Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you. The only thing I can say is that when we're thinking of families, we're thinking about real lives and about the right of families to be reunited. We shouldn't put a cost and benefit to the taxpayers above having the families' rights to be reunited. At the same time, the problem with having them come on temporary visitor visas is that a lot of people get declined, because the parents have to prove that they have the income and will return.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm not really sure how to respond to that, because I'm not an economist or a politician. We definitely need to have flexibility. We need to look at the human aspect of it, and make sure that people are able to be bring their families, their parents, and grandparents here. I'm sorry that I'm not able to comment more.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Can I comment on this, please? Is that okay?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  They have to leave after two years, and this is also costly. If they needed to stay, for example, for three years, and then after two years, reapply again, leave and come back, that's why we kind of welcome the fact that, if they want to stay for longer periods of time, especially those who are waiting for the sponsorship applications to kick in, then it saves them money.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you. Ms. Kwan, first of all, we agree with you 100%. For a lot of the immigrants who we serve and the communities that we come from, they are overrepresented in precarious employment, and to produce approval of three years of income, even a minimum threshold income, is too much to request.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No. That's fine.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you. The truth is that for our community the insurance is very costly, and it's prohibitive for many families to bring their parents and grandparents here. That's why one of the recommendations, as Rasha mentioned, is to have it based on the length of stay. I might have missed a bit of the question at the beginning because I didn't realize that I was only on the French channel, but for the communities we serve, having flexibility in the insurance and having the ability to purchase from the outside is definitely something that might reduce the costs, so we would welcome it.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Members of the committee, good morning, and thank you for inviting the Arab Community Centre of Toronto as a witness this morning in regard to the reuniting families act. My name is Dima Amad. I am the executive director. Joining me today is Ms. Rasha Salman, our program development lead.