In Parliament at Question Period: Ms. Olivia Chow (Trinity—Spadina, NDP): Mr. Speaker, Canadians should not have to wait for seven years to be united with their parents. In Beijing and New Delhi alone, 20,000 parents are stuck waiting in the queue. Some parents have died waiting to live with their children and some never got [...]
Family Reunification
Today, as Canadians mark Valentine’s Day, the Conservatives need to improve their immigration policies to reunite families and loved ones faster, says New Democrat Immigration Critic, Olivia Chow (Trinity–Spadina). “Immigrants in the application queue are waiting longer than ever before to be reunited with their spouses, parents or children in Canada,” said Chow. “I’m asking [...]
New Democrat immigration critic Olivia Chow said the backlog in China stems from inadequate resources and an annual quota imposed by Ottawa on individual visa offices. In China, where there are 7,000 parental sponsorships in the backlog, the quota is limited to 1,000.
December 6, 2010 Ms. Olivia Chow (Trinity—Spadina, NDP): It’s holiday season. Families want to be together, especially parents with their grandkids. New immigrants get lonely. They want their parents here. I saw the backlog list. I think Mr. Yeates told me and confirmed the number, there are 145,000 parents waiting. In Beijing you have to wait [...]
December 1, 2010 Ms. Olivia Chow: I see that under the family class, the parents and grandparents are stuck still at the 13,000 level, and that’s a steep drop than, say, 10, 15 years ago, where family-class applicants in terms of the total number accounts to almost half of the people coming into Canada. [...]
October 26, 2010 OTTAWA – Today’s Auditor General’s report revealed that Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has failed to set a comprehensive set of standards for service delivery. “The Auditor General’s report confirms what Canadians already know – the Conservative government delivers lousy second-rate service to immigrants,” said New Democrat Immigration critic Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina). [...]
Dear Minister Kenney, On January 16, four days after the earthquake, the Government of Canada promised to fast track reunification of Haitian families. I applauded that announcement and have been working with your office to assist in the processing of Haitian children to Canada. However, thirty five days after the earthquake, Canadians [...]
Dear Minister Kenney: I urge you today to commit to bringing adopted Haitian children home to their new families immediately. I understand the need for due diligence, preventing child trafficking should always be a priority. However, these children have been through this process, they have been approved by Haitian Social Services. They are known to [...]
Sat 16 Jan 2010 TORONTO – Today’s government announcement regarding expedited immigration and adoption processes and additional support for Haitian-Canadian families is a commendable step in the right direction, though more changes are needed, according to New Democrat Immigration Critic Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina). “The government has announced a number of commendable changes to immigration and [...]
TORONTO – In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Canada needs to expedite the immigration process and bring Haitian adoptees into the country now, says New Democrat Immigration Critic Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina).
November 16, 2009 Dear friends and colleagues interested in immigration and refugee issues, The 2009 Citizenship and Immigration annual report was published recently. I am very disturbed by the decline of the target number of families that will be approved next year. With a lower target number, and overseas offices buried in paper, families will [...]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SEPTEMBER 29, 2009 OTTAWA – New Democrat Immigration Critic Olivia Chow is demanding changes to the current visitor visa system which will address the arbitrary approval process and lack of recourse for unsuccessful applicants.
Dear friends and colleagues, Are you left wondering whether Jason Kenney will: Apply any of the recommendations published in last Spring’s Temporary Foreign Workers report? Fix the problems with his new Citizenship law that affect families who are adopting internationally, the families of our Military, the families of our foreign service officers, and the families [...]
Click below to download the booklets. Arabic – Olivia Chow’s Immigration Policy Roadmap Chinese – Olivia Chow’s Immigration Policy Roadmap French – Olivia Chow’s Immigration Policy Roadmap Portuguese – Olivia Chow’s Immigration Policy Roadmap
Aaron Harris/TorStar news service Source TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE June 30, 2009 5:53 a.m. Almost half of the husbands and wives in southern China and western Africa who want to join their spouses in Canada are refused, government documents show, a situation MP Olivia Chow calls cruel and arbitrary.
