Dear Hon. Marco Mendicino, Minister of IRCC:
My name is Kevin, and I usually read your news release emails sent out quite often lately, with a lot of excitement over how Canada under your leadership has expanded its immigration program to support newcomers, refugees, and skilled migrants alike. However, I ought to write this message to you, copying your colleagues at HQ and for an issue facing many people who have had to wait for an answer to their citizenship applications from IRCC Calgary in the past years. I can assure you those copied in this email understand the issues very well, so they should be the first people you should consult with. Please do not avoid this problem any longer – this message will also be shared with the media and some relevant stakeholders. Seriously please stop consider IRCC a gatekeeper with absolute above-the-law authority, while looking at immigrants like needy beggars. We have had enough of this attitude from IRCC!!! Smirking?
Sir, while it is great for you to focus on strengthening Canada’s positive image on immigration influx, please also investigate your in-house operational problems, one of which is happening domestically right in Canada: an unusual delay in processing citizenship applications across IRCC offices. Citizenship is an equally important mandate of IRCC, as it is a big milestone in the integration process of immigrants into Canada, and many people are suffering the wait from this. Some MPs are even working with their affected constituents to identify possible legal avenues for application fee refunds as pressure to IRCC.
On client communication, it sucks! Most messages sent to minister@cic.gc.ca will get a standard reply repeatedly quoting challenges due to COVID. Very similarly, messages sent to IRCC Calgary about specific citizenship inquiries would almost always have no response, except a sympathy-seeking autoreply that says: “Due to the limitations caused by COVID-19 this past year, our processing times have increased, for this we are truly sorry and thank you for your patience.” Sir, it is time for IRCC to stop “being sorry” and to begin addressing the issues, whether from the office or remotely from home. Do the jobs IRCC staff are paid for, which are funded by taxes and hefty application fees. People pay the fees expecting an adequate service in return, you can't always say sorry and not doing enough of your paid jobs!
According to some classified documents obtained by the press [1], as of January 31, 2021, 50% of the cases processed by IRCC Calgary has been in process 13 months or more, after they were transferred to this office from CPC-S, whereas it is claimed on IRCC website the average TOTAL processing time for citizenship grants is 12 months. Does this sound alarming to you? Does this mean half the number of applications going through Calgary is being treated as non-routine?
Many members on CanadaVisa.Com forum have created and maintained their own shared trackers of citizenship application progress. You can check and see how IRCC Calgary is responding to those applied in 2019, and perhaps understand where the frustration comes from.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V2kMI1QtzlMj8k4shG0IBLnS8GqOhoJDkem5HloNe0I/edit#gid=224875574
Is IRCC Calgary one of the few offices facing COVID challenges? Are they not getting proper guidance and support from HQ to keep up a normal pace during pandemic times like other offices in the country? Is their leadership not competent enough to run the office through crisis and maintain a normal service standard for clients? If so, what kinds of crisis are they experiencing? If not so, what is behind the scene that HQ has not seen? A lot of questions remain mysterious to the public, and probably to your team at HQ, as to why this office has been quite inefficient in the past years.
If the processing time is stated on the IRCC website for citizenship as 12 months, should it be understood as a nationwide standard? Many Calgary-based applicants who have applied 2 - 2.5 years ago HAVE NOT become citizens - please ask your staff for stats to confirm this! Why is there such a disadvantage for applicants from one particular region, given the fact all of them across the country have fulfilled the same requirements as law-abiding immigrants, paid the same amount of application fee, and undergo presumably a similar vetting process? Should these immigrants regret their decision to settle in Calgary and now having to face citizenship delays? This is shameful in the digital age 4.0, and in a country that promotes inclusiveness, fairness, and technology.
Lastly, I want to say, immigrants who choose to live in Canada want to become good citizens eventually, and it makes sense that Canada fulfills that wish for them in exchange for all the economic benefits they bring to the country. Putting people through so much undue stress and hurdles to becoming citizens due to IRCC’s lack of competency is irresponsible of a federal agency, an unfortunate thing for the system, as there are so much out there IRCC can do or learn from other peer countries to improve right on the next day! As Canadians are heading to polls for federal election in a few weeks, tens of thousands of could-have-been citizens are missing this opportunity, not having their voices heard on key issues like COVID-19 through the vote, because of a systematic failure – Canada should be sorry for this! An old saying that never goes old: when there is a will, there is a way.
Regards,
Kevin Stenner
[1]: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SQPJW0MKT3-HkynGtOsnPynhicLjpYTu/view |
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