Got reply from Immigration minister in email for my petition. Please find the response below. Looks like a canned response putting the responsibility on others.
Dear XXX:
This is in reply to your correspondence of July 10, 2015, addressed to Mr. Chris Alexander, Canada’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, concerning your petition against the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi. I regret the delay in responding.
Canada has one of the most generous family reunification programs in the world. Providing clients with as efficient and timely service as possible is one of this Department’s major commitments. However, as with all Canadian government departments and agencies, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) must administer its resources responsibly within its financial capacities and within the parameters of the immigration plan tabled annually in parliament.
Each year, CIC receives more applications than can be processed within the annual levels plan. The immigration system also remains subject to major fluctuations in application volume for permanent and temporary residence. Fluctuations in intake volumes strain the processing network and affects inventory volumes and processing times year to year.
Each visa office throughout CIC’s overseas network faces unique program challenges that reflect the type and volumes of both permanent and temporary resident applications processed, issues related to the extent of territorial responsibility, program integrity concerns and the infrastructure capacities of the region in which they work.
The visa offices in India face exceptional processing challenges in delivering immigration programs. These include; a large geographic area of responsibility, regional security concerns that can restrict area travel to conduct immigration interviews, poor local infrastructure, limited communications and postal service outside major urban centers throughout the region that negatively impacts on contact with clients, and the necessity for interviews in a large number of applications. All these challenges add to the length of processing times for applications submitted to India’s offices.
India and Chandigarh are large centers for both permanent and temporary migration. The offices consist of Canada Based Officers, Medical Officers, Migration Integrity Officers and many Locally Engaged Staff. They cover a large territory of Afghanistan, Bhutan, India and Nepal. These offices receive over 100,000 permanent and temporary resident applications per year.
CIC has introduced a number of modernization initiatives, like the Visa Application Centre network, designed to streamline and lower processing times, to help further manage inventories and to create flexibility in the processing network. CIC has developed important tools such as the Global Case Management System and an electronic suite of services, which are having a positive impact on our work abroad. India has already seen gains in terms of processing efficiencies, redistribution of work and tracking of cases.
With regard to your request for a meeting with the Minister, ministerial officials have noted your request for a meeting. Unfortunately, the Minister’s schedule cannot accommodate your request at this time.
Thank you for taking the time to write the Minister.
