New immigration plan to clear backlog
Last Updated Mon, 18 Apr 2005 21:25:53 EDT
OTTAWA - Citizenship and Immigration Minister Joe Volpe on Monday announced a new $72-million plan aimed at helping immigrants reunite with relatives and clear a giant backlog of applicants.
Part of the plan is designed to help those who want to sponsor their parents or grandparents, a process that immigration lawyers say can take between five and 10 years. Volpe said the new plan will should clear more than 100,000 applications off the book.
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Citizenship and Immigration Minister Joe Volpe in Brampton, Ontario, Monday. |
Key aspects of the immigration plan include:
- A tripling in the number of parents and grandparents accepted over the next two years, bringing the total to 18,000 a year. Ottawa will invest $36 million a year for two years to cover the costs of processing and integrating parents and grandparents.
- The waiving of English- and French-language tests for citizenship applicants aged 55 years of age and older, rather than 60 years of age.
- A change to allow international students to work and gain Canadian experience while they're being trained in this country. Upon graduation they will be able to work for one year if they stay in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, and for two years if they move to a smaller community.
- Incentives to encourage new Canadians to settle outside major metropolitan centres like Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.
- More money to clear a growing backlog of citizenship applications.
The changes do not need legislative approval and could take place immediately, giving the Liberals some campaign momentum with immigrant communities should their minority government fall this spring or summer.
Volpe announced the immigration plan in Brampton, Ont., on Monday morning, accompanied by members of Parliament from other Toronto-area ridings that are home to significant numbers of new Canadians.
Big backlogs causing hardship
Immigration lawyer Michael Greene says there should be a public debate over solving the backlogs in bringing family members to Canada, which are causing severe hardship for new immigrants.
"I do think that Canadian family values are there and that it's a motherhood and apple pie issue – and in this case, literally a motherhood issue," he said.
Harbinder Gill, who moved to Calgary from the Indian state of Punjab seven years ago, says the delay is taking a heavy toll on him.
"I drive stressed, I go to work stressed, I'm always stressed, I stay home stressed," he said. "I'm always thinking about my mother and sisters."
His father died after Gill arrived in Canada, but every day he waits for some news about whether he'll be reunited with his aging mother and his sisters.
After five years of waiting, he is beginning to give up hope. If his family sponsorship application isn't approved in the next year, the 35-year-old says he'll move back to India.
"We find this across the country," said Calgary Conservative MP Lee Richardson of the frustration and despair felt by immigrants wanting their families nearby. "Upwards of 70 per cent of case work in our MPs' offices are immigration business.
"That's nuts. There's something wrong with the system."
Pizzeria owner countersues Sgro for $1.25M: report
Last Updated Tue, 22 Feb 2005 12:14:40 EST
TORONTO - The Ontario pizza shop owner whose allegations of influence peddling caused Judy Sgro to resign as immigration minister is countersuing her for $1.25 million, according to a report.
Harjit Singh, who was deported to India this month, was slapped with a $750,000 defamation suit by Sgro for alleging that he supplied her election campaign with pizza in exchange for a promise he could remain in Canada.
Sgro's lawsuit, which also names three others, calls Singh's claims against her "ridiculously false."
Singh's countersuit, filed with the Ontario Superior Court, names Singh, his daughter-in-law Harkamal Virk, his friend Harinder Brar and Brar's son, Aman. The court documents were obtained by Canadian Press.
In the documents, the defendants deny all of Sgro's claims against them, including making a number of statements widely reported in the news media. They also blame the media for any libel against Sgro.
They claim that Sgro's defamation suit against them is "an abuse of process by the minister."
Singh was deported to India from Toronto on Feb. 2 following a 16-year effort to remain in Canada.
Province encourages rural immigration
Feb 8 2005 CBC News
WINNIPEG
Manitoba Immigration is hoping to attract more farmers to the province by adding a specific section for agriculture to the provincial nominee program.
The nominee program allows the province to receive applications from skilled workers and business people who want to immigrate to Manitoba.
Economic Development Minister Jim Rondeau hopes the change will attract as many as 100 new farmers to the province every year.
He says the program will help support the rural economy and give farmers who are considering retirement access to more potential buyers for their land. "By getting people under 40 years old to start, with young families, to go into the rural economy, we're going to build the rural economy. We're going to increase population," he says.
"Then what's happening is, we'll stop the depopulation. We'll build these communities. We'll get them more vibrant."
Prospective immigrants will have a chance to scout for farming opportunities before making the move.
"We don't sit there and make them buy a farm, and then come to Manitoba," explains Rondeau. "They give interest in the program, then they contact our branch, then they get to check out different communities, different areas, talk about the different farmers. After they're here, they can start making a deal and settle."
Potential immigrants must be willing to invest at least $150,000 in a farming operation to be eligible for the program.
Rondeau says the program will pay for itself: interested applicants must pay a deposit, which is put into an investment account; the interest is used to fund the program.
Ottawa opens door to tsunami immigrants
Last Updated Fri, 31 Dec 2004 08:15:34 EST 
OTTAWA - Canada will speed up its handling of immigration requests from people in tsunami-stricken areas of Asia who have close relatives in this country, Immigration Minister Judy Sgro said Thursday.
Sgro said her department will expedite immigration paperwork for spouses, common-law partners and children from countries such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka if their applications are already in the system.
About 200 spousal applications were very close to completion before the tsunami hit on Sunday, Sgro said.
Some of those relatives may be able to come to Canada in the next few weeks because of the fast-tracking project.
"What we'll do is pull those [applications] out and attempt to track down the individuals," she said.
The Immigration department will also try and fast-track the process for Canadian citizens and permanent residents who wish to sponsor immediate family members residing in the disaster area.
Sgro cautioned that because of the breakdown in communications systems and other types of infrastructure in some of the affected areas, it will be a challenge to locate the people that were to be sponsored.
"People have to realize that they're not sitting on the other end of a telephone waiting for a phone call," she said.
The Citizenship and Immigration department website tells readers that visa offices in Bangkok and Colombo are providing emergency services on a priority basis to affected Canadians, as well as providing visa services to their non-Canadian dependents.
Visa offices in Colombo, Sri Lanka; Bangkok, Thailand; New Delhi, India; and Jakarta, Indonesia, will then give priority consideration to applications made by those "who have been directly and significantly affected by the disaster and who have immediate family members in Canada."
October 2, 2004 - The Toronto Star
Canada to let in 225,000 next year
Immigration level to remain stable: Cabinet paper
Document hints national strategy may be in works
BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH
OTTAWA BUREAU
OTTAWA—Canada will open its doors to 225,000 new immigrants over the next year, according to a cabinet document that suggests the influx could affect government efforts to reduce the backlogs and delays that have frustrated newcomers.
That number is in line with last year's target and because of that the "levels plan is not a controversial announcement," says the document obtained by the Star.
"We do not anticipate a major reaction from the provinces and territories," it said.
Under the plan being considered by cabinet, 60 per cent of the newcomers will be skilled workers and 40 per cent will be families and refugees, with priority given to spouses, partners and children.
Still, the document hints the number could have fallout on the way Canada processes applications from newcomers hoping to come to this country.
The target may have "important implications for two government priorities — accelerating immigrant application processing times and reducing built-up inventories," the cabinet document states.
The document hints that a national strategy is in the works to tackle issues like that and address some of the long-standing gripes of the provinces, especially Ontario, which has been pressuring Ottawa for more say in immigration matters.
Big cities like Toronto have called on the federal government to spend more to help immigrants get settled and find work.
The cabinet document says that the immigration department will address those topics in a "National Immigration Framework it is developing in partnership with provinces, territories and other partners."
Immigration officials were tight-lipped when asked about the framework yesterday.
However, an Immigration source said the framework is likely to be the focus of an upcoming meeting of provincial and federal immigration ministers expected by the end of the year.
With those issues on the table, it's no surprise that the government opted to not boost its immigration targets, said professor Jeffrey Reitz, an immigration specialist at the University of Toronto.
He said the government has to move quickly to establish programs that help immigrants find work. "I suppose if you haven't got the employment issue sorted out effectively, don't have a plan in place, it might not be the best time to start increasing the numbers," Reitz said.
In 2003, 221,352 immigrants came to Canada, down slightly from the 229,091 who arrived in 2002.
About 60 per cent of new immigrants each year choose Ontario as their home, with 80 per cent of them settling in the Greater Toronto Area.
Immigration nixes mother's visit to Halifax
WebPosted Jul 8 2004 08:33 AM EDT
HALIFAX — A woman from Uganda will not be attending her daughter's wedding in Halifax because Immigration officials think she'll stay.
"It never crossed my mind that my mother wouldn't get a visa to come to my wedding," says Christine Sentongo.
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Christine Sentongo with her mother and fiance |
Sentongo's mother, Geraldine, has a good paying job and owns two homes in Uganda. She has travelled extensively abroad and has visited Canada before.
But this time, she was told her visa was rejected because she may plan to stay in Canada and not go home.
"All her family's there," says Sentongo. "There's no reason why my mother would come to Canada and not leave."
Sentongo has lived in Canada for nearly a decade and is a Canadian citizen. Her fiance, Lars Henry Andersen, is from Norway and is in Nova Scotia on a student visa.
Andersen says his unemployed sister in Norway is coming for the wedding, so there must be a double standard. "It baffles me a lot."
Sentongo's father, who is separated from her mother, got his visitor's visa with no problems. The bride-to-be says they were told her mother could have got a visa if she applied as his wife.
"That totally blew my mind because that was for me almost the worst thing to hear," says Sentongo.
No one from Citizenship and Immigration Canada would comment on the case. Officials say they have to follow stringent rules before granting visas.
"There is an immigration officer, a human being, sitting making these calls. So it baffles me how it can't be more flexible when it's a clear case of someone coming to visit for a wedding," says Andersen.
Tories
promise to speed up recognition of foreign credentials
June 10, 2004
Last
Updated Thu, 10 Jun 2004 23:37:52 BRAMPTON, ONT. - NDP Leader
Jack  Layton
promised to scrap the fee that landed immigrant applicants must
pay to get into Canada. And Conservative Leader Stephen Harper
criticized the Liberals over their "dithering and delays" in recognizing
the foreign professional credentials of new Canadians, as both
party leaders unveiled Thursday more details on their respective
immigration policies. Stephen Harper Speaking to members of the
Chinese business community in Toronto, Layton said he would eliminate
the $975 per person charge on applicants for landed immigrant
status. Layton also promised to extend a formal apology and pay
compensation to Chinese Canadians who were forced to pay a head
tax in the 19th Century and 20th Century. The federal government
imposed a $50 head tax on Chinese immigrants in 1885. The amount
was raised to $500 in 1903. In 1923 the head tax was replaced
by the Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese immigrants from the
country altogether. It wasn't fully repealed until 1967. Both
Layton and Harper said they would work toward a speedier recognition
of foreign credentials and prior work experience of immigrants.
"The Liberal government has simply not acted," Harper said, adding
"new Canadians - all Canadians - deserved better." The Conservative
leader said his government would quickly put in place a "road
map" to speed up the process, allowing new Canadians to "achieve
their full potential." Harper said, if elected, he would immediately
mandate his relevant ministers to meet with their provincial counterparts
and draw up a plan to deal with the longstanding issue by the
end of the summer. Harper identified a particular need in the
health and engineering sectors. He echoed earlier comments by
Tony Clement. His former rival for the Conservative leadership
introduced Harper at the event in the Brampton West riding where
Clement is a candidate. The Conservatives believe they can steal
from the Liberals some of the ridings in the area around the Greater
Toronto Area where many recent immigrants live. Clement said he
had introduced "a comprehensive eight-point plan" to streamline
the recognition of foreign credentials in his time as a minister
in Ontario's former Tory government.
May
20, 2004 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Government of Canada Seasonal Agricultural
Workers Program expanded in British Columbia KELOWNA, BRITISH
COLUMBIA The
Honourable Joe Volpe, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development,
today announced the launch of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers
Program (SAWP) in BC, a successful labour mobility program. "This
announcement is exceptionally important for Canadian farmers in
BC who depend on a stable labour force," said Minister Volpe.
"It will certainly help to address the key issues that the agricultural
industry is facing and will enhance Canada's future competitiveness
and productivity." This program allows for the organized movement
of foreign workers to meet the temporary seasonal needs of Canadian
agricultural producers during peak harvesting and planting periods,
when there are traditionally shortages of qualified Canadian workers.
"The BC Agricultural Council believes that the ability to access
temporary workers meets a clearly identified need in the agricultural
industry," said Steve Thomson, Executive Director, BC Agricultural
Council. "This program will enhance the growth and competitiveness
of the industry through a supplement to our current local labour
supply." Under the terms of the SAWP, foreign workers receive
wages commensurate with those of Canadian workers, employer-paid
international transportation, and health and medical benefits,
as well as the same labour protection under the law as Canadians.
"This agreement confirms the federal and regional governments'
commitment to give BC farmers access to an established federal
program, operational in eight provinces, that is designed to address
chronic seasonal labour shortages in the agriculture sector,"
said Michael Wallis, Executive Director of the BC Raspberry Industry
Development Council, and spokesperson for the BC berry and vegetable
sector. "There are many benefits to the participants of this program
and their families. This demand-driven program is mutually beneficial
for both countries, and Mexico is pleased with the rights and
protection of its workers," said Hector Romero, Consul General,
Consulate General of Mexico in Vancouver. This project supports
the Government of Canada's commitment to ensuring the health of
Canada's farm economy and the competitiveness of Canadian farmers
in world markets. |
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