Ottawa loses legal battle over immigration backlog

[LostInTruth]

I do wish the mods would not close this thread and let us have adult discussions

Ottawa has suffered a major setback in eliminating its immigration backlog after the federal court ruled the government is obliged to process all applications it accepted into the system.

About 900 applicants under the federal skilled workers’ program sued Immigration Minister Jason Kenney for violating the pledge to assess and finalize decisions in a timely fashion.

They asked the court to order the immigration department to process their applications within a reasonable time frame.

In a decision released Thursday, Justice Donald Rennie rejected the minister’s argument that the delay is justified because he has the authority to make policies.

“The minister can set instructions that permit him to return some applications without processing them at all, and thus obviously there is no further duty in respect of those applications,” the judge wrote in a 24-page decision.

“However, for those that are determined eligible for processing, the duty to do so in a reasonably timely manner remains.”

In February 2008, the law was changed to give Kenney authority to issue ministerial instructions regarding which applications would be eligible for processing and to remove the obligation to process each application received.

As a result, the litigants argued, their applications were “warehoused” in a lengthy backlog from five to nine years.

Despite the new measure, the court said Ottawa still failed to finalize a file within the six and 12 months Kenney promised — the first ministerial applications have been outstanding between 24 and 52 months.

Immigration has until Oct. 14 to finalize the application of the case’s lead litigant, an IT project manager in China.

Although the court falls short on making an order for all 900 applicants, Thursday’s decision sets the stage for the prompt processing of the other litigants.

“So long as the applicants are not to blame for the delay, a fair application of Justice Rennie’s ruling would require Ottawa to finalize their applications by October 14,” said their lawyer, Tim Leahy.

The decision is final because the court refused the minister’s request for appeal, added Leahy. The next step is for opposing counsels to determine how to proceed with the remaining cases.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/p...ration-backlog

- Looks like once again the higher court strike! Great step on this one, getting rid of the backlog was just careless.

[kuhai2001]

How do bureaucrats in Ottawa work on their jobs? I wonder....

[chimaican]

How do bureaucrats in Ottawa work on their jobs? I wonder....

Upside down on their heads of course Everything must be done backwards.

[stuntman]

I do wish the mods would not close this thread and let us have adult discussions

[sandikosh]

Huh? Foreigners suing the minister for not processing them quick enough? No wonder Canada is such a kitty!

[Hitman21]

Foreigners have no right to sue and its ridiculous how this is happening.

[fakishan]

Foreigners have no right to sue and its ridiculous how this is happening.

Consequence of globalization. Too bad people couldn't think further than saving on some cross-border shopping.

[Simaahoy]

Good for the people waiting for their application to be processed.

[spike1128]

You guys are just trolling.

Stevie doesn't play by the rules. He got his majority, the PM can do whatever he wants. He is going to stick it to the foreigners who is suing him. Nobody messes with the Stevester and gets away with it.

[bullionaire]

They're not even immigrants yet, but they're suing the government already!

Yep, they are exactly what Canada needs.

[longitude]

The Harper government is sleazy and not to be trusted.

[hugh_da_man]

The Harper government is sleazy and not to be trusted.

such pointless fear mongering...

Cases like this are the problem with Canada. Our elected officials should be allowed to set our immigration policy not non-elected judges and there should be no guarantees to people who aren't even citizens. I hope they process these applications as harshly as they can and make sure these people are saints before allowing them into our country. If they don't like our policies why not try applying somewhere else?

[hagbard]

Govts have no right to control the movement of people.

[LostInTruth]

I'm sure most of your families were not born here in Canada, so I applaud this decision for allowing these people to be processed who put their life on hold for years just to be carelessly tossed aside.

[fakishan]

such pointless fear mongering...

Cases like this are the problem with Canada. Our elected officials should be allowed to set our immigration policy not non-elected judges and there should be no guarantees to people who aren't even citizens. I hope they process these applications as harshly as they can and make sure these people are saints before allowing them into our country. If they don't like our policies why not try applying somewhere else?

I only wish the first nations had stricter immigration policies.