Canadian immigration minister reiterates government’s promise on doubling the cap on family reunion applications

The Citizenship and Immigration website of the Canadian government shows that it will accept 5,000 family reunification applications every year, but Immigration Minister John McCallum said that the government is still committed towards doubling the figure.

During the election campaigns, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised that the number of family reunification applications from elderly parents and grandparents will be doubled to 10,000 under a Liberal government.

Though it has not been explained why the official website still bears the previous cap, McCallum reportedly said in an email that the government is still committed towards its goals. He said he will hold consultations with his colleagues on the matter soon.

"We are committed to reuniting families and we intend to meet the commitment to double the intake of PGP sponsorship applications from 5,000 to 10,000 per year," the Canadian Press quoted McCallum as saying.

The measure to double the number of family reunion applications appears in the list of key commitments for action by the government within its first 100 days, which has been obtained by the Canadian Press from Trudeau’s briefing books. But the Conservatives have flagged the notification on the Citizenship and Immigration Webpage as “yet another unachievable Liberal campaign promise."

However, the changes made to the immigration laws will be announced at the time when the government announces its annual immigration reports. The annual report was supposed to be tabled on Nov.1 but it has been delayed as the House of Commons was not sitting since the Oct. 19 elections. The annual report should be tabled within 30 days of the parliament’s return.

Jenny Kwan, the New Democratic Party immigration critic, said that the announcement on the website confirmed that the promise will not be kept. "I was concerned when the government announced on their web site last November that they had begun accepting new applications without stating the number of applications that they would accept," the CBC News quoted Kwan as saying in a statement.