I know some of the people who have waited for more than 6 years still cannot sponsor their parents. I know someone whose parent could not wait that long... so, you are not alone in this process.
Before the COVID-19, lots of us on this forum was speculating that IRCC may use additional criteria such as the time a potential sponsor spent in Canada to prioritize the sponsorship... Turn out none ever happened.
And to be honest, between the typing race (first-in-first-served) and the lottery, I prefer the lottery because at least, everyone who want to sponsor their parents would get somehow fair chance to express their interest.
But no system is a "fair" system right now...
And, mind you, PGP is not a high priority on the list of immigration
This obsession with having to be "fair".
Did we as immigrants come to Canada on a lottery system? Like the Green Card Lottery in USA?
I disagree that the lottery system is "fair". What it does is that it trivializes the PGP program. These are parents of existing immigrants living in Canada wanting to be reunited with their families. Leaving it to chance and random selection is a slap in the face of hard working and motivated families who have settled in Canada by merit.
I see no reason why the right to sponsor their parents cannot be distributed using an assessment of merit than a totally random lottery.
If anyone were to go for a job interview and be told that applicants are chosen by a lottery so as to be fair - would you agree?
If people looking to get medical treatment at the hospital were told that candidates who need surgery would be picked using a lottery so as to be fair - would you agree?
If landlords were told that they would have to run lotteries to decide which tenant they can rent to - would you say that is fair?
I can't imagine a world where important resources were distributed using a lottery system. And important decisions were made using the roll of a dice.
Lotteries are games. Lotto 649. Lotto Max. NHL draft lottery. NBA draft lottery.
Is PGP a game? Looks like it is and many agree and want it to be so.