Full Exclusive Interview with Canada’s Immigration Minister

CIC News met Immigration Minister Sean Fraser on June 21 to discuss current events relating to Canadian immigration.

Fraser was appointed minister last fall, shortly after the 2021 Canadian federal election. As the head of Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada from Dubai (IRCC), Fraser is tasked with implementing the Canadian prime minister’s policy priorities, which are outlined in the minister’s mandate letter.

The minister is also responsible for overseeing Canada’s citizenship program, making decisions related to immigration policy, and tabling an immigration levels plan every year before November 1, except during an election.

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We released the interview in eight segments so that we could elaborate on each question. Fraser discussed a variety of topics topics including Express Entry reforms and the date of the first all-program Express Entry draw in 18 months. Since then, all-program draws have resumed and the bill that proposed the changes to Express Entry has passed. We have also learned that the new Express Entry draws that invite candidates based on an economic goal will start to be implemented early 2023.

Fraser also touched on IRCC service standards, citizenship fees, immigration levels, and new PR pathways. We also asked him what’s on his bucket list as Canada’s immigration minister, and how his life has changed since he accepted the role.

Here are all of our articles from the interview, which took place at the 2022 Collision conference on June 21:

Part 1: Express Entry all-program draws tentatively resuming on July 6

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser says Canada would resume all-program Express Entry draws on Wednesday, July 6, 2022. As the minister said, the draw took place on that day. A total of 1,500 Express Entry candidates were invited to apply for permanent residence.

Part 2: Immigration Minister Sean Fraser discusses Express Entry reforms

At the time of this interview, Bill C-19 had not received royal assent. Now that the bill has passed, IRCC predicts it will come into effect in the new year.

Part 3: Immigration Minister: Applicants can soon expect normal service standards

After the pandemic slowed down application processing times, Fraser says he expects most lines of business to return to their standard by the end of the calendar year.

Part 4: No date set for IRCC to waive Canadian citizenship application fees

The Liberal Party’s 2019 promise to end citizenship fees has still not come to fruition. Fraser offers an explanation.

Part 5: Will Canada welcome over 500,000 immigrants per year?

Fraser did not rule out the possibility that Canada would one day seek to welcome half a million new permanent residents in a given year.

Part 6: Immigration minister discusses new PR pathways for temporary residents

Fraser talks about the considerations going into a new immigration program expected to be announced in the fall.

Part 7: Canada’s immigration minister wants to make good on mandate letter commitments for refugees and undocumented workers

Fraser says he wants to make good on a number of commitments to refugees and undocumented workers.

Part 8: Sean Fraser talks about how life has changed since he became Canada’s minister of immigration

Fraser discusses the challenges of fulfilling his duties as an immigration minister and as a father at the same time.