Marco Mendicino, Canada’s Immigration Minister addressed the public in a speech titled ‘Modernizing Canada’s Immigration System’ on the 12th of May, 2021. The Canadian Club of Ottawa functioned as a platform to host the speech virtually keeping up to its name of collaborating with prominent speakers across the country to highlight vital topics since the year 1903.

Even before laying the foundations of the country in the year 1867, Immigration has been an important issue, only gaining increasing impetus ever since the pandemic struck.

The end of October 2020 witnessed Mendicino spearheading the creation of Canada’s Immigration Levels plan spanning 2021-2023, which mainly focuses on the highest levels of Immigration in Canadian history in order to shed support over the country’s post-pandemic economic situation. Canada now plans to open wings as a welcoming sign to more than 401,000 immigrants on an annual basis. Statistical reports suggest how it matches this pace and will most likely achieve this target figure by 2021.

Regardless of the numerous travel restrictions set in place, under the watchful eye of Mendicino, the IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) aims for ambitious brainstorming and execution during the pandemic. Ways in which it excelled were proven by it hosting the greatest Express Entry draw in history on 13th February and carrying out the launch of six novel PR streams on 6th May.

Mendicino’s speech began by highlighting the fact that IRCC has permitted the entry of essential travelers through open immigration gateways despite the gruesome nature of the pandemic. The country holds the top position of being the world’s best destination for resettled refugees as it still consistently offers humanitarian assistance. Mendicino suggested the necessity of terminating paper-based applications as he envisions a shift in the Canadian Immigration system towards a modern setup. The paper system currently in place is bogging down the whole culture and deeming it outdated.

Mendicino visualizes the online application and tracking process to be eventually possible for IRCC applications. He promoted this by speaking about how international students would be required to complete only a single online application stage, while new Canadian citizens would be able to take their oaths on a virtual platform. The minister also revealed about 9,000 virtual citizenship ceremonies took place over the span of one year and hosted a total of around 50,000 new citizens. He constantly promoted the raging crucial need to turn away from the outdated Global Case Management System (GCMS).

The previous year witnessed the Canadian government ready to shell out a whopping $430 million in view of modernizing the existing IT infrastructure, automatically labeling it as the cornerstone of the Immigration system due to its state-of-the-art nature. This is a step in progress towards quicker processing of IRCC applications. Mendicino stated the primary vision of this modernization as inspiring the applicants’ confidence. One of the preliminary goals of the already established immigration system is moving those residing within Canada towards permanent residency. This in turn would steadfastly boost them towards settling down in the country and be a part of long-term contributions for its well-being. Marco Mendicino wishes that Canadians would greatly appreciate the cumulative efforts and immense contributions put forth by newcomers and essential workers to accelerate the country’s ability to curb COVID-19 in the bud.