Following the devastating passage of Hurricane Matthew on Haiti, immigrant support organizations ask Ottawa to expedite the processing of applications for family reunification for Haitians, whose deadlines are almost 40 months [already reduced this delay was 6 years previously]...

These organizations also want the return of the special program of humanitarian sponsorship, however, Ottawa and Quebec have said they did not intend to renew the program for now.

Tuesday, Marjorie Villefranche, the Director of the Maison d'Haiti, publicly reminded both levels of government (federal and provincial) the urgency to respond faster to the demands of Haitians, stressing that the current delays were unacceptable. For her part Janet Dench, Director of the Canadian Council of Refugees, which abounds in the same direction, urged Governments to find solutions to this delay issue.

However, despite the voices raised, at the Canadian Immigration Department, one ndicates that there are no special measures in place for Haitians, but "one promise" that requests of Haitians having been affected in a personal way and significantly by Hurricane Matthew, will be handled case by case, "for expedited processing..."

Regarding family reunification, Ottawa recognizes that the number of applications for many years exceeded the initial quota, which is one of the causes of the delay, stating that an additional budget was foreseen in the budget 2016 to accelerate the processing of applications for this program, the quota should be increased according to our information.

TB/ HaitiLibre