Immigration Canada

Efforts to keep bogus Roma refugees out have failed: Jason Kenney

Jason Kenney, the Citizenship and Immigration Minister, says the government has tried but so far failed to stem the tide of Roma coming into Canada and abusing its refugee system.

The Immigration and Refugee Board receives approximately 400 claims from Hungary every month, the vast majority of whom are believed to be Roma. A record number arrived in Toronto in October — 91 asylum-seekers landing in a single day on Oct. 26, according to data from the Canada Border Services Agency.

About 40% of refugee claimants from Hungary are coming from a city called Miskolc, about four hours outside of Budapest, Mr. Kenney said, a region the government has targeted with fruitless information campaigns.

“We tried to circulate brochures explaining ‘This is not the way you immigrate to Canada,’ and it’s had no impact,” he said, adding that the flood of asylum-seekers is “highly organized” and not at all spontaneous.

More worrisome is the evidence of human trafficking involved in these cases, Mr. Kenney added.

Earlier this month, a court in a Hamilton, Ont., sentenced the kingpin of a Hungarian human smuggling ring to nine years in prison. Ferenec Domotor, 49, had brought Hungarians to Canada, trained them on how to file for welfare, and made them work and live in squalid conditions while he kept their social assistance for himself.

Canada’s ambassador to Hungary, Tamara Guttman, visited Miskolc and another northern city called Eger to find out why 1,600 Hungarians claimed refugee status in Canada in the first half of 2011, Hungarian media reported in December.

Last year, Hungary had the greatest number of refugee claimants, with 4,423 applying for that status in Canada. A year earlier the figure was just 2,296.

‘Almost none of these European asylum claimants even show up for their hearings … but they all do show up in Ontario’s welfare program’

The government hopes to push through refugee reform Bill C-31 before the House breaks for the summer, making way for a “new and faster asylum system this fall,” ideally by October, Mr. Kenney said in an interview last week.

If that bill passes, the immigration system would move bona fide refugees through to permanent residency in the span of months rather than years, and it would make it easier and quicker for the government to identify and weed out false refugee claimants.

“Almost none of these European asylum claimants even show up for their hearings — they just overwhelmingly abandon them and withdraw their own claims,” Mr. Kenney said. “But they all do show up in Ontario’s welfare program.”

The government will create a list of “safe” democratic countries with independent judiciaries and who have signed on to international human rights laws and conventions — countries where residents should not be facing persecution.

Those claimants will have an expedited hearing, and they won’t have access to various appeals, he said.

“I would anticipate that when we pull the switch on the new system this fall, we will have the initial list of designated countries in place,” he said. “I would certainly anticipate that it would include those European countries that are the primary source of false asylum claims.”

China, Colombia, Pakistan, Namibia, Mexico, Nigeria, Saint Vincent, Sri Lanka and India rounded out the Immigration and Refugee Board’s list of top 10 source countries of refugee claimants.

In 2009, Stephen Harper’s government introduced visa requirements on visitors from Mexico and the Czech Republic, slowing the flow of refugee claimants from those countries to a trickle.

Between 2007 and 2009, Czech nationals, the majority of Roma origin, filed 3,000 refugee claims, compared with fewer than five in 2006.

National Post, with files from Postmedia News

Feds create new immigration program to get skilled tradespeople to Canada

CALGARY — Ottawa has announced a new immigration program that it says will make it easier for Canadian business to hire the workers most urgently needed _ skilled tradespeople.

The new stream for workers in fields such as construction and manufacturing should be set up later this year, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Tuesday in Calgary, the financial heart of Canada's oil and gas industry and a city all too familiar with skilled labour shortages.

``In Canada we've been welcoming historic high numbers of immigrants, partly to help us fuel our prosperity in the future and fill growing labour shortages,'' Kenney said at the construction site of The Bow, a 58-storey downtown skyscraper that's close to completion.

``But, to be honest, our immigration programs haven't been effective in addressing a lot of those shortages. Our immigration programs have become rigid and slow and passive.''

The labour market in the West is especially tight, thanks in large part to a bevy of multibillion-dollar oilsands projects on the go in northern Alberta. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers forecasts the energy industry will spend some $55 billion this year on major projects, said spokesman Travis Davies.

The Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada said in a recent report the oilsands sector will need 21,000 additional workers by 2021 _ more than double the number it employed in 2011 _ to compensate for both the gap left by retiring baby boomers and fill the needs of new projects. And that doesn't account for turnover in an ultra-competitive labour market.

It also doesn't include the ripple effects of that growth on the wider economy _ like the need for new homes and offices to be constructed, or demand for more service industry staffers.

There are some avenues for newcomers to become permanent residents, like the Provincial Nominee Program and the Canadian Experience Class. Kenney said those have been helpful, but insufficient.

``There are still huge gaps. We're talking about tens if not hundreds of thousands of shortages in the skilled trades predicted in the next decade alone.''

Skilled tradespeople make up a small percentage of immigrants coming to Canada under the current program, even though the resource and construction sectors are clamouring for welders, pipefitters, electricians and other skilled trades.

Criteria required to enter Canada under the existing program put tradespeople at a disadvantage because the rules are geared toward professionals, said Kenney.

``Let's be honest _ we don't need more people coming to Canada with advanced degrees that end up driving taxi cabs and end up working in convenience stores. That's a waste of human capital,'' he said.

Businesses know better than the government what sorts of skills are needed and should have the flexibility to head- hunt workers overseas or even just south of the border where unemployment is high and the skillsets are a good fit for Canada, he added.

``Frankly, we've been selecting a lot of people through our skilled worker program who end up unemployed and underemployed while businesses have skill shortages,'' Kenney said.

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, said the new program is an improvement from the tendency to use temporary foreign workers to back-stop labour shortages.

But he said he remains ``deeply troubled'' that there are some 1.5 million unemployed workers within Canada that could fill the gap if they had the right training.

``There's a gap that needs to be bridged between the demand for workers in areas like the oilsands and the supply of workers in places like Ontario and Quebec,'' said McGowan.

``Instead of abandoning those unemployed workers, we feel very strongly that our government should look first at new and creative ways to train unemployed Canadians to fill the job vacancies as opposed to reverting to what I would describe as a short-sighted Band-Aid solution like the one they've announced today.''

Cheryl Knight, CEO of the Petroleum HR Council, agrees more training and better outreach to students is needed, but she said that's not enough to fill the gap.

``The bottom line message is that we also need foreign workers, skilled foreign workers.''

The measures to bring more skilled tradespeople into Canada is welcome, but there is also a shortage of skilled workers that fit into neither the trades nor professional categories.

For instance, workers with experience in drilling complicated horizontal natural gas or oil wells won't necessarily have educational credentials. But they'll have plenty of valuable experience they learned on the job, Knight said.

Davies, the CAPP spokesman, said skilled tradespeople are badly needed in the oilpatch, but there are shortages in the engineering and financial industries, too.

``When you look out there, the labour challenge is very real and it's very imminent. And it's not just oil and gas. It's all industries in this country, and especially in the West,'' Davies said.

The oil and gas industry believes in hiring Canadians first, and supports training and apprenticeship programs, he added.

``We also think we're going to have to look beyond our own borders and take some steps to increase economic immigrants to our country,'' he said.

The changes are part of a broader set of immigration reforms laid out in last month's federal budget.

Alberta government officials consulted with Kenney in the days leading up to the federal budget, said Premier Alison Redford.

``And what we saw was some real flexibility in terms of trying to create labour strategies that could compliment immigration policy, that would allow us to get more workers here faster,'' she told reporters while campaigning in Calgary ahead of the April 23 provincial election.

``So I'm very pleased to see some success with respect to that.''

Immigration officials review admissibility criteria

BY DANIEL PROUSSALIDIS ,PARLIAMENTARY BUREAU

OTTAWA - Citizenship and Immigration Canada is keeping an eye on prospective immigrants who have a record of doing things that are legal in their home countries, but not in Canada.

Officials say the federal government is reviewing its immigration policy by asking officers posted abroad to collect information about applicants' actions in their homeland.

"The objectives of the admissibility review are to assess whether the provisions in (the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act) continue to meet Canadian needs, identify any gaps, and recommend necessary updates to policy and operational guidelines, or amendments to the legislation or its associated regulations," said an official with Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

The review has been going on since 2010 and is expected to wrap up this year.

QMI Agency first reported Wednesday that immigration officials have asked foreign-based officers to keep head office informed of situations or actions in foreign countries "which would constitute criminality in Canada."

Normally, a criminal record would keep a prospective immigrant out of Canada.

But some cultural practices aren't crimes in immigrants' countries of origin, creating a potential loophole.

A July 2011 request sent to immigration officers placed priority on cases of domestic abuse, polygamy, cultivating and marketing khat -- a drug popular in East Africa - and carrying a concealed weapon.

Conservative government officials say no specific concern spurred the review.

"This is part of our broad plan to protect the integrity of Canada's immigration system," said Kasra Nejatian, the immigration minister's director of strategic planning. "We want to keep foreign criminals out of Canada and make sure they get the boot if they ever get here."

Many divided on proposed immigration changes

SURREY (NEWS1130) - There's a mix of concern and support over the government's plans for new Canadians to speak one of our official languages.

News1130 spoke to people at the Vaisakhi festival in Surrey on their thoughts of the proposed changes.

Some worry that making French or English mandatory will cause difficulty for some families who want to bring elderly relatives into the country. They say older family members may struggle to pick up a new language.

"It stops the families from coming together in Canada, the mother or the father still in India or something, the daughter is here, and she can't bring her parents over anymore - that I don't agree with," says one man attending the festival.

Others say language should be required and encouraged to help immigrants start their new country. They stress that it's much easier to succeed and get around in Canada and support the proposal to make it mandatory for citizenship.

"If you are coming to an English-speaking country, you should know the language," says another festival attendee. "That's fine. It should be done a long time ago, even."

The reforms would have Canadian citizens provide written proof of their language abilities.

Theywill be asked to submit evidence that they completed secondary orpost-secondary education in English or French; they could also provideresults of approved third-party tests, or proof of success ingovernment-funded language training programs.

Mind your language or leave Canada

BY TOM GODFREY ,TORONTO SUN

TORONTO - Never before has it been more important for some people to mind their language. Literally.

Exercise jockey Wilbert Gobay is among dozens of temporary workers like horse walkers, groomers and trainers at Woodbine Racetrack who’ve failed English language tests and fear losing their contracts and being sent home.

Gobay, 46, has been travelling to Woodbine from his native Jamaica to work as a jockey for 10-months of the year since 2008. He plans on becoming a permanent resident and sponsoring his family but he must prove he can speak either English or French.

Starting in July, those deemed by Canadian immigration authorities as low skilled workers under a Provincial Nominee Program are required to take and pass English reading, writing, speaking and listening tests.

Only then can they can obtain or renew their visa or become permanent residents of Canada.

The three-hour $255 test is required for seasonal farm workers, those in the construction trades, fast food, hospitality and many other low-paying jobs that Canadians won’t perform.

“I am from an English-speaking country and I still failed,” Gobay said. “I cannot become a permanent resident or citizen until I pass this test.”

Gobay said a pass means he can move up the ladder to become a race-day jockey and earn more money.

“I truly don’t know anyone here that has passed the test,” he said. “We have jockeys here from around the world and we are all in the same boat.”

Fellow jockey Fitz Lewis, 45, of Jamaica, said he has been studying for the exam.

“They tell me the test is very hard,” Lewis said. “I have been trying to brush up and do some reading.”

He said the process brings undue stress to those who may lack English skills.

Jockey Richard Reid, 38, of Jamaica, said he’s been travelling to Canada yearly to work since 2005.

“I am very disappointed by not getting a passing grade,” Reid said of a failed test. “I have been studying hard and wanted to bring my family here by now.”

Groomer Michael Reid, 48, said he’s hitting the books to get a grasp on the language.

“I will be studying hard,” Reid said. “It is difficult but I have to do my best to pass this.”

Roy Kellogg, an immigration consultant who represents Gobay, said the men may have no other choice but to rewrite the failed exam.

“I don’t understand the purpose of the test because these guys only speak to horses all day,” Kellogg said. “Why do workers have to know how to speak

English if they come here to pick fruit or pluck chickens.”

Kellogg said potential workers won’t have the money or resources at home to travel to a centre to obtain language approval for a visa to Canada.

“We are going to lose a lot of our low-skilled workers because of this,” he said. “There will be a shortage of workers and I can see prices rising.”

Woodbine Racetrack officials said they were aware of the issue and refused comment.

Other trades requiring English-language tests includes: chefs, cooks, butchers, bakers, contractors, machinists, plumbers, pipefitters, electricians, carpenters, masonry, librarians, photographers and museum workers

Government makes it easier for skilled workers to settle in Canada

The federal government is making it easier for highly-skilled temporary foreign workers (TFWs) to obtain permanent residence.

“Thousands of highly-skilled foreign nationals are working successfully in Canada on a temporary basis,” said Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney. “Expediting their transition to permanent residence would help Canada retain bright and talented people who already have Canadian work experience and the ability to communicate in English or French. In many cases, they already have a job lined up. Such newcomers are set for success.”

Citizenship and Immigration Canada intends to reduce the work experience requirement for eligible temporary foreign workers applying to stay in the country permanently.

Under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), temporary foreign workers must have 24 months of full-time work experience over the last 36 months to be eligible. The proposed regulatory changes will reduce the requirement to 12 months of experience.

One major benefit of the change is that it would make it easier for skilled tradespersons working in Canada to transition to permanent residence, as their work is often project-based and can be seasonal.

Launched in 2008, the CEC is an immigration program that allows TFWs and foreign graduate students with managerial, professional, technical or trade work experience to become permanent residents, and eventually Canadian citizens.

Applicants are required to have temporary resident status and be present in Canada to apply.

In 2011, a record number of people (6,022) were admitted to Canada under the CEC.

This represents a significant increase of more than 50 per cent from 2010. About 7,000 permanent residents are expected to be admitted through the CEC in 2012.

Immigration reform for Canada’s recruitment needs is a step in the right direction

At long last, Canada has a federal government that is willing to fix the country’s broken immigration system, and become what it should be: The human resources and recruitment department for the economy.

As a critic of our immigration policy for two decades, author of a book about all the boondoggles and an immigrant myself, I know what’s gone wrong and how necessary reforms are.

All that’s required is a return to the joint Manpower and Immigration Department system.

The way it worked for decades was this: Manpower would monitor the labour market like a hawk, survey employers and provide immigration officials with a list of what type of people and skills were needed and where. Points were adjusted based on employability.

Every year, the flow of people fluctuated according to supply and demand. Some years, a total of 60,000 people were allowed in and some years 150,000. This guaranteed that immigrants found work because they were screened properly to insure their success.

Then in 1986 the Mulroney government opened up the floodgates.

I’m pleased that Minister Jason Kenney is starting to travel down the right track

Since then, Canada has allowed in 250,000 immigrants annually, mostly relatives who could not qualify to get in otherwise, irrespective of economic conditions. That’s a total of 6.25 million people in little more than one generation. Many have been a net cost to the nation because they lacked education, language or the skills to thrive in a sophisticated and specialized economy.

The biggest drain is family reunification on our healthcare. For many years, Ottawa allowed in as many as 60,000 parents and 20,000 grandparents annually, creating a huge financial burden on our health systems.

Reunification should be possible, but only if relatives support their family members and buy private-sector healthcare. This is the case in Australia and in the U.S.

The other catastrophe has been a “refugee” system that allowed in up to 30,000 economic queue-jumpers each year who mostly arrive by plane from developed nations. Once here they are showered with social services and take up slots that real refugees deserve.

By far the biggest scams involve the “entrepreneur” or “investor” immigration programs. My first brush with this was in the 1990s when a Toronto businessmen tipped me off that he was “selling” his business for $1-million to a foreigner, then buying it back simultaneously. This allowed the foreigner to put down on his immigration application that he had invested in a business with 20 employees in Canada. (Technically, the foreigner had, if only for a split second.) The Canadian was paid $50,000 per transaction and did dozens in a matter of weeks.

I wrote the story back then and some changes were made. But various incarnations of this trick have continued, including the “purchase” of some relative’s business or counting the purchase of a condo as though it was an act of entrepreneurship.

I’m pleased that Minister Jason Kenney is starting to travel down the right track. But here are the elements of a smart immigration policy:

1. An efficient Manpower Department should be created, in partnership with the private sector, to survey and receive employment requests then pass these along to Immigration officials in real time.

2. Proficiency in English or French must be established by test. Only people with jobs or skills in high demand should be interviewed and only healthy people with some capital to fall back on.

3. Successful applicants should get temporary work permits for two years after which time they can apply to become landed immigrants. They cannot stay if they break the law or have not kept a job and paid income taxes.

4. These entrants for two years must buy private-sector health care insurance, along with accompanying family members, until they are accepted as landed immigrants. They should also pay tuition for using the public education system if they bring children.

5. Canadian residents can sponsor relatives that do not qualify to get a work permit, but must support them and must buy them private-sector health care insurance.

6. Refugees should only be those persons recruited from camps through bona fide humanitarian assistance organizations.

7. Children born in Canada to visitors or temporary work permit holders should not be entitled to Canadian citizenship.

8. To eliminate job offer fraud by relatives or accomplices, workers allowed in on permits must regularly prove to authorities they are earning the income and paying the income taxes they were offered. If not, they must leave.

9. The “investor-immigrant” system should be scrapped. A smart points system is enough to find winners. As the “investor-immigrant” system currently exists, someone can come in with a wad of capital, do nothing with it except buy a condo or existing business and merrily bring in relatives to milk the country’s health, education and pension systems.

10. The notion of a “start up” immigration fast-track is ridiculous. No one, venture capitalists or least of all immigration officials, know whether someone is worth betting on and will succeed or become the next Stephen Jobs. Sensible immigration policy is not about venture capitalism but about matching newcomers, as well-capitalized as possible, to jobs so they can get a foothold and create wealth in Canada.

Posted in: Diane Francis Tags: Immigration, Jason Kenney, Refugees

Sask. wants feds to allow more immigrants

Saskatchewan Province within Canada. Español: Provincia de Saskatchewan en Canadá. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

BY JOE COUTURE, POSTMEDIA NEWS APRIL 20, 2012

SASKATOON — Saskatchewan Immigration Minister Rob Norris says there is a "healthy tension" between the provincial and federal governments over a cap Ottawa has put in place that limits the number of immigrants allowed into the province.

"We're not going to be discouraged, nor are we going to be dissuaded," Norris said Thursday in response to comments made by federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

"There is a real momentum here to make sure that (federal leaders) understand that Saskatchewan needs to continue to move forward on immigration."

Among the province's requests of Ottawa is an increase in the number of nominations allocated to the province for the Saskatchewan immigrant nominee program, Norris said.

"We're capped at about 4,000 right now," he said. "What we've said is we'd like 6,000. We can handle that. With more than 11,000 jobs open and available today, we see that there are broad-based needs. We know there are more improvements we can be making here, but quite candidly, many, many sectors are firing on all burners."

While there is "no intention" to reduce Saskatchewan's allocation, Ottawa doesn't have immediate plans to increase it, Kenney said in a phone interview Thursday.

"Certainly, Premier (Brad) Wall and Minister Norris have strongly advocated for that and we take their perspective very seriously," he said. "Our first priority is to address some of the weaknesses in the provincial nominee program."

Those include the nominations "creeping into" areas where other federal immigration programs apply and the need for minimum language requirements, which Norris endorsed earlier this month.

"Provincial programs play an important role," Kenney said. "But we do think there's an important nation-building dimension to immigration and we do want to maintain a significant federal role in selection."

"Once we've seen improvements in the provincial nominee program and once we've reformed our federal programs, we'll certainly be open to looking at possible further increases to the provincial nominee allocation," Kenney added. "It's not easy, though. Every province wants more allocations and, overall, Canadians don't want us to raise immigration levels."

Kenney cited polling data indicating 10 to 15 per cent of Canadians support increasing immigration overall.

"For too long we've seen declining economic results for immigrants — bringing in newcomers to face unemployment and underpayment," he said.

But Norris said "the broad brush strokes probably don't apply here in Saskatchewan, because certainly what we've heard from employers, what we've heard from newcomers and what we've heard from communities is actually a very, very consistent spirit of welcome.

"We're seeing the reinvigoration of communities that were having challenges of decline. Now we know there are challenges associated with growth, but those are the challenges that we welcome."

Kenney said the "employer-driven" federal reforms "will be disproportionately beneficial to a high-growth province like Saskatchewan," with programs to court "economic immigrant" investors, entrepreneurs, skilled workers and graduates of the province's two universities.

With the potential for more federally selected immigrants coming to Saskatchewan, Kenney said he does "anticipate that we'll continue to see an increase" in immigration in the province — though "not as quickly as in the past five years, because you can't sustain that velocity of growth."

jcouture@thestarphoenix.com

Immigrants may need language proof

BY PETER RAKOBOWCHUK THE CANADIAN PRESS

Share on printShare on email

Ottawa could require evidence of French, English skills

MONTREAL — Immigrants hoping to become Canadian citizens may soon have to provide written proof of their language abilities.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Friday his latest reform is aimed at requiring citizenship applicants to prove they can speak English or French.

"I’ve met a lot of Canadian citizens who have lived here for many years who can’t express themselves in French or English," Kenney said during a speech Friday to the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations.

"It’s not acceptable because it limits their social mobility and their life in Canada."

Kenney announced a change to citizenship rules which would require prospective Canadian citizens to provide what’s called objective evidence of their language ability with their application.

Expanding on language changes he’s already announced for some immigration applicants, Kenney said people will also have to provide new documents to become Canadian citizens.

They will be asked to submit evidence they completed secondary or post-secondary education in English or French; they could also provide results of approved third-party tests, or proof of success in government-funded language training programs.

Kenney explained he wanted the linguistic proof to "ensure that all of those who join us as full members of our Canadian family in the future are able to fully participate in our society."

Adequate knowledge of English or French has already been a requirement since the first Citizenship Act of 1947 — but these new mechanisms are meant to enforce that requirement.

The government also provides language training free of charge to permanent residents.

Kenney’s announcement was interrupted by two women protesters who bought tickets to the luncheon.

As he began his speech, each of the protesters took turns interrupting him and warning that the federal legislation would destroy people’s lives.

They shouted at the immigration minister and were both quickly escorted out of the hotel room.

Outside the hotel, about 50 demonstrators staged a noisy protest against the changes to the immigration system.

Activist Jaggi Singh, who helped organize the protest, said the linguistic requirement will make it tougher to become a Canadian citizen.

"It lends itself to discrimination and profiling," he said.

Singh says immigrants can still contribute to society — even if they can’t speak English or French.

"We know very well that, in cities like Montreal and Toronto, people from immigrant communities sometimes don’t speak a language, but they learn a language as they work," he added.

Singh says his mother and father, who are in their 60s, didn’t speak English very well when they arrived from India.

"They would not have been able to pass an English competency test in their first couple of years and it took them time to do that," he said. "It takes years and years."