Ottawa- The Honourable Tobias C. Enverga Jr., Ontario Senator, questioned the Government Representative in the Senate during question period about the new lottery-based family reunification system for parents and grandparents that the Trudeau government announced in December 2016.
“Waiting for the department currently named Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is something all immigrants have experienced, but we expected that there is some fairness to the process in terms of having a first-come – first-served system like in so many other facets of life,” Senator Enverga said in a statement. “A lottery-based system leaves the fate of deserving qualified applicants to chance no matter how deserving one is or how long one has been waiting to reunite the family. This is not fair,” the Senator continued.
The questions raised by Senator Enverga covered why the Government gave such short notice about the changes, and what algorithms will be used for the random draw.
The Government Representative, Senator Peter Harder, promised to inquire with the department and will provide answers to Senator Enverga’s questions in the future.
“I can assure all members of the public, and especially those who are caught in limbo by the changes, that I will share the Government’s responses once they are tabled in the Senate,” Senator Enverga ended.