Wrong, if medicals are extended, you will see a new date for MEP in your application. This message simply means medicals have expired.
FSW WORLDWIDE
- Thread starter js555
- Start date
Because I have seen screenshots from a ton of people currently receiving medical extensions, most have a late 2021 date.
My medicals are extended as per the most recent GCMS but it doesn’t show that on the portal. And it’s been like that since Dec 2020. While I do agree with you, I have heard / seen many cases where medicals were extended previously but the date didn’t show up on the portal. I have never understood though as to why that has been the case
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**PLEASE help with your input on this too
My (AOR Dec '19) file was added to the group 2 TPLFJM0 in May 2020. Everything is passed except final decision pending. In the officer's notes it is mentioned that "this is a permanent resident applicant who's file has been finalized..."
We got upfront medical done in July and submitted it then itself.
Recently a relative who had also applied around the same time as us and got the upfront medical done with us got the medical passed update and has been asked to submit schedule A and other documents.
When can we except an update given the movement that is happening for '19 backlog? Is there anything else we can do?
My (AOR Dec '19) file was added to the group 2 TPLFJM0 in May 2020. Everything is passed except final decision pending. In the officer's notes it is mentioned that "this is a permanent resident applicant who's file has been finalized..."
We got upfront medical done in July and submitted it then itself.
Recently a relative who had also applied around the same time as us and got the upfront medical done with us got the medical passed update and has been asked to submit schedule A and other documents.
When can we except an update given the movement that is happening for '19 backlog? Is there anything else we can do?
I’m in your exact same situation except that my AOR is Jan 2020 and my medicals were extended till Dec 2021. Since you have already done your remeds, I don’t think there’s anything more that can be done other than to wait.
What date do you see for MEP?My medicals are extended as per the most recent GCMS but it doesn’t show that on the portal. And it’s been like that since Dec 2020. While I do agree with you, I have heard / seen many cases where medicals were extended previously but the date didn’t show up on the portal. I have never understood though as to why that has been the case
Liberal government launching third term with a throne speech focused on lingering COVID-19 crisis
Gov. Gen. Mary May Simon's first throne speech to lay out government's vision for the pandemic's late stages
The Liberal government starts its third term in office today with a speech from the throne delivered by Gov. Gen. Mary May Simon — and a plan to pass a flurry of legislation before the Christmas break.
Just over a year ago, May Simon's predecessor Julie Payette delivered a throne speech to a nearly empty Senate chamber as COVID-19 cases mounted and the economic picture looked murky at best.
The Liberal government — facing persistent questions about its handling of a summer student grants contract with WE Charity — had just prorogued Parliament to hit the reset button on a second term that had been consumed by COVID-19 and the fallout over that contract.
Today, the situation looks quite different. Payette is gone, social distancing rules have been relaxed. The pandemic isn't over but the country's high vaccination rate has kept COVID-19 in check.
The government is on reasonably solid ground politically after being returned to power in the September election. The economy, beset by snarled supply chains and rising inflation, is facing its own share of challenges but government largesse has bolstered household savings.
"Their second term was really swallowed up by COVID-19," said Lori Turnbull, an associate professor of political science and director of the School of Public Administration at Dalhousie University. "So this is a real moment of reset for the government, even more than a typical speech from the throne would be."
"It will focus very heavily on the circumstances of the pandemic and putting the pandemic behind us and continuing growth," he said.
Holland said the speech will announce new financial support for sectors that are still "adversely impacted by the pandemic." During the last election campaign, the Liberals promised to extend the Canada Recovery Hiring Program — which subsidizes businesses that hire new workers — until March 2022, and to prop up a hard-hit arts and culture sector.
Today's speech also offers the government a chance to telegraph some of its early legislative priorities.
After months of lobbying by the opposition NDP, unions and other groups, the Liberal government is expected to soon table legislation to require that all federally regulated workers have access to at least 10 days of paid sick leave. The Liberal election platform said that the goal is to solve the "dilemma" of workers "going to work sick or not having enough money to put food on the table."
To curb anti-vaccination protests at hospitals and other health care facilities, the Liberal government will introduce a bill to criminalize these demonstrations.
"These are the folks who are on the frontlines of keeping us safe. I think it's the smallest thing that we can do to make sure that they themselves are safe in their work," Holland said.
"We have seen how they have been menaced in a number of different circumstances. That is totally and utterly unacceptable."
The conversion therapy ban
The government is expected also to re-introduce its bill to ban conversion therapy, which would criminalize the dangerous practice of trying to forcibly "convert" LGBTQ people to heterosexuality.
After months of debate and some Conservative opposition, the last bill on this topic died on the order paper when the government called the September election.
"I see no reason why we should delay this matter at all," Holland said, adding that he wants all of these bills passed by Christmas.
Greg MacEachern is a Liberal strategist and a senior vice-president at Proof Strategies. He said that while there are reasons to believe Canada is turning the tide on the pandemic, the government can't afford to look complacent.
"The election pressure is off the government in exchange for a much greater and, to most Canadians, a much more meaningful issue, and that's our health and wellness and how we get back to 'normal,'" MacEachern told CBC News.
The pressure to get things done
MacEachern said the Liberal government should use the time it has between now and Christmas — when partisanship may be at its post-election lowest ebb — to produce tangible legislative results.
He said the throne speech is also an opportunity to use the national stage to cajole Ontario — the lone provincial holdout on a bilateral child care deal with Ottawa — into signing an early learning and child care framework that will flow hundreds of millions of dollars to the provinces to help bring down the cost of child care services.
MacEachern said the Liberals must avoid the political trap that has ensnared U.S. President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats — the perception that little has actually been accomplished after a year on their watch.
"It's not about virtue-signalling. People don't want lofty goals right now when they've been looking at the four walls of their living room for the last 18 to 20 months. They want actual results," he said. "It's really important that the government shows rather than tells."
In a minority Parliament, the Liberal government needs at least one of the opposition parties to back its bills to get them through the House of Commons.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Monday he's willing to cooperate and "speed up" sick day legislation, the conversion therapy ban and new protections for health care workers — but he won't back any bill that reduces COVID-19 income supports.
"If they are going to hurt people, we are not going to support those bills," Singh told reporters.
MacEachern said the NDP has to strike a delicate balance between helping to pass legislation it championed in the last campaign and avoiding the appearance of being "Liberal lap dogs" — which would feed into a Conservative-driven narrative about a Liberal-NDP "coalition" in the works.
"It's a tough path to carve," he said.
Turnbull said the NDP probably will back the government on "pretty much everything" to keep the minority Parliament alive and avoid an election. She added that such support shouldn't be interpreted as a healthy form of cooperation among the parties.
'Mutual hellscape'
"They're basically saying, 'We're going to shout at one another, continue to throw mud and score points but we'll pass your legislation because we don't want to go to an election because we don't have any money,'" Turnbull said.
"That's not cooperation. That's like some sort of mutual hellscape."
As for the Conservatives, Turnbull said O'Toole should welcome Parliament's return because, as the leader of the Official Opposition, the Commons "confers some legitimacy on him" at a time when he's fighting off an internal challenge to his leadership.
"Parliament is a safer place for him than the media," she said.
Conservative squabbling over the Commons vaccine mandate — and new allegations from Holland and other Liberals that some Tories are ducking the requirement with questionable medical exemptions — have put O'Toole on the defensive, Turnbull said.
Speaking to reporters last week, O'Toole said he wants Conservative MPs focused not on his future but rather on the economy, "a corrupt and cover-up-prone Liberal government" and what he calls "a professional approach to dealing with the pandemic."
Gov. Gen. Mary May Simon's first throne speech to lay out government's vision for the pandemic's late stages
The Liberal government starts its third term in office today with a speech from the throne delivered by Gov. Gen. Mary May Simon — and a plan to pass a flurry of legislation before the Christmas break.
Just over a year ago, May Simon's predecessor Julie Payette delivered a throne speech to a nearly empty Senate chamber as COVID-19 cases mounted and the economic picture looked murky at best.
The Liberal government — facing persistent questions about its handling of a summer student grants contract with WE Charity — had just prorogued Parliament to hit the reset button on a second term that had been consumed by COVID-19 and the fallout over that contract.
Today, the situation looks quite different. Payette is gone, social distancing rules have been relaxed. The pandemic isn't over but the country's high vaccination rate has kept COVID-19 in check.
The government is on reasonably solid ground politically after being returned to power in the September election. The economy, beset by snarled supply chains and rising inflation, is facing its own share of challenges but government largesse has bolstered household savings.
"Their second term was really swallowed up by COVID-19," said Lori Turnbull, an associate professor of political science and director of the School of Public Administration at Dalhousie University. "So this is a real moment of reset for the government, even more than a typical speech from the throne would be."
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"It will focus very heavily on the circumstances of the pandemic and putting the pandemic behind us and continuing growth," he said.
Holland said the speech will announce new financial support for sectors that are still "adversely impacted by the pandemic." During the last election campaign, the Liberals promised to extend the Canada Recovery Hiring Program — which subsidizes businesses that hire new workers — until March 2022, and to prop up a hard-hit arts and culture sector.
Today's speech also offers the government a chance to telegraph some of its early legislative priorities.
After months of lobbying by the opposition NDP, unions and other groups, the Liberal government is expected to soon table legislation to require that all federally regulated workers have access to at least 10 days of paid sick leave. The Liberal election platform said that the goal is to solve the "dilemma" of workers "going to work sick or not having enough money to put food on the table."
To curb anti-vaccination protests at hospitals and other health care facilities, the Liberal government will introduce a bill to criminalize these demonstrations.
"These are the folks who are on the frontlines of keeping us safe. I think it's the smallest thing that we can do to make sure that they themselves are safe in their work," Holland said.
"We have seen how they have been menaced in a number of different circumstances. That is totally and utterly unacceptable."
The conversion therapy ban
The government is expected also to re-introduce its bill to ban conversion therapy, which would criminalize the dangerous practice of trying to forcibly "convert" LGBTQ people to heterosexuality.
After months of debate and some Conservative opposition, the last bill on this topic died on the order paper when the government called the September election.
"I see no reason why we should delay this matter at all," Holland said, adding that he wants all of these bills passed by Christmas.
Greg MacEachern is a Liberal strategist and a senior vice-president at Proof Strategies. He said that while there are reasons to believe Canada is turning the tide on the pandemic, the government can't afford to look complacent.
"The election pressure is off the government in exchange for a much greater and, to most Canadians, a much more meaningful issue, and that's our health and wellness and how we get back to 'normal,'" MacEachern told CBC News.
The pressure to get things done
MacEachern said the Liberal government should use the time it has between now and Christmas — when partisanship may be at its post-election lowest ebb — to produce tangible legislative results.
He said the throne speech is also an opportunity to use the national stage to cajole Ontario — the lone provincial holdout on a bilateral child care deal with Ottawa — into signing an early learning and child care framework that will flow hundreds of millions of dollars to the provinces to help bring down the cost of child care services.
MacEachern said the Liberals must avoid the political trap that has ensnared U.S. President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats — the perception that little has actually been accomplished after a year on their watch.
"It's not about virtue-signalling. People don't want lofty goals right now when they've been looking at the four walls of their living room for the last 18 to 20 months. They want actual results," he said. "It's really important that the government shows rather than tells."
In a minority Parliament, the Liberal government needs at least one of the opposition parties to back its bills to get them through the House of Commons.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Monday he's willing to cooperate and "speed up" sick day legislation, the conversion therapy ban and new protections for health care workers — but he won't back any bill that reduces COVID-19 income supports.
"If they are going to hurt people, we are not going to support those bills," Singh told reporters.
MacEachern said the NDP has to strike a delicate balance between helping to pass legislation it championed in the last campaign and avoiding the appearance of being "Liberal lap dogs" — which would feed into a Conservative-driven narrative about a Liberal-NDP "coalition" in the works.
"It's a tough path to carve," he said.
Turnbull said the NDP probably will back the government on "pretty much everything" to keep the minority Parliament alive and avoid an election. She added that such support shouldn't be interpreted as a healthy form of cooperation among the parties.
'Mutual hellscape'
"They're basically saying, 'We're going to shout at one another, continue to throw mud and score points but we'll pass your legislation because we don't want to go to an election because we don't have any money,'" Turnbull said.
"That's not cooperation. That's like some sort of mutual hellscape."
As for the Conservatives, Turnbull said O'Toole should welcome Parliament's return because, as the leader of the Official Opposition, the Commons "confers some legitimacy on him" at a time when he's fighting off an internal challenge to his leadership.
"Parliament is a safer place for him than the media," she said.
Conservative squabbling over the Commons vaccine mandate — and new allegations from Holland and other Liberals that some Tories are ducking the requirement with questionable medical exemptions — have put O'Toole on the defensive, Turnbull said.
Speaking to reporters last week, O'Toole said he wants Conservative MPs focused not on his future but rather on the economy, "a corrupt and cover-up-prone Liberal government" and what he calls "a professional approach to dealing with the pandemic."
Canada struggling to meet refugee target number for 2021
IRCC says global migration patterns have been 'upended by the pandemic'
Canada is nowhere near to meeting its goal of welcoming 81,000 refugees by the end of 2021, according to numbers obtained by CBC News.
Figures provided by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) show the department was about halfway to its refugee intake target on Oct. 31.
As of that date, Canada had welcomed more than 7,800 government-assisted refugees, well below the federal government's target of 12,500. Canada had accepted just 4,500 privately sponsored refugees; the intake target for privately sponsored refugees was 22,500.
IRCC also recorded more than 32,000 refugees who qualified as "protected persons" — those who request asylum after entering the country — which was substantially below its target of 45,000.
In a media statement, IRCC said global migration "has been upended by the pandemic and the entire resettlement system is operating at reduced capacity."
"In this era of upheaval, we continue to live up to our dedication, reputation and obligation by continuing to help the world's most vulnerable find refuge," IRCC said, adding that it had helped to resettle about a third of the global refugee population in 2020.
Precarious lives
For Bashar Jazmati — who has been waiting for permission to bring himself and his family to Canada as refugees since 2019 — the long wait has meant years of fear and uncertainty.
He escaped the everyday street violence of Syria and made it to Kuwait in 2015; his family joined him in 2017. He described what was like trying to raise a small child in the middle of a civil war in 2015 — like the daily walk with his toddler daughter that was interrupted by loud bursts of gunfire.
"It was surreal, the bullets in the neighbourhood, and I was singing [over it] to not give her consequences from the deafening sound of the bullets," he said.
Jazmati and his family members live precarious lives in Kuwait. He has to periodically renew his work visa and said he fears that, as a non-citizen, he might lose the right to work. Key family decisions — such as whether to buy a new car or have another child — have been on hold for years, he said.
"I'm not criticizing. I'm just saying from my perspective it's hard because you really need to have at least a secure job and know that you are staying here for two or three years," he said.
Jazmati had his last interview with IRCC on March 1 and has heard nothing from the department since.
The family's sponsor is Heidi Honegger in Chelsea, Que. She said her efforts to get some news about the refugee application were sent sideways by the fall election.
"I know the wheels of government turn slowly," she said. After first hearing from the office of her local Liberal MP, Will Amos, that it was seeking information, she said, she later learned that Amos would not be seeking re-election. She said she has heard nothing from his successor, Liberal MP Sophie Chatel.
Stagnant wait lists compound problem, groups warn
Refugee advocacy groups told CBC the glacial pace of application processing lengthens wait times for applicants who are not even on wait lists yet.
"Applications have continued to be submitted over the past few years while very few refugees have arrived," said Kaylee Perez, chair of the Canadian Refugee Sponsorship Agreement Holders Association council, an umbrella group representing most of the 130 private groups that help Canadians sponsor refugee applicants.
She said the IRCC recently informed her group there are now more than 70,000 people on privately sponsored refugee wait lists — something she called a "historic backlog."
"I think a lot of sponsorship agreement holders on the ground are doing their best to keep up with demand," she said.
Perez said she does not think Ottawa should lower its intake targets for future years, despite the likelihood that it won't meet its 2021 target.
A 'political' target
"There is a political aspect to this target," Perez said, adding intake targets communicate "a strong commitment to the resettlement of refugees at a time where many countries around the world are not accepting refugees."
She said IRCC told her it's expecting to revive a semi-private program to cut applicants' resettlement fees in "early 2022."
The Blended Visa Office-Referred program (BVOR) sees refugee applicants' resettlement fees split between Ottawa and private sponsors for a year. Although the BVOR has been suspended during the pandemic, it still had a target of 1,000 applications for 2021.
The IRCC did not release any numbers to CBC about anybody coming into Canada under the BVOR program this year. It also did not make Immigration Minister Sean Fraser available for an interview.
"Insofar as it's an opportunity for Canadians to respond to more refugees and to find solutions for more refugees, then of course we want to see [the BVOR program] back up and running and be successful," said Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees.
Both Perez and Dench are calling for better communication between the federal government and refugee applicants.
"There may be good reasons in some cases why things get moving and then stop," Dench said, "but people don't know and so people have just a lot of questions.
"At least if you get some sense of the reason for the wait and maybe when you can expect it to end, then it makes it that much easier to deal with."
He said Honegger visited him in Kuwait in 2019. After Jazmati told her his daughter was still having nightmares about police checks back in Syria, Honegger brought the family a dreamcatcher.
"She was so excited by that," Honegger recalled. "She was just like, 'Oh I'm going to hang it up right now,' and it was 4 p.m. in the afternoon and she goes, 'I'm going to bed right now.'"
Jazmati said the dreamcatcher still hangs by his daughter's bed today.
IRCC says global migration patterns have been 'upended by the pandemic'
Canada is nowhere near to meeting its goal of welcoming 81,000 refugees by the end of 2021, according to numbers obtained by CBC News.
Figures provided by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) show the department was about halfway to its refugee intake target on Oct. 31.
As of that date, Canada had welcomed more than 7,800 government-assisted refugees, well below the federal government's target of 12,500. Canada had accepted just 4,500 privately sponsored refugees; the intake target for privately sponsored refugees was 22,500.
IRCC also recorded more than 32,000 refugees who qualified as "protected persons" — those who request asylum after entering the country — which was substantially below its target of 45,000.
In a media statement, IRCC said global migration "has been upended by the pandemic and the entire resettlement system is operating at reduced capacity."
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"In this era of upheaval, we continue to live up to our dedication, reputation and obligation by continuing to help the world's most vulnerable find refuge," IRCC said, adding that it had helped to resettle about a third of the global refugee population in 2020.
Precarious lives
For Bashar Jazmati — who has been waiting for permission to bring himself and his family to Canada as refugees since 2019 — the long wait has meant years of fear and uncertainty.
He escaped the everyday street violence of Syria and made it to Kuwait in 2015; his family joined him in 2017. He described what was like trying to raise a small child in the middle of a civil war in 2015 — like the daily walk with his toddler daughter that was interrupted by loud bursts of gunfire.
"It was surreal, the bullets in the neighbourhood, and I was singing [over it] to not give her consequences from the deafening sound of the bullets," he said.
Jazmati and his family members live precarious lives in Kuwait. He has to periodically renew his work visa and said he fears that, as a non-citizen, he might lose the right to work. Key family decisions — such as whether to buy a new car or have another child — have been on hold for years, he said.
"I'm not criticizing. I'm just saying from my perspective it's hard because you really need to have at least a secure job and know that you are staying here for two or three years," he said.
Jazmati had his last interview with IRCC on March 1 and has heard nothing from the department since.
The family's sponsor is Heidi Honegger in Chelsea, Que. She said her efforts to get some news about the refugee application were sent sideways by the fall election.
"I know the wheels of government turn slowly," she said. After first hearing from the office of her local Liberal MP, Will Amos, that it was seeking information, she said, she later learned that Amos would not be seeking re-election. She said she has heard nothing from his successor, Liberal MP Sophie Chatel.
Stagnant wait lists compound problem, groups warn
Refugee advocacy groups told CBC the glacial pace of application processing lengthens wait times for applicants who are not even on wait lists yet.
"Applications have continued to be submitted over the past few years while very few refugees have arrived," said Kaylee Perez, chair of the Canadian Refugee Sponsorship Agreement Holders Association council, an umbrella group representing most of the 130 private groups that help Canadians sponsor refugee applicants.
She said the IRCC recently informed her group there are now more than 70,000 people on privately sponsored refugee wait lists — something she called a "historic backlog."
"I think a lot of sponsorship agreement holders on the ground are doing their best to keep up with demand," she said.
Perez said she does not think Ottawa should lower its intake targets for future years, despite the likelihood that it won't meet its 2021 target.
A 'political' target
"There is a political aspect to this target," Perez said, adding intake targets communicate "a strong commitment to the resettlement of refugees at a time where many countries around the world are not accepting refugees."
She said IRCC told her it's expecting to revive a semi-private program to cut applicants' resettlement fees in "early 2022."
The Blended Visa Office-Referred program (BVOR) sees refugee applicants' resettlement fees split between Ottawa and private sponsors for a year. Although the BVOR has been suspended during the pandemic, it still had a target of 1,000 applications for 2021.
The IRCC did not release any numbers to CBC about anybody coming into Canada under the BVOR program this year. It also did not make Immigration Minister Sean Fraser available for an interview.
"Insofar as it's an opportunity for Canadians to respond to more refugees and to find solutions for more refugees, then of course we want to see [the BVOR program] back up and running and be successful," said Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees.
Both Perez and Dench are calling for better communication between the federal government and refugee applicants.
"There may be good reasons in some cases why things get moving and then stop," Dench said, "but people don't know and so people have just a lot of questions.
"At least if you get some sense of the reason for the wait and maybe when you can expect it to end, then it makes it that much easier to deal with."
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He said Honegger visited him in Kuwait in 2019. After Jazmati told her his daughter was still having nightmares about police checks back in Syria, Honegger brought the family a dreamcatcher.
"She was so excited by that," Honegger recalled. "She was just like, 'Oh I'm going to hang it up right now,' and it was 4 p.m. in the afternoon and she goes, 'I'm going to bed right now.'"
Jazmati said the dreamcatcher still hangs by his daughter's bed today.
IRCC says global migration patterns have been 'upended by the pandemic'
No IRCC! it is "canadian migration patterns have been 'upended by the pandemic'' , the pandemic which 80% of the countries forgot
No IRCC! it is "canadian migration patterns have been 'upended by the pandemic'' , the pandemic which 80% of the countries forgot
As per GCMS the medicals are valid until 15th Dec 2021 but on the portal I still see the message - You do not need a medical exam. We will send you a message if this changes. This has been the case since my previous medicals expired on 8th Dec 2020.
I have never seen this before, some janky stuff going on with your account.
