Options include waiving fees, speeding up applications for family reunification, and perhaps even relaxing the definition of who can be included in reunification.

"The minister of immigration has been discussing these matters and we will have announcements in the not-to-distant future," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday. "Our priority right now, as you know, is obviously to get relief efforts - search and rescue in particular - on the ground. That is happening."

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Harper asked Kenney "to quickly look at all options on the issue of visas, family reunification, and refugees." Kenney talked Thursday with federal and provincial officials to narrow down the options.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Ottawa is working closely with Quebec's immigration minister, Yolande James, to make sure both levels of government are on the same wavelength. Quebec is the primary destination for Haitian immigrants in Canada, and Montreal has one of the biggest concentrations of Haitian populations living abroad.

Last year, Canada responded to humanitarian crises in Sri Lanka and the Philippines by quickly processing applications to reunite close family members. The procedural change allowed about 1,600 Sri Lankans and 400 Filipinos reunite with their families more quickly, according to the Immigration Department.

Ottawa could easily and quickly fast-track Haitian applications, said one expert. "There's no reason why this can't at the very least be quickly put into place," said Nicole LaViolette, law professor at the University of Ottawa.

Kenney should also consider waiving application fees, she said, since Haiti is so poor. But simply speeding up the application process does not necessarily mean more Haitians will qualify to come to Canada, warned Audrey Macklin, law professor at the University of Toronto.

"Our immigration system makes it extremely difficult for people to come from poor countries," she said. "You're up against a whole bureaucracy set up to prevent them from coming."

In order to make sure Haitians benefit from the changes Ottawa makes, officials should also relax their demands for proof of family ties and good health, she said, especially if the applicants have links to Canadians who have said they will take care of them.

Ottawa is also considering halting all deportations of Haitians for now. Most Haitians in Canada are already covered by a deportation ban, even if their refugee or immigration applications fail. But Canada has never extended the ban to criminals.

"Clearly you can't be sending people back, even if they're charged with theft or assault," said LaViolette. The federal NDP says Ottawa should do all those things and more.

Immigration critic Olivia Chow said Ottawa should relax the definition of who can qualify for family reunification. For now, only immediate family is considered. That means children over the age of 23 or children who are married don't qualify, nor do aunts, uncles, cousins or adult siblings.

Ottawa has expanded its family definition in the past, for the boat people of Vietnam, Chow pointed out. Plus, it would not be a complicated procedure for the federal government to make the change. It would not require legislation, she said.

"Haiti has suffered an extreme tragedy and Canada needs to extend its support in all ways, including easing immigration restrictions," Chow said. "It is incumbent on this government to help Haitian-Canadian families bring their relatives home, and to do so quickly."

By Heather Scoffield, The Canadian Press<