A coalition of lawyers moved to block the cancellation of 18,000 applications
A superior court has ordered the Quebec government to process the 18,000 pending immigration applications that it planned to cancel earlier.
Justice Frédéric Bachand of the Quebec Superior Court issued a 10-day temporary injunction ordering the provincial government to resume processing backlogged applications to the Quebec Skilled Worker Program.
A coalition of lawyers known as AQAADI had earlier requested the injunction on behalf of one of the immigrants whose application was about to be cancelled.
“This is great news, and great news for Quebec society,” AQAADI Guillaume Cliche-Rivard told Radio-Canada.
Earlier this month, the Coalition Avenir Québec government proposed a new legislation called Bill 9 implementing a stricter selection process for allowing immigrants into the province.
Under Bill 9, all pending immigration applications submitted before Aug. 2, 2018 would have to be scrapped and new requests would have to be filed through an updated system. It was supposed to take effect immediately.
However, the AQAADI moved to block the termination of existing applications, claiming that it was “completely illegal” since Bill 9 is yet to be adopted. The group asked the Superior Court to have the pending immigration applications processed “at the usual pace” until the new legislation is enacted.
Following the court’s decision, Quebec Immigration Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said the provincial government would honour the ruling and continue processing the backlogged applications until Bill 9 passes into law at the National Assembly.
