Haitians wait for humanitarian aid outside the Canadian Embassy in Port-au-Prince after the Haiti earthquake on Jan. 14. [Handout / Getty Images] Click here to see full sized version.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney recently announced special measures to assist Haiti’s earthquake victims. Unfortunately, his response is even less generous than that of his Liberal predecessor in the wake of the tsunami that struck Asia in December 2004.

Judy Sgro was our immigration minister when the tsunami struck and claimed 230,000 lives in 14 different countries. Sgro’s department initially looked nothing short of inept or heartless when it insisted on collecting the required $100 passport fee from a destitute Canadian survivor who was trying to come home. Our visa post also goofed when it refused to issue visas to the foreign wife and infant son of a Canadian hero who was trying to return home with his young family.

Sgro then announced her special measures. She promised to process, on a priority basis, the applications of those who had been directly and significantly affected by the disaster and who had immediate family in Canada. She also waived the application and landing fees of all applicants in the affected region. Most significantly, she promised to consider on a case-by-case basis the granting of permanent residence to other close family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents (aunts, uncles, nephews, adult brothers and sisters who were ineligible for sponsorship under our family class).

Sgro refused to waive or defer security requirements, insisting they be completed before arrival. She also refused to consider the issuance of temporary visas or permits to people with relatives in Canada so that they could complete the processing here.

These measures appeared to win public favour but bore very little fruit. Six months after the disaster, only 366 permanent resident visas were issued under this program and only 278 landings were achieved. This number is even less impressive when considering that the vast majority of these people would have qualified to come here anyway within a few months.

Kenney’s plan includes priority processing for members of the family class who have been 'directly and significantly affected by the earthquake' but does not include the waiver of processing fees, nor does it include a more generous interpretation of the family class. Initially, Kenney insisted that he would not take shortcuts with paperwork even for homeless orphans who were awaiting the finalization of their Canadian adoptions.

A few days after seeing the Americans and the Dutch do just that, Kenney found room for flexibility and announced that temporary resident permits would be issued to them. Preliminary estimates suggest that only about 100 orphans stand to benefit from this relaxation of our rules.

It seems that both Sgro and Kenney are guilty of political opportunism when they describe the priority processing of family class members as a 'special measure.' It is anything but — family class members have always had top priority. To quote the immigration department’s immigration manual: 'Applications for permanent residence from spouses, common-law partners, conjugal partners and dependent children have the highest priority, along with children to be adopted.'

Furthermore, the same manual states that, in the ordinary course, the department aims to complete 80 percent of such cases in 6 months. In fact, its worldwide average is 12 months. In Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, it takes a full 18 months to process such applications. Twenty percent of such cases take even longer.

It is clear that current measures fall far short of what is needed to reflect the will of Canadians in the face of a death toll which has already reached 110,000 and which is expected to climb to nearly 200,000.

In June 2008 Kenney obtained new powers under Bill C-50, the Budget Implementation Act, which included 'the authority to issue instructions directing visa officers to process, on a priority basis, those applications that best support the Government of Canada’s goals for immigration.' However, these special provisions do not seem to apply to family class and humanitarian applications. Nonetheless, he continues to have the general power to grant permanent residence on humanitarian grounds to foreign nationals outside of Canada, either on his own initiative or at their request. It is clear that it is time to use some of these powers.

Kenney should immediately:

-instruct his officers in Port-au-Prince to complete all family class cases within six months, as described in his department’s manual;

-be mindful of the fact that many identity documents, diplomas, certificates and travel documents are hopelessly lost in the rubble and that it will take many months, if not years, to replace them;

-identify people who are likely to qualify for permanent residence and allow them to come on temporary resident permits while they process their applications for permanent residence here; and

-recognize that Canadians are not only concerned for their parents, spouses and children under 22, but that they are also concerned for their over-aged children, their brothers, sisters, and other close relatives who they are able and willing to support and who have had their lives shattered by the earthquake.

Kenney’s humanitarian powers are a waste if they are not going to be used in times like these.

Guidy Mamann is a partner in the Toronto law firm of Mamann, Sandaluk and is certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a specialist in immigration law.