Immigration  policies  for  entry  into  Canada

Canada is a multicultural nation with people whose origins are from all over the world. In 2011, there were 34,482,000 living in Canada (citizens and residents who are not yet citizens) and that majority of them live within 200 miles from the Canada/US border. There are three major cities that have over a million people living in each of them. They are—Toronto, Montreal and Calgary. There are seven more cities that have between 900 thousand to 500 thousand people living in them. Canada also has 150 cities and towns that have at least 10,000 people living in them.  Then there are many other smaller towns that have less than 10,000 living in them.

One of the reasons why Canadian citizens and residents consider themselves lucky and why so many people want to live in Canada is that those of us who are Canadians believe in justice and freedom and recognize human rights for everyone who is in Canada whether or not they are citizens, residents or just visitors. Everyone is treated the same as everyone else.

I am going to tell you about our refugee programs. First of all, we consider  refugees as those unfortunate people who have fled their countries because of a well-founded fear of widespread persecution. Many refugees come from war-torn countries and have seen and experienced unthinkable horrors. Many refugees also come from countries that are run by dictators who are oppressors of their own people.

A refugee is different from an immigrant, in that an immigrant is a person who chooses to settle permanently in Canada and applies for entry into Canada as an immigrant.  Unfortunately, it does take quite a while for their applications to be approved. After they have given their permits to live in Canada, they are called landed immigrants and as such they are residents of Canada. After three years, they can apply for Canadian citizenship. Once they are Canadians, they cannot be deported unless they obtained their citizenship by fraud such as not declaring that they were convicted of a crime or they were a war criminal etc.

There are an estimated 10.5 million refugees in the world today. Countries with resettlement programs resettle about 100,000 refugees from abroad each year. Of that number, Canada annually takes in one out of every 10 refugees through the government-assisted and privately sponsored refugee programs.

The Government of Canada is increasing the number of refugees and other persons in vulnerable circumstances that this country resettles each year by 20%. By the end of December 2012, Canada will have resettled up to 14,500 refugees and other vulnerable persons during 2012.

Unfortunately, Canada gets a fair number of people from other countries who claim that they are refugees when in fact they are not. Their real reasons for claiming to be refugees when they are not are as follows: (1) they want a better life than what they have in their own countries,(2) they want to live in Canada so that they can live with their relatives living in Canada, (3) they want to get free medical treatment for whatever ailment they are suffering from, (4) they want a job working in Canada.

I can appreciate what drives them to want to live in Canada but the proper way to achieve these ends is to make an application through our embassies or Consulates for an approved immigration entry into Canada.

Fraudulent refugees who are detected or undetected are the kind of people Canada doesn’t really want. There are only three ways that fraudulent refugees slip into Canada. They are—(1) by a boat such as the one that arrived on the west coast of Canada in 2010 carrying 500 fraudulent Tamil refugees, (2) flying into Canada and before the plane lands in Canada, they flush their passports down the toilet so that Canada can’t sent them back to their countries, (3) driving across the Canada/US border into Canada.

Once they are in Canada, the immigrations authorities have to go through the procedure of deporting them.  If Canada has to go that route, it is highly unlikely that these fraudulent refugees will ever be able to re-enter Canada as immigrants.

There is a move by the government to designate specific refugees as “irregular arrivals” which will allow for the mandatory arrest and detention for up to a year. This will include those arriving by boat, plane or by driving across the bother of Canada and the United States. Australia has such a program in effect.

In the past, Russian women could apply for a temporary visa to work in Canada as strippers in taverns but such visas are no longer issued to them. Women from the Philippines are given visas to work as nannies and after they have been here for three years, they may apply for citizenship as Canadians.

The majority of Canadians have problems with temporary foreign workers taking jobs that Canadians could do, according to a poll on the country's immigration system. Sixty-eight per cent of respondents in the CBC/Nanos survey said they ‘oppose’ or ‘somewhat oppose’ allowing temporary foreign workers into the country if there are Canadians looking for work who are qualified for the same jobs. Six per cent were unsure. I also don’t like too many people from other countries coming into Canada to work if it means that Canadian citizens and those who are landed immigrants suffer from the influx of foreign workers.

Here are some examples of fraudulent entries into Canada by people who have no scruples who enter Canada from other countries—(1) criminals who want to steal money from people in Canada either as pickpockets or scammers, (2) pregnant women who want their babies born in Canada so that the babies will automatically become Canadian citizens and when they grow up, they can sponsor their families into Canada as applicants for Canadian citizenship, (3) people who claim that they had to flee their country but managed to get to the United States or some other recognized safe country first before they entered Canada, (4) people who need emergency medical operations or medical care. In a surprising decision, the government announced that it would cut health benefits to refugee claimants. The move would save the government $20 million each year and discourage ‘unfounded’ refugees from coming to Canada for the sole purpose of seeking medical care.

Over the past year, Ottawa has made some sweeping and controversial changes to the immigration, asylum and refugee system, and the rules involving Canadian citizenship.

          There is a plan in Canada to wipe out the federal skilled workers program backlog and establish a new pool of immigrant skilled workers. Known as the Expression of Interest System, the new program will allow employers to choose potential candidates from a ready pool of pre-screened skilled workers. It’s similar to a program currently used in New Zealand and Australia. At present, any person who is a professional such as doctors can easily come to Canada but there are a great many of them that don’t have Canadian qualifications as medical doctors. Unfortunately, doctors, engineers and accountants, just to name a few professionals don’t have jobs to go to when they enter Canada and end up either being on welfare or getting simple jobs as cab drivers etc. Further, those who are qualified might end up getting jobs that would otherwise go to Canadians or residents instead. 

There is a new change in the federal skilled workers program, opening the door for skilled trades workers and offering permanent residency to electricians, welders, heavy-duty equipment mechanics and pipefitters to help relieve the labour shortage amid a construction boom in places such as Alberta and Ontario.                                     

         The government has also changed the rules governing the deportation of criminals who are in Canada as permanent residents. If passed, the bill will make it easier for the Immigration Department to deport an immigrant with permanent resident status who has been sentenced to six months or more in jail for a crime. There would also be no right to an appeal. At present, the law only allows such action if someone has been sentenced to two years less a day, and there is a right to appeal. The new law, if passed, will effectively impose a “one strike and you’re out” rule. If the person is sentenced to two years or more in prison, there is no appeal available to them and they will be deported. This is surely a way to remove serious criminals from our midst. However, I don’t think that it is fair or just to remove someone who is sentenced to a month in jail for shoplifting, especially if he or she has children living with them.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Foreigners who are sponsored to enter Canada as spouses must stay in the relationship for at least two years before they’re granted permanent residence status under the new law. If they don’t, they face deportation. Of course it won’t apply to those who are victims of abuse or neglect. The reason for this law is that there are instances where the sponsored foreigners have no intention of living with their spouses and only married them so that they could be sponsored into Canada.

The government will be changing the point system used to judge skilled-immigrant applications, emphasizing language skills and professional credentials equivalent to Canada’s skills and credentials. Language proficiency will become a more important factor in whether applicants are approved. There will no longer be foreigners coming into Canada as skilled workers or professionals who either don’t speak English or French proficiently. Prospective Canadian citizens must now provide proof of language proficiency either in English or French before they can apply for citizenship. The new regulation will affect candidates between the ages of 18 and 54. Immigration officials will return applications of those who do not provide evidence of proficiency.

The law calls for officials to detain migrants for investigation. Further, irregular arrivals are banned from applying for permanent resident status, sponsoring family members and acquiring refugee travel documents for five years even if their refugee claims are accepted. I suppose that is of little consequence to those who flee for their lives from their own countries.

Ottawa has created a list of safe countries of origin — countries considered capable of providing state protection for their citizens. A total of 27 countries have been named, 25 of them from the European Union which includes: Austria, Croatia, France, Germany Hungary, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. Anyone from those countries claiming to be refugees will have their case fast-tracked through the refugee process, with their claims heard within 30 to 45 days. They will not be able to appeal the decision and will be removed from Canada within a year. All other eligible refugee claimants will receive a hearing within 60 days after their claim is referred to the refugee board.

In another move to protect Canada’s borders, the government is now acting under the Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act, and as such, has introduced biometric measures where fingerprints and photos will be taken from applicants from 29 countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Iran, Jamaica, Jordan, Haiti, Pakistan, Vietnam and Yemen. Although a great many people from these countries make ideal citizens in any country they choose to go, there are still a large number of criminals in those countries that end up in Canada. We want them fingerprinted and photographed so that our police can do background checks on them. Canada does not permit criminals to enter Canada in any manner whatsoever. We have enough of our own that we have to deal with. We certainly don’t want other countries’ criminals.  The fingerprint information will be sent to the RCMP for storage and will be checked against the fingerprint records of refugee claimants, previous deportees, persons with Canadian criminal records and previous temporary resident applicants before a visa decision is made.

The government announced in September that it would be revoking the citizenship of 3,100 people who mostly came from the Persian Gulf States who had lied about their residency and failed to reside in Canada for three of the four previous years when they applied for citizenship. What they did was get their landed residency status approved and then moved back into their own countries and when they became eligible to apply for their Canadian citizenship, they returned to Canada.

Changes were made to allow employers to pay temporary high-skilled foreign workers up to 15 per cent less than the prevailing local wage. In the case of low-skilled workers, it’s 5 per cent less. I am concerned about this change because dishonest employers would deny employment to Canadians so that they can hire foreign workers at a lesser wage. These are the same kinds of employers who close their companies down in Canada and transfer them into countries like India were the employees there are paid a pittance compared to what they would be paid if they were working in Canada.

         In December, 2012, the government eliminated the special parental benefits for foreign migrant workers who contribute an estimated $3.4 million to the country’s employment insurance system. What this means is that 30,000 migrant workers who are employed under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program are no longer eligible to take leave and collect any benefits while caring for newborns or sick children. Migrant workers have never been eligible for full Employment Insurance benefits but previously they could access special benefits for up to 35 weeks even if they were outside of Canada. Of course, that was wrong.

These new laws and those that are proposed are harsh but it will invariably save Canadians millions of dollars each year that are being wasted on certain foreigners claiming to be refugees coming into Canada who should not be permitted to get into Canada because of their past or because they offer nothing to Canada in the form of income tax or adding to the culture of Canada or simply because they want to jump the line to get in. At the same time, it will make it easier for those who qualify to enter Canada to be processed expeditiously.