Ottawa should respect Quebec's immigration cap for family reunification: minister

The Quebec government is telling Ottawa to show some respect and not ignore the province's cap on immigration for family reunification.

Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette was responding today to an initiative by federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller to speed up the process of reuniting families with their loved ones.

Miller informed the province in a letter that he plans to process more permanent resident applications in the family reunification category, even if means exceeding Quebec's limit.

The delay to bring a spouse to Quebec is 34 months, compared with 12 months in other provinces, and for a parent the waiting period climbs to 50 months compared with 24 months elsewhere.

Miller says the delays can have a "very significant" impact on families, adding that Quebec has refused requests to raise its current limit of about 10,000 family reunification admissions per year.

He says he has decided to instruct his department to move forward and process some 20,500 applications that are awaiting a response.