Our neighbours from Hong Kong were promised permanent residence in Canada, yet face interminable delays. We must stand with them as a church
Among us, in our congregations and neighbourhoods across Canada, live many people from Hong Kong. They are our neighbours. They worship beside us, their children study alongside ours, and they have come here trusting in a promise Canada made to them.
In 2021, Canada created a special pathway to permanent residence for Hong Kong residents, after the imposition of the national security law in Hong Kong. Many families sold their homes and gave up everything they had built, believing that this country would offer them safety and a future.
Today, that promise is failing them. As of June 30, 2026, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) had received approximately 30,315 applications under the pathway, representing 48,560 people. Only about 13,370 of those people had obtained permanent residence. Tens of thousands remain in limbo. IRCC's own processing-time tool now suggests new applicants could wait more than ten years. On June 7, 2026, some 300 Hong Kong residents and supporters gathered in Vancouver—with similar rallies in Calgary and Toronto—to call for faster processing, clearer updates, and a plan for those still waiting.
This is not an administrative delay. It is an injustice. While families wait, work and study permits risk expiry, access to health coverage and education becomes uncertain, and the simple security of home remains out of reach. To tell people who were invited here under a dedicated pathway that they should simply try another stream is to abandon the very promise on which they staked their lives.
As a church, we cannot look away. The United Church of Canada has long proclaimed a commitment to justice, welcome, and the dignity of every person. That commitment is tested not by what we say in general, but by whom we stand beside in particular. Our Hong Kong neighbours are asking not for special favour, but for fairness: that applications be processed in a timely way, that families be given clear information, and that the promise made to them be honoured.
We therefore invite United Church members across the country to take notice, to pray, and to act: learn about the Hong Kong Pathway backlog, speak with your Member of Parliament, and stand with the congregations and networks already raising their voices. Justice begins with attention—with refusing to let our neighbours wait for answers unseen.
There is an old saying: if you want to go fast, walk alone; if you want to go far, walk with others. Let us walk with our Hong Kong neighbours, together, until justice is done.
The views contained within these blogs are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of The United Church of Canada.
—David (Cheuk Yu) Lau is an MDiv student at Emmanuel College, and ministry staff with Thornhill United Church and Knox United Church