Archives for 2004

Vancouver MP Hedy Fry led a roundtable discussion on the subject of Canada’s recognition of the career credentials of immigrants.

“It is a tall order in a short time,” said Fry, who was given a mandate by Prime Minister Paul Martin in early December to report on the problem of assessing foreign credentials and helping new immigrants transfer their education and skills to Canadian jobs.

Prime Minister Martin told the gathering it is an important issue and one Canada must address if it is to be competitive in a global labour market.

Consultants Contest Regulation

A group of immigration consultants has filed court actions against the federal government in a bid to stop planned regulation of their activities, due to begin on April 1.

The International Association of Immigration Practitioners, which wants current consultants to be allowed to practise without meeting new standards, filed actions in the Federal Court of Canada and the Ontario Superior Court

The association charges that Ottawa has no authority to set up the regulatory body, the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants.

Refugee claimants in the U.S. will have limited time to seek asylum in Canada before a controversial agreement comes into effect requiring them to seek a safe haven in the first country they reach.

The move could decrease the number of refugee claims in Canada by as much as one-third, and has already prompted anxiety at refugee shelters in Buffalo, N.Y., and at other locations along the U.S.-Canada border.

The regulation, known as the Safe Third Country Agreement, was announced in December, 2001, by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and then-deputy prime minister John Manley, as part of the “smart border” plan drafted in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

However, while Canada passed its regulations in October, 2002, the U.S. stalled until yesterday when officials in Washington finally followed suit.

“The agreement will be implemented after the public has had an opportunity to comment on the proposed rule over the next (months), the comments are reviewed . . . and the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice each issue an interim or final rule,” Eduardo Aguirre, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said yesterday.

“The agreement will enhance the orderly handling of refugee claims and reflect our humanitarian tradition, but also signals that we are dealing harshly with those who would abuse our generosity,” said Jean-Pierre Morin, a spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Q. I intend to come to Canada as a visitor for several months. If I find a job during that time, can I change my status while in Canada?

Answer: Specific provisions to ‘change’ status under such circumstances do not exist, but an applicant can apply for a work permit or for permanent resident status while within Canada. Such an application would have to be submitted to a visa office outside of Canada, and to which the applicant is entitled to submit the case, however.

If your Canadian status expires during the time that you were seeking such authorization to live and work here, you may still be required to leave while the decision is pending. Such an application would not, in itself, be grounds for extension of status in Canada.

The Minister of Immigration, Judy Srgo, have begun investigations into private language schools in order to enhance the foreign student program. Amidst complaints that many such private institutions do not offer an adequate education, the process of accrediting such colleges is being reviewed.

The 11 immigration ministers will also discuss how ESL courses can assist
in upgrading foreign credentials, allowing more offshore trained immigrants
to work in Canada in their respective professions.

Quebec looks to Immigrants to Offset Aging Population

Increased immigration can offset Quebec’s aging population and low birthrate, Immigration Minister Danielle Courchesne said Tuesday.

Courchesne, who will head up public consultations on the issue, said young Quebecers will suffer without an increase in the number of new arrivals. “It’s hard to imagine the costs of a drop in population growth,” Courchesne said in a statement. “It will put an enormous strain on our institutions, notably our health system.” Courchesne said 2.2 million Quebecers will be 65 years of age or older by 2031, according to projections.

The number of younger residents is expected to drop during the same period, said the minister.

A looming and “severe” labour shortage will put “significant strain” on Canada’s public and private pension system, according to a study by Watson Wyatt Canada.

The consulting company predicts that over the coming decade, Canada’s pool of workers will grow more slowly than the population, then stagnate, before shrinking in the 2020s and eventually lead to a labour shortage. . . . In Canada, fertility rates have fallen below replacement levels but robust immigration levels will sustain meagre population growth over the long-term, the study found.

It put forth a number of suggestion on how countries can counter the problem: allow older workers to keep working, increase immigration, or being into the labour market previously untapped workers such as younger people and women.

Q. If I submit my case now and the pass mark changes again, how will that affect my application?

Answer: Although no changes to the Regulations or pass mark are presently under official discussion, this is always a possibility. In the last case in which this took place, we saw that the immigration department sought to apply these changes to cases already in the queue.

However, given political reaction to these measures, and the subsequent outcome of the class-action law suit on behalf of applicants in that position, it is not anticipated that this sort of retroactive implementation would again take place.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), an inter-governmental body with more than 100 member states, tries to address migration issues outside of the U.N. system and cooperates with the U.N. in the Geneva Migration Group.

A single global agency should be created to deal with the wide range of issues surrounding the increasingly important migration phenomenon, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday.

The group proposed creating a World Migration Organization (WMO), similar to the World Trade Organization (WTO). This is inetended to counter fragmentation of agencies worldwide.

Instead, Tthe organization would provide “systematic, coherent, impartial” information of interest for migrants’ home countries (popularly known as sender countries), host countries, migrants and civil society, comparable to the WTO’s country reports.

Foreign Students being Sought

Despite a soaring international reputation for quality post-secondary education and record numbers of foreign students enrolled across the country, Canada has fallen behind in the race to recruit international scholars. But with three new federal/provincial partnerships launched Oct. 31, 2003, in Manitoba, Alberta and New Brunswick, educational institutions and governments hope to restore Canada to the front of the pack.

“The government intends to make Canada a destination of choice for foreign students,” explained Claire Despins, a spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration.

In Manitoba, where some schools have seen a 40% increase in foreign student enrolment this year alone, 800 international students registered in full-time academic programs who have completed one year of study can now work off campus for up to 20 hours per week.

Stricter security measures brought in for the new year have left dozens of landed immigrants stranded overseas, barred from Canada-bound flights because they do not have permanent-resident cards.

At least 36 people were turned away from flights to Canada since the new rules went into effect on Dec. 31, Citizenship and Immigration spokeswoman Maria Iadinardi said.

Early after the implementation, 24 people around the world were referred to Canadian consulates for travel documents because they were not carrying a card, the department reported.

The new security measures, introduced in reaction to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, require landed immigrants returning to Canada to carry the new card or a temporary travel visa.

“Our visa officers are there — like our migration-integrity officers are at the airport — because we need to continue to facilitate the re-entry to Canada of legitimate permanent residents,” Ms. Iadinardi said. “Our contingency plans are working.”

The Immigration Department’s figures on how many people are stranded don’t reflect the true depth of the problem, Toronto immigration lawyer Guidy Mamann said.

“I think it’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Mr. Mamann said, referring to reports that while an estimated 1.5 million people in Canada are eligible for the cards, only 850,000 have been issued so far. “If you just subtract that, there’s several hundred-thousand people,” he said.

Other reports suggested that some airport immigration officials were turning a blind eye to the new rules, letting people without cards pass through with a warning.

But Mr. Mamann said airlines would still be less likely to take risks with passengers not carrying cards.

Mr. Mamann blamed Immigration Minister Judy Sgro for much of the confusion swirling around the cards after she hinted last month that measures would be taken to prevent permanent residents from being stranded outside Canada.