Stating obvious flaws in a system, is not an attack on the system, but rather an outcry of concern as to how it could be resolved and so others who are going through the same issue can provide guidance and assistance . We should be able to voice out concerns on this forum without being called narcissistic.
As I have emphasized, not all complaints are created equal. Not every complaint or criticism is imbued with narcissism. Those which derive from putting self interest in front of others, however, quite obviously are. There has been plenty of the latter on display here.
Which leads to the nature and scope of the complaints, and what remedies are advocated. Is this about the "system" and how IRCC ordinarily and usually handles PR card applications? Or is it about how IRCC is handling things during this particular crisis?
As you point out, before the pandemic PR card processing times were in the range of six or so weeks, and actually less than that for a significant period of time, and generally were much better for the last couple of years than they were for quite a long while before that. It warrants acknowledging that for a long while they were averaging in the three to five month range, and for some periods even longer. It is readily apparent that PR card processing times have, up to the pandemic, been improving and were very much in the range of what most would deem reasonable.
Suggestions that this represents a broken or inept system in need of serious reform are clearly overblown if not entirely off the mark. But some of the criticisms here, above, and in other similar topics, suggest this is the case. Which it isn't. As previously quoted, one participant here was complaining about IRCC "
denying travel for 1 year every 5 years" and that this amounted to violating PR's constitutional rights on a scale that should be the basis for, quote, "
a Human Rights" case. That, to put it simply, is malarkey.
Criticisms about how IRCC is handling things during this Covid-19 crisis is a separate matter. Very early on in this discussion I agreed that how the government has dealt with this crisis raises real questions about how well it was prepared and what it can do to be better prepared WHEN there is another crisis on this scale (there is no "if," there will be another, only "when").
And in regard to this, sure, there is a wide range of conflicting views about the reasonableness of stay-at-home orders and travel restrictions. And about how the government has prioritized all sorts of its operations. Not everyone is on the same page as, say, those who approach this from the John Stuart Mill "other-regarding" perspective. And yeah, I lean toward the latter, with perhaps a bit of Marxist influence on top.
But even if one buys whole hog the view that the government's response to this crisis is a dismal failure, what is happening right now is still separate and apart from the usual and ordinary and routine processes, including processing PR card applications. And it is utterly NOT fair to those who come to this website and this forum, looking for information and insight about how things work, to characterize IRCC generally, or its PR card application processing in particular, as broken or inept or callous.
And it is also unfair to inaccurately lead them to believe that PR's have constitutionally protected internationally mobility rights. The latter is particularly important.
Understanding one's rights is a huge, huge factor to be taken into consideration when making decisions.
Overall, criticisms are one thing. Misinformation is something else entirely.
As I have said, for now we are still smack-dab in the middle of this crisis. And, it is going to take awhile to get through this. Like it or not, international travel is, at best, discouraged. As I previously noted, there are still restrictions on travel between some provinces let alone internationally.
I do not know you and i will not make any assumption about your motives.
I would like to avoid dragging this to a personal opinion about motives and agenda.
Again, I do not know your personality and i do not your motives and I will not make assumptions about them.
In contrast . . .
You do not seem to be affected by this issue and as many noted seems to have no sympathy for people who are affected by it.
Frankly, the "
I don't . . . even when I do" routine doesn't sell.
Otherwise . . . you do not need to be a constitutional law scholar to read and understand the rather simple language in Section 6 of the Charter which explicitly distinguishes the mobility rights of Canadian citizens, relative to leaving and entering Canada, versus those with PR status for whom it prescribes more limited, domestic mobility rights. No need to take my word for it. That's why I cited the Charter. No one need take my word for anything. I make an effort to write like composing math equations, in a manner for which almost anyone should be able follow and figure out the calculations for themselves, and otherwise relying on premises which are commonly known or readily verified in reliable sources (like the Charter of Rights).
In the meantime, let's be honest: even Canadian citizens are currently burdened with some very restrictive limitations regarding travel . . . including travel within Canada let alone internationally.
This baloney about "
being stuck for a year because of PR cards" epitomizes the misinformation. Apart from the reality that not having a PR card does NOT prohibit traveling abroad. Currently routine PR card applications have been
processed in less than six months. Any PR who made a PR card application before February this year either has been issued a new card or, for reasons particular to that individual, encountered non-routine processing.
The currently posted processing time for PR cards is 299 days, WITH ACCOMMODATION (albeit limited given the situation) for those who require a PR card urgently. Which is still multiple months LESS than a year.
It is possible that SOME (in addition to those who, for reasons particular to their own circumstances, encounter non-routine processing) will have their PR card application processing for as long as a year. But that is NOT where things are now, at least NOT yet. My sense ("
my sense" being my way of distinguishing what I think, as in what is my opinion, in contrast to statements based on reliable sources) is that IRCC will get around to dealing with PR card applications in a way that avoids it taking a year for routinely processed applications. Or even the 299 days it is now publishing.
As I noted in response to
@lloyd153, part of what is disconcerting in this and similar topics is the conflating of issues with how IRCC is prioritizing operations during the current Covid-19 crisis with how the system generally and ordinarily works in routinely processed PR card applications. It is misleading to characterize the latter based on delays due to the former.
I know where the "one year" processing time comes from. It comes from those whose cases wind up in Secondary Review. Maybe that is not relevant to why you referenced "
being stuck for a year because of PR cards" but that definitely appears to be what is alluded to in posts complaining about IRCC "
denying travel for 1 year every 5 years." Who gets bogged down in SR is a completely separate subject, mostly involving those who could have or should have readily recognized they were at risk for SR, having nothing to do with either the ordinary processing of PR cards or how IRCC is handling PR card application processing during this Covid-19 crisis.