My more recent posts have specifically been responses to queries or observations directed to me. Including this one.
And it is simply NOT true, nowhere near accurate, to describe what I have posted or my attitude as "
bothered with people trying to organize to achieve something of their own interest." Rather, I have repeatedly emphasized supporting actions which will have better odds of having a positive influence, measures to actually advance the cause.
I am bothered by grossly exaggerated claims that can inflict unnecessary anxiety. I am bothered by counter-productive
make-noise campaigns that tend to be more
see-me than about influencing the government to go in a better direction.
I am interested in helping citizenship applicants better navigate the process, to the extent I can. And in regards to the particular issue at the core of this topic, the lengthy stall in processing citizenship applications, I know (with certainty) that MOST of those whose applications are bogged down now are indeed going to be waiting quite a lot longer to become citizens. That is how it is going to go.
Activism might, and hopefully it will, get things moving sooner and faster, but it is NOT going to be so soon or so fast that many, probably most, will avoid having to wait at least another six months to a year. This is what is happening. This is what many and probably most current applicants will need to deal with in their own personal situations.
For example, someone mentioned needing a "
proper passport" for their business, meaning (it appears) they need to be granted Canadian citizenship so they can obtain a Canadian passport. So yes, they have an interest in pushing the government to speed up processing. And my posts should NOT, NOT at all, be interpreted to discourage doing so. But this individual should also be aware, and prepare, for the likelihood that the best case scenario is still a delay of many more months, perhaps a year. That's real. That is what this individual needs to deal with foremost.
Claiming that the mobilization of protests is what will make the difference for this individual is at best misleading. This individual needs to make whatever adjustments are necessary to sustain business anticipating it is still likely to be six months or a year before a Canadian passport is in hand. Which should not discourage engaging in effective activism along the way.
In particular, again, I favour positive actions, measures likely to move the needle in the right direction.
And I am quite sure that exaggerated claims, manipulating immigrants' fears, disparaging insults aimed at those who work for IRCC, and
make-noise (
see-me) campaigns disproportionate to a genuine effort to influence IRCC to accelerate the processing of citizenship applications, are counter-productive . . . not likely to help, more likely to alienate those who otherwise would support pressing IRCC to up-its-game, tending to divert, diffuse, and undermine real activism, to hurt the genuine efforts to effectively influence the government.
In terms of action: Day before yesterday a post specifically referenced NDP MP Jenny Kwan and gave her email. Which is fine. UNLESS the emails sent to her are cluttered with the kind of negative and disparaging rhetoric populating so many of the posts in this topic. For those who are sincerely interested in real activism, it is important, critical, to focus on a clear, legitimate cause and measures likely to advance that cause. Comments about "
lazy" government workers with "
cushy" jobs who "
live off dumbass taxpayeres . . . without actually doing any work," and the "
third world level of government service," or mocking government employees' concerns about the risk of Covid-19, just to quote from a half dozen posts here within the last day,
are NOT going to draw even Jenny Kwan to the cause, let alone attract the interest of a body of MPs sufficient to compel action. Quite the opposite.
So let's be clear: Again, with emphasis, I am very much in favour of encouraging citizenship applicants to proactively engage in efforts to encourage IRCC, pressure it even, to
get-to-it, to take steps to get citizenship application processing moving and moving faster. As I have oft repeated, in various ways, sometimes bureaucracies need prompting. Now seems to be one of those times.
By the way, Jenny Kwan is an important if not critical ally of many immigrants in Parliament. I am sure that she and her staff are among the hardest working and probably over-stretched in Parliament. She has been virtually the only MP who has made any real effort to get the government to address the overly-broad and draconian law and policy that has had such a devastating impact on those PRs who came to Canada as refugees, who even after qualifying and applying for citizenship are now under threat of losing status in Canada altogether because they did things they did not understand were not allowed (and for many, at the time the law did not prohibit or even sanction) and could lead to their Removal from Canada, like visiting a dying parent in their home country or obtaining a home country passport.
The latter is one of the issues I have made a considerable effort to address, to help those affected, to help them get and keep informed about, especially those who are at risk for not only having their citizenship application derailed but their PR status terminated. Anyone doubting my commitment to help in this forum can see the full history of my bringing that important issue to the attention of those at risk, my learning more about it over time, my staying with it and continuing to help as best I can, from my first post starting the topic:
"Refugee status cessation and PRs applying for citizenship" (should link) in early August 2015, to my most recent post there this summer, 34 pages of posts later. (Even though I was never a refugee myself, never at risk.)
In any event, I am not discouraging anyone from communicating with Jenny Kwan. But I do suggest to keep it focused specifically on encouraging Parliament to push IRCC to get going sooner, faster, and avoid the kind of disparaging characterizations of the government, IRCC, and government workers, scattered in so many posts above. And I further suggest that
it is generally more effective to communicate with the MP for the Riding in which you live . . . recognizing, unfortunately, that in regards to citizenship processing, I suspect a lot of the Conservative MPs are perhaps a lost cause . . . and again, to address a clear issue (the need for accelerating citizenship application processing say) without diatribes about third world country service.
