Provencher Member of Parliament Ted Falk says January 28th was a frustrating day for a number of local immigrant families. He explains at 11:00 a.m. that day Refugees and Citizenship Canada opened up applications for the 2019 Parent and Grandparent Sponsorship program, which is a chance to sponsor in family members. But Falk says the 27,000 spots that were available filled up before any local families could get through.

Ted Falk"There was a very small window for people to sponsor relatives to come into the country. That window was open for about only 11 minutes and the quota was full. I know for folks in Provencher, who had hoped to sponsor relatives to come here into Canada, the window wasn't big enough for them to really take proper advantage of that opportunity. It's almost like an immigration lottery, that's probably not the right term, but it's like that."

Falk says he is aware of four families in Provencher who attempted to submit their applications within that 11 minutes but were unsuccessful, leaving them upset.

"There are a lot of people who want to bring in their family members and relatives to enjoy this wonderful country of ours. And, quite frankly, I don't blame them. But we only have the capacity to process so-and-so-many and so the window was very small and that was a big disappointment for a lot of people in Provencher."

Falk adds he would support a review of this process to strive for a family reunification system that is fair and gives everyone an equal opportunity to apply.