intensive in-person and person-to-person process, for fairly large groups of people at a time, and more recently which typically has involved around TWO HUNDRED thousand individuals year-to-year, year-in and year-out. This is real. There are problems. There are difficulties. There are people in the government tasked with addressing the problems, the difficulties.
To conflate the current situation with the prospect of a draconian shift in government toward stripping immigrants of their rights is more than exaggerating, let alone more than "
exaggerating a little bit."
Sure, a shift resulting in a Conservative government will not favour immigration or immigrants. That much is true. I will for-sure participate and do what I can, personally, to oppose the Conservatives returning to power. For lots of reasons.
But to suggest that it is "
very likely" there is going to be any shift in the Canadian government, anytime in the foreseeable future, that would result in changes in the law that rendered currently qualified citizenship applicants no longer qualified is
FAR-FETCHED. That would in effect take away citizenship from those who are qualified and already have an application in process. NO. That is NOT in the realm of any practical possibility let alone at all likely. And to suggest otherwise is indeed extreme. Not even the Harper-Perrin-Kenney-Alexander government's most draconian measures, which were draconian enough to hand the Conservatives their worst defeat in a long time in the next election, so much as bore a whiff of such extreme measures.
But apart from that, there is such a huge, huge gap between the one and the other, there is no cause to believe mobilizing protests about how long it is taking IRCC to proceed with testing and interviewing citizenship applicants would be, in any way, activism against or preventing a future election leading to a Conservative government that is less friendly to immigrants. The two simply are NOT related enough.
Which brings this back to banging the "
horror scenario" drums about the potential influence of those who are "
hostile to immigration" . . .
It is precisely the latter, the extent to which anxiety and fear are normal, which concerns me when exaggerated nightmare scenarios are cited as reason to emphasize, in bold and underline . . .
It bothers me when people's normal fears and anxieties are exploited and abused.
Again, NO, those who have a citizenship application in process, who know they are qualified, and who come to this forum looking for information and guidance, do NOT need to apprehend the Canadian government might fail to process their citizenship application. It will get done. Regardless who or why or how many carry signs and make noise in the streets of Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, or elsewhere in Canada.
