Immigration Canada: October 2011

Admit the best, not most fluent

THE STARPHOENIX OCTOBER 31, 2011

With Canada counting on attracting hundreds of thousands of skilled immigrants in coming years to replace its aging workforce and maintain its productivity and prosperity, Ottawa's proposal to get tougher with testing newcomers for fluency in either English or French is anachronistic and counterproductive.

"The ability to communicate effectively in either French or English is key to the success of new citizens in Canada," Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's department website quotes him saying.

Mr. Kenney says the proposal, which requires applicants to provide objective evidence - such as a third-party test, completion of a secondary or post-secondary education in English or French, or achieving a Canadian Language Benchmark Level 4 proficiency - is meant to improve "the integrity and effectiveness of the citizenship program for Canada and for new Canadians alike."

Already, Canada requires prospective economic immigrants, who are different from those granted residency for humanitarian reasons or under the family reunification category, to prove they possess the educational qualifications and work experience that will help them become contributing members of this society.

The current legislation requires capability in one of the two official languages. However, the government feels the current assessment system, which is based on a multiplechoice written test that also tests an applicant's knowledge of Canada and citizenship responsibilities, is inconsistently administered and ill-suited to ascertain someone's listening and speaking skills.

Yet, in an era where a vast majority of those skilled persons Canada is seeking to recruit will be employed in diverse areas that range from welding and carpentry to computer programming to scientific research, medicine and engineering, the official-language fluency requirement is questionable at best.

The comprehension and communications skills required aren't uniform across these jobs and professions, and a onesize-fits-all approach simply isn't feasible. To deny a Spanish-speaking engineer from Latin America the opportunity to contribute her skills to Canada simply because of a lack of fluency in an official language is as absurd as denying a Kazakh welder entry for that reason, when they both can communicate effectively enough to do their jobs.

And that should be the determining factor: Whether these skilled newcomers can communicate effectively in their areas of expertise to get the job done. Canada needs too many of them, from wherever they are willing relocate, to impose on them restrictions that have little to do with their ability to contribute but have much to do with our reluctance to be more expansive and accommodating.

Our forebears from places such as the Ukraine weren't deterred by their inability to speak English or French as they settled the Prairies, did back-breaking labour and opened up the West. They, like the prospective immigrants who possess the skills that today's Canada needs, brought with them the drive and ambition to succeed.

What they need is the opportunity to put their skills to use, instead of being turned away on the flimsy rationale that fluency in French or English is required for the "integration of newcomers by improving language outcomes and encouraging their full participation in Canadian society," as Mr. Kenney's proposal suggests.

The editorials that appear in this space represent the opinion of The StarPhoenix. They are unsigned because they do not necessarily represent the personal views of the writers. The positions taken in the editorials are arrived at through discussion among the members of the newspaper's editorial board, which operates independently from the news departments of the paper.

more:http://www.thestarphoenix.com/Admit+best+most+fluent/5631612/story.html#ixzz1cQTdD0RV

Interview: Kenney aims to reshape and rejuvenate workforce through immigration Read it on Global News: Global News | Jason Kenney aims to reshape and rejuvenate workforce through immigration

Heather Scoffield,

Sunday, October 30, 2011 2:52 PM

Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, October 26, 2011. Kenney has plans to reshape and rejuvenate the Canadian workforce.Step one comes this week when he announces immigration targets for next year.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Study shows that Canadian rich are getting richer

OTTAWA - Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has never suffered from lack of ambition and his latest goal is nothing short of reshaping and rejuvenating the Canadian workforce.

He envisions a nimble, efficient immigration machine that will help solve Canada's demographic imbalance and boost the country's competitiveness simultaneously.

Step one comes this week when he announces immigration targets for next year.

Kenney says when he is done with his multiple reforms of the system, the flow of newcomers into Canada will be predominantly young, well educated, highly skilled, and fluent in English or French.

They'll be admitted to Canada within a year of applying.

And soon after, they'll start paying taxes because they will have lined up a job prior to arrival or should be able to find one quickly once they land.

"Where we want to be in a few years time is a flexible, just-in-time . . . system where we admit people within a year of their application," he said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

"Where people with pre-arranged job offers are given priority, because they succeed best. Where we continue to see a better geographic distribution of newcomers. And where we can more flexibly change the (acceptance) criteria based on developments in the labour market," he explained.

"That's where we want to go."

But getting there is no easy amble. His critics don't disagree with his goal, but they have qualms about how he will achieve it.

"It's like saying 'we want to have sun in January.' We all want that," NDP immigration critic Don Davies said in a telephone call from Vancouver. "He doesn't explain how. He sets the goals but he doesn't say how we'll get there."

Kenney foresees a multi-step process that will require changes to many different parts of Canada's creaky immigration machinery.

His department has already undertaken major studies of what kind of immigrant succeeds in Canada and what kind fails. Kenney has followed up with extensive consultations and polling to find out what mix of immigration the public is willing to take.

Now comes the action. Kenney is expected to table the annual report on immigration on Tuesday. As usual, it will include his decisions about how many immigrants Canada should accept in 2012, and what kind.

The report will give a range of operational targets for each type of immigrant, from foreign skilled workers to parents and grandparents.

The key number is the overall number of immigrants Canada wants to let in — and that number is clearly not going up despite pressure from the opposition.

Under the Conservative government, Canada has let in an average of 254,000 immigrants a year, which is high by historical standards.

While some immigration observers argue that Canada could solve its demographic imbalance, workplace shortages, family demands and backlog issues all at the same time by opening the doors to far more immigrants, Kenney rejects that idea.

"I don't think realistically we can increase the levels of immigration in orders of magnitude," he said.

"I think it's important for policy makers to listen to public opinion on immigration and not become disconnected from public opinion, which has arguably led to some of the problems in Western Europe."

Immigrant-related riots in a few European countries over the past three years have become the spectre of what immigration policy makers around the world aim to avoid.

Kenney understands the logic in calculations that show Canada would have to at least triple the number of immigrants it lets in every year if it wanted to bring down the average age of its population and resolve expected labour shortages over time.

But Canada can't absorb that many people, he said, nor would Canadians accept that kind of inflow. He points to polling last year done by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. It shows 47 per cent of respondents say immigration levels are just right, and 34 per cent say they are too high.

"That, in my view, is in no way a reflection of anti-immigration sentiment, because new immigrants are disproportionately likely to say that," Kenney said.

"So this is just, I think, a sense that Canadians have that there's a practical limit to how many people can be successfully settled each year. The broad political consensus in Canada is pro-immigration, but the caveat on that is to make sure that we're able to successfully integrate and employ the people who arrive."

Once the levels of immigration are decided, Kenney will be turning his attention to getting rid of the enormous backlog of potential immigrants waiting in the queue to have their applications processed. There are about one million names on the list, many of whom have been waiting for years and years for word from Ottawa.

He has suggested capping the number of applications in some areas, perhaps starting with the parents and grandparents of permanent residents. That would cut down the backlog, make for a younger inflow, and reduce Canada's costs for social services.

Then, once the numbers are under control, Kenney wants to focus on shaping the quality of the various immigration streams.

Next spring, the minister wants to re-jig the point system that allows economic immigrants to qualify. Youth and high-quality education will be worth more, and the emphasis on English or French fluency is likely to be increased. Quantity of education will matter less, the minister says.

But this isn't the first time Kenney has tried to reform the stream of economic immigrants, points out Davies.

Kenney has given three major directives over the past few years to limit applications and put certain professions at the front of the queue. The fact that he's rehashing the system yet again is a sign that his previous attempts have failed, Davies says.

It's not enough for Kenney to simply be the "Energizer bunny" when it comes to shaping Canada's future workforce and diverse population, he adds.

"I don't think he knows what he's doing. I think he should slow down."

Read it on Global News: Global News | Jason Kenney aims to reshape and rejuvenate workforce through immigration

Toronto: the new Dubai

TORONTO, Canada — On the short drive from his home in the inner-suburb of Etobicoke, Joe Vaccaro counts the cranes.

These days, there are 17 sprouting along his route, many alongside the lakeshore highway that has become this city’s condo alley.

Toronto is in the midst of the longest sustained housing boom in its history, a decade-and-a-half run that’s seen housing prices more than
double and thickets of shiny condominium towers forever alter the city’s distinctive skyline.

It’s a market that’s the envy of North America, outpacing building in centers many times its size and attracting international investment that a few years ago would have migrated elsewhere, especially to the U.S.

According to Emporis — a Frankfurt-based research company that tracks multi-story buildings — there were 132 high-rises under construction in Toronto in September, far ahead of the next most-active center, Mexico City with 88, and third-place New York with 86.

(Rounding off the top five: Chicago and Miami, with 17 and 16 respectively.)

In addition, there are about another 120 projects in “pre-construction,” says Vaccaro, whose organization lobbies governments on behalf of the building and development industry.

So why is Toronto, with its dank, miserable 5-month-long winters, the hottest condo market in North America?

Among the reasons, say industry analysts and insiders, is that the Canadian economy was left relatively unscathed by the Wall Street collapse of 2008. The housing market in particular proved resilient, quickly shaking off the ripple effects of the crash south of the border.Earlier this month, U.S.-based Forbes magazine ranked Canada as the best place on the planet to do business. The U.S. came in 10th.

As the economic hub of the country, responsible for fully 20 per cent of its GDP, Toronto benefits greatly from such global attention. “We’re seen as a safe haven for foreign investment,” said Vaccaro.

The city is also a major immigration destination. Federal immigration policies continue to attract large numbers of new Canadians, most of whom are drawn invariably to the big cities, especially Toronto. An estimated 100,000 new residents move into the greater Toronto area each year, a growth rate closer to that of cities in Asia than any in North America.

In addition, immigration rules favor migrants with assets, meaning many jump quickly into a housing market that, despite rising prices, is still a bargain by international standards.

Toronto is bordered by a ‘green belt,’ ringing the city at the edges of its vast suburbs. Imposed by the province of Ontario in 2005 largely as an environmental measure, it has helped contain suburban sprawl, forcing developers to move away from traditional housing tract development and to look skywards.

The result is a city that gleams in the late afternoon light, a magnet for big money and big names.

In May, a 9,000-square-foot penthouse sold for $28 million ($27.5 million U.S.) — a record for a Canadian condominium — to an undisclosed foreign buyer. The unit sits atop a residential complex that also houses a Four Seasons Hotel, one of the world’s foremost luxury chains.

Similar mixed-use complexes by Asian luxury giant Shangri-La (offering what it calls “private estates from $2.9 million”) and Trump (although ‘The Donald’ is reportedly only a minority stakeholder) are scheduled to open in 2012. A 53-storey Ritz-Carlton, with 159 “managed condominiums” opened its doors earlier this year.

According to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), 1,870 condominiums sold in Toronto in September — up 23 percent from a year earlier — while the average price climbed 9 percent to $330,500.

“The Canadian housing market remains a bright spot against a backdrop of mixed headline news about the global economy,” said CREA president Gary Morse in a recent statement.

“Up to now, you open on Monday, you’re sold by Friday,” said developer Mel Pearl, with just a hint of exaggeration.

Pearl’s signature luxury project is Bisha, a hotel and residential complex in a prime downtown location across from a restaurant co-owned by hockey icon Wayne Gretzky.

But he also has a stake at the market’s other extreme, a project called Karma, which has the distinction of offering what may be the tiniest units — 277 square foot ‘studios’ — ever to go on sale in Toronto.

“They’re the smallest I’ve ever seen,” said realtor Michael Klassen but, with prices as low as $199,000, they’re being snapped up by investors. “No joke,” said Klassen. “I cannot get ahold of enough units for this building.”

The attraction for investors is simple math: with a market that in recent years has appreciated 8 to 9 percent annually, even the smallest units are an attractive investment: bought “pre-construction,” they’re worth considerably more by the time they’re built.

It’s estimated that fully 60 percent of the units sold in the Toronto market are snapped up by international investors, many from the China and South Asia.

The incessant demand has created a sales hierarchy that can be byzantine and often puts a domestic buyer interested simply in a place to live at the bottom of the list.

Klassen describes it like this: Typically, the first block of units is offered to “friends and family” of the project principals, followed by ‘VVIPs’ or preferred sales agents with steady and reliable rosters of buyers. Then come ‘VIPs’, agents with proven track records, followed by “regular brokers” and, finally, the public.

“Joe Public gets last dibs,” said CREA spokesperson Pierre Leduc, although he says the practice is no different than car manufacturers offering special edition vehicles to preferred customers first.

Of greater concern to many are fears that the market will invariably overheat and collapse.

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney warned earlier this year that too much inventory could lead to “the possibility of an overshoot in the condo market" in Toronto.

But industry analysts have been predicting for years the end of the Toronto boom, and so far they’ve been wrong.

Government plans crackdown on marriages of convenience

BY ROBERT HILTZ, POSTMEDIA NEWS

OTTAWA — The government is set to change the regulations for immigrants marrying a Canadian in an effort to crack down on marriages of convenience.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Wednesday the plan includes a conditional period to ensure marriages are real to prevent citizenships being handed out fraudulently.

"Someone who gets immediate permanent residency and then it turns out they're a marriage fraudster becomes extremely difficult to take action against them and remove them because it's hard to prove in court that they lied when they came in," Kenney told reporters this week.

Kenney also said the new policies would put a stop to the "revolving door of marriage fraud." He said there are cases where someone will gain citizenship through marriage, get a divorce and then sponsor another individual for citizenship.

"We're going to shut the revolving door down by saying you can't sponsor in someone from abroad as a spouse if you yourself came in as a spouse for at least five years," he said.

An immigration official said there is no time period set for the conditional period yet, but it is expected to be two years or more.

The policy change has the opposition worried that the government is painting all immigrants coming to Canada via marriage with the same brush.

NDP immigration critic Don Davies said the plan is problematic because divorce rates in North America are so high — about 50 per cent — within the first two to five years.

"The mere fact that a marriage doesn't work out within two years is not by itself that the marriage wasn't legitimate," Davies said. "One could argue that people who do enter into a fraudulent marriage could easily get around this rule by simply staying together for two years."

He also said the new policies may prevent individuals in an abusive relationship from leaving their spouse because they fear their citizenship would be revoked.

However, an immigration official said there would be an out clause for someone trapped in an abusive relationship. If an individual was found in such a situation, whether through police or other credible means, that person would not have his or her citizenship revoked for failing to complete the required period.

Davies said the government should instead be focusing on preventing people in a fake marriage from ever entering the country. He said the focus should be on adding more investigators overseas, instead of focusing only at home.

Kenney, however, pointed to statistics from Hong Kong that showed overall citizenship applications via marriage had dropped significantly because of investigations.

"We've found, for example, a criminal ring that was submitting thousands of fake marriage applications out of southern China through our Hong Kong office and . . . as a result of that investigatory work we ended up rejecting about 50 per cent of the spousal sponsorship applications," he said.

The immigration official said the number of immigrants through the program fell from 4,596 in 2006 to 1,696 last year — a decrease of 63 per cent.

Those numbers, the official said, also include children immigrating to Canada, mostly through adoptions. The official said there is no evidence there are fraudulent adoptions taking place and the new policy would not address that area.

rhiltz@postmedia.com

twitter.com/robert_hiltz

Elderly immigrants contribute

Re: "Sensible limits to Canadian generosity; Ottawa right to let in fewer elderly relatives of immigrants," by Lorne Gunter, Oct. 23.

Lorne Gunter made a feeble argument in support of federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's attempt to "reduce the number of elderly relatives of immigrants."

He grounds his polemic in his contention that most elderly immigrants will never work in ways that contribute any or sufficient taxes for "social services they will consume."

Very clearly, Gunter betrays his xenophobia of elderly relatives of minority cultures and ethnicities - primarily aged parents of today's immigrants.

I want to offer an alternate way of looking at these elderly immigrants and to demonstrate Gunter's grounding contention as nothing but a fallacy.

Through my work and association with immigrant communities, I have witnessed elderly immigrants - yes, most speaking no English or French - who are grandparents taking on the most loving, caring parenting role in looking after their grandchildren.

This natural sharing of whatever it takes to provide a nurturing home environment for children allows adult immigrant couples to work two or more jobs as a means of settling in financial security in Canada.

I can most readily introduce to Gunter doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, scientists, entrepreneurs, highly skilled tradesmen, professors and professionals of all kinds who grew up in such extended families where immigrant grandparents were the main caregivers to them through childhood and adolescence.

I argue that these "elderly relatives" - i.e. government and Gunter's targets for their parasitical dependence in this country - do work in the truest sense of the word and that they have immeasurably contributed more to enriching tax revenue and Canadian society as a whole beyond compare.

I can also most ably show Gunter countless elderly immigrants who come to this country with wealth and pensions. They have bought homes - from moderate to very high-end properties, paying property taxes in amounts surpassing what many working Canadians pay into tax revenues.

Many of these seniors financially assist their adult children who are upstart immigrants to buy their first cars and homes.

I know immigrant seniors who help grandchildren to be able to afford a university education.

What Gunter contends is, because some people work and pay tax, they are deserving beneficiaries of social services. Wonderful neo-liberal material. However, it should be fair to ask then how much social services these "elderly relatives" exemplified above deserve?

I need to wonder how much tax Gunter pays and in his view, social services he should and - using his definitive grammatical mood - will deserve?

Obviously, Gunter's grounding contention has no legs to stand on. He defends his support to Kenney's policy as "I'm not as concerned by the cultural arguments against immigration as I am by the economic ones."

Now that his "economic ones" have gone down in flame, I can't wait to hear his cultural arguments against denying Canadians their extended families.

He was a doctor in India, a trucker here and a hero for delivering a baby midflight

Raveena AulakhStaff reporter

For 25 years in his native India, Balvinder Singh Ahuja worked as a pediatrician, treating thousands of children, saving many lives.

For the past six months in Toronto, however, Ahuja has been learning to drive a truck, convinced it was too difficult a process to practise as a foreign-trained doctor in Canada.

But his experience as a veteran physician kicked into high gear Saturday when he performed an emergency delivery on an Air India flight from New Delhi to Toronto, turning a passenger cabin into a birthing room within minutes and improvising with makeshift instruments.

The baby, a girl, was born 45 minutes later.

“It was very exciting ... I’m glad I was able to help,” Ahuja said in a phone interview en route to Collingwood in a tractor-trailer. “But I doubt I’ll use my skills again.”

At least, he doesn’t expect to use them here. Like most foreign-trained doctors, Ahuja must be recertified before he can practise.

But with thousands of foreign-trained doctors in the country and few opportunities for residency, Ahuja says he knows it will be almost impossible.

“I don’t want to get frustrated,” he says.

“I’m not closing that door completely but as of now I’m focusing on trucking because I have a family and I need money.”

Ahuja said he immigrated to give his three children a better future.

There are at least 7,500 internationally trained doctors in Ontario but fewer than 200 can get residency spots because they have to compete with young Canadians who are more familiar with the language and the system.

On board the plane, Ahuja had settled into his seat and was almost asleep when a call went out on the loudspeaker asking if there was a doctor or nurse aboard.

He went to the back and saw Kuljit Kaur, about 37 weeks pregnant, on the floor obviously in labour and in pain. Her husband, Ranjodh Gill, was sitting next to her.

The couple and their 7-year-old daughter were flying to Canada as landed immigrants.

There was also an oncologist on board. “She had never attended a delivery,” Ahuja said, quickly realizing it was all up to him.

He had seen hundreds of births and though he hadn’t assisted with any he knew exactly what needed to be done.

Ahuja quickly gathered what he thought he would need. And then improvised.

Empty food cartons were used to lift Kaur’s legs. Scissors were sterilized in Scotch. Pieces of thread tied the umbilical cord. The microwave warmed a blanket for the baby.

The baby was born after 45 minutes of intense labour but no one freaked out, said Ahuja.

“I’ve attended all sorts of emergencies in the past years but this was such a different experience,” he said.

“I was anxious but not scared. There was no alternative, too.”

Aakash Leen Kaur was born about 11,000 metres over Kazakhstan. Aakash means “sky” in Hindi.

Ahuja became an instant hero.

Passengers gave him a standing ovation, the Air India crew gave him a bottle of Scotch and the new father visited him at his home and gave him a box of sweets.

“I was so grateful there was a doctor there,” said Gill, 37, a lawyer who immigrated to Alberta under the provincial nominee program.

But the family wanted to spend some days in Brampton with his wife’s sister before flying to Calgary this weekend.

“My wife was due on Nov. 7,” said Gill. “We don’t know what happened, why the baby came early.”

He said her labour pains started an hour after the plane took off.

“We first thought it was gas but soon realized ... it wasn’t,” said Gill, admitting he panicked a bit until Ahuja, calm and composed, showed up.

His wife, he said, is still tired but she and the baby are doing well.

Ahuja, meanwhile, is reliving his days as a physician through the mid-air delivery. “It was the most exciting thing that’s happened to me in Canada,” said Ahuja, who lives in Brampton with his wife and children.

What’s next?

“Getting my own truck.”

Is the baby girl born in Kazakhstan airspace Canadian or Indian? Or Kazakhstani?

Her father, Ranjodh Gill, says he doesn’t know and doesn’t care.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada will not comment on the baby’s status due to privacy reasons. “The status of the child will depend on the status of the parents,” said spokesman Bill Brown.

But he did present some hypothetical scenarios:

Generally, a child who is not born in Canada and does not have a parent who is a Canadian citizen is not a Canadian citizen either.

If one or both parents are Canadian citizens, they can apply to have a citizenship certificate issued for the child.

If one or both of the parents are permanent residents, they can apply to have the child become a permanent resident.

If the parents are here temporarily, they can apply to have the child gain temporary status as well.

Raveena Aulakh

Conditional spousal sponsorship visas to be introduced

The Government of Canada will soon be announcing conditional visas for those sponsored under Canada’s Family Class Spousal Sponsorship Program in attempt to curb marriage fraud. There was speculation that this change would be considered, but Canadian officials are now confirming that the conditional visa will be introduced later this year.

Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, has noted that immigration officials are seeing an increased number of cases of marriage fraud from certain countries, China and India in particular. Marriage photos from those countries are often Photoshopped to show the faces of husband and wives on the same wedding photo.

“Then we required that people have bigger pictures of their wedding reception so we could see if it was authentic. Then we saw that in the Punjab, some of these wedding palaces were offering fake wedding receptions for people. So then we go out and visit some of these wedding palaces. It’s a cat and mouse game,” he said.

Under the new changes, a sponsored spouse will have to remain in the relationship for a certain period of time before becoming a permanent resident. At this time, Ottawa has only said that the time period would be for two years or more. Furthermore, the government will introduce a five-year ban on sponsored spouses being allowed to sponsor a new spouse to come to Canada. Ottawa hopes these changes will make it easier to deport those who have lied in order to come to Canada.

There are those however who are not supporting the new changes. Don Davies, NDP MPm has said that the focus should be on improving the screening process overseas, not imposing a conditional visa. His concerns are that these changes could result in domestic abuse in failed marriages.

“What if the marriage fails? You’re going to force two people to live together for two years when that didn’t work?” he asked. “I just think that’s unsound policy.”

Although an official date for the new change has not yet been announced, Canadavisa.com will report on any information as soon as it is revealed.

Immigrants essential: Mayor

Naheed Nenshi became the poster boy for diversity and successful immigration/integration in Canada when he was elected the mayor of Calgary a year ago.
Although his ethnicity and Muslim religion triggered international curiosity, that issue hardly came up during the campaign, he told attendees of a Mississauga Board of Trade (MBOT) breakfast event this morning. He said his single status was raised a lot more.
Nenshi did 34 interviews with national and international media the day after his election about his ethnicity and religion, and he did them because he believed it was important to showcase how successful multiculturalism has become in Canada, especially at a time when political leaders in Britain, Germany and France had all gone on record suggesting that multiculturalism was a failure in their countries.
What makes it work in Calgary, he said, is that the city is a meritocracy where the focus is on what you bring to the table and how hard you’re prepared to work — not where you came from or where you worship.
And, it’s not because of the city’s oil wealth either.
“Many people think the success of Calgary and Alberta is because of ‘luck’ — because we have carbon molecules under our feet,” he said. The oil sands, he points out, are two hours away from Calgary.
Nenshi credits immigrants who have brought their work ethic and skills west for its success. To continue to be successful, whether as cities or a country, what’s needed is to spread Canada’s brand around the world to attract the best and brightest immigrants.
Nenshi describes immigration as “one of the greatest bait-and-switch games in human history,” saying it gives points to would-be immigrants for their education and skills, yet makes it difficult for them to get Canadian accreditation once they arrive.
“That’s a waste of human potential,” he said.
However, change is happening in some sectors; Nenshi admits he was surprised that 70 per cent of engineers accredited in Alberta last year were trained abroad.
Still, more changes in government, more and better ESL programs, and the need for professional bodies to be more open to foreign-born and trained professionals are needed. Above all, he believes the key is the private sector.
Those issues were echoed by other speakers at the MBOT event. Ellen Austin, an HR professional with the Business Development Bank of Canada, said the shortage of skilled workers will only getting worse as the country’s population ages.
Laura Artibello, president and founder of the Mailennium Group, said employers shouldn’t worry about how tough it is to pronounce a potential employee’s name — instead, they should focus on hiring for skills and spirit.
jdean@mississauga.net

Government agencies clarify roles in foreign farmworkers program

By Steve Arstad - Keremeos Review
Published: October 26, 2011 10:00 AM
Updated: October 26, 2011 10:24 AM

Johanne Nadeau, Public Relations representative with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) passed on these comments with regards to agricultural workers in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program:

Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s (CIC) role is to ensure that each worker is admissible to Canada and that they meet the criteria for a work permit. Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), however, is primarily responsible for the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program and the Agricultural Stream under the Pilot Project for Occupations Requiring Lower Levels of Formal Training. For more details, please contact HRSDC (819-994-5559, or media@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca)

In general, though, temporary foreign workers, including agricultural workers, have access to the same recourse mechanisms as Canadian workers when it comes to labour and employment standards.

Provinces and territories have primary responsibility for enforcement of labour standards and have offices that can assist all workers regarding fair pay, hours of work, rest periods and general working conditions. Workers should contact the appropriate authority in the province or territory they work in if they have concerns (http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/labour-standards.asp).

To complement existing provincial/territorial authorities and their responsibility for labour and employment matters, the Government of Canada adopted new regulations in April that grant more authority for officers to review the actions of employers participating in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. These improvements help us identify non-compliant employers without being overly onerous on the large majority of employers who have the best interests of their employees at heart.

Better oversight will go further to ensure that all TFWs, including agricultural workers, come to Canada to work genuine jobs, and minimize the chance that they will be exploited, mistreated or abused. When wrongdoing is discovered, these changes give the Government of Canada the authority to deny employers the right to hire TFWs, where warranted, and to have them take corrective action.

The Human Resources and Skill Development ministry is also involved in administering the temporary foreign workers program. In response to queries from the Review regarding worker treatment and working conditions, the ministry had this to say:

“The Canada Labour Code applies to federally regulated industries including interprovincial and international transportation, chartered banks, telecommunications, the grain industry, most Crown Corporations, and certain activities undertaken by First Nations. All other industrial activities fall under provincial jurisdiction.

Part III of the code offers basic labour standards protection for all federally regulated employees, including temporary foreign workers, pertaining to the conditions of work to which every employee is entitled such as, but not limited to, hours of work, minimum wage, vacation, payment of wage, overtime, general holidays, protected leaves and notice of termination and severance pay.

Additional information on federal employment standards is available at the Labour Program website: http://www.rhdcc-hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/labour/employment_standards/publications/index.shtml

Temporary foreign workers (TFWs) have access to the same recourse mechanisms as Canadian citizens and permanent residents under applicable federal/provincial/territorial labour and employment standards, as well as collective agreements.

In most cases, provinces and territories are responsible for the enforcement of labour standards, and have offices to assist workers regarding fair pay, hours of work, rest periods and general working conditions.

TFWs should first contact the appropriate authority in the province or territory they work in if they have concerns about their working conditions.”

In the Similkameen, foreign workers should contact the following provincial ministry with any work related issues or concerns:

British Columbia Ministry of Labour and Citizens’ Services

Employment Standards Branch

Toll free: 1 800 663-3316

Outside British Columbia: (250) 612-4100

Website: www.labour.gov.bc.ca/esb

P.E.I. streamlines foreign-worker certification

CBC News

Posted: Oct 24, 2011 4:34 PM AT

Last Updated: Oct 24, 2011 4:24 PM AT

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Innovation and Advanced Learning Minister Allen Roach announced new spending to streamline foreign-trained professional certification. CBC

The P.E.I. government announced Monday a new half-million-dollar program to streamline the accreditation process for dozens of regulated trades and professions including construction, dentistry and hairdressing.

The province hopes to make the province more attractive to immigrants by making it easier for foreign workers to apply their skills in the labour market.

The program will not include foreign-trained doctors, who face the most difficult time getting certified to work locally.

Innovation and Advanced Learning Minister Allen Roach said streamlining doctor certification would have to be done in co-operation with the College of Physicians and Surgeons, which he did not rule out.

The program does include paramedics, although there are currently no foreign-trained paramedics seeking employment on the Island.

It takes two years of training at a program like the one offered at Holland College in order for paramedics to become certified locally.

But for a paramedic trained outside Canada, there's no clear path that leads to certification.

Craig Mackie, executive director of the PEI Association for Newcomers, said that after the language barrier, getting proper recognition for training and experience is the biggest and most frustrating barrier standing in the way of immigrants looking for work.

Immigration Canada