Feds want to tackle troubling trends in immigration program

The Canadian Press

The program — which allows participating provinces and territories to nominate potential immigrants who they believe will meet particular economic and labour market requirements — is under fire for its lack of documentation and standards.

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RCMP , Atlantic Canada , CALGARY , British Columbia

[CALGARY, AB] — A program which allows provinces to tailor immigration to fit local labour needs may look fine on the surface but a federal government evaluation has uncovered what it says are some troubling trends.

The program allows participating provinces and territories to nominate potential immigrants who they believe will meet particular economic and labour market requirements. It is the second-largest source of economic immigration to Canada and an estimated 42,000 to 45,000 people will be allowed to apply this year.

The evaluation by Immigration and Citizenship Canada says the majority of workers selected by the provinces are succeeding. More than 90 per cent declared employment earnings after one year in Canada and 70 per cent held a job in line with their skills.

But Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says there are problems. One is that less than one-quarter of nominees who moved to the Atlantic provinces stayed there compared with a 95 per cent rate in British Columbia.

Another is that too many of those coming to Canada have little or no proficiency in either official language. Kenney wants a minimum language standard for all provincial nominees and stronger links between their occupations and local job needs.

"It's a partnership, not an Ottawa-knows-best situation, but at the end of the day we are going to be quite assertive in saying that we do think it's best to have a standard, national language benchmark," Kenney said in Calgary on Thursday.

He said some provinces don't seem to care whether their nominees speak the language at all.

"I guess what we're saying to them is it doesn't make a lot of sense to invite someone to Canada who doesn't speak any English ... and some of the provinces have been, I would say, undervaluing language proficiency in their selection," he said.

Fraudulent immigration applications are significant, and there is a correlation between provinces that don't enforce a language requirement and a higher rate of fraud, Kenney added.

"Some of the people who have little or no language proficiency come in through these investor schemes that we've had to shut down because they were quite dodgy. There were some provinces allowing consultants to run fast and loose to attract people who had a lot of money but no language proficiency."

Kenney said there are always "people around the world, particularly in the industry of bottom-feeding, unscrupulous immigration agents and consultants, who are willing to cut corners in order to make money to get people to Canada."

In November, New Brunswick stopped accepting applications under a Chinese immigration pilot program after an internal review. The auditor general there has also flagged concerns after finding that the province accepted about 5,000 immigrants during a 10-year span but didn't track where they ended up living.

In Prince Edward Island, a former civil servant has alleged she saw senior provincial officials accept bribes to expedite immigration applications. Immigration Canada has forwarded that allegation to the RCMP, who are deciding whether to investigate.

In Nova Scotia, the government had to pay a $25-million settlement to immigrants who paid thousands of dollars for the promise of middle-management jobs which they never received.

Kenney said problems in Atlantic Canada can partially be blamed on a higher unemployment rate. As well, there may not be a strong established immigrant community to provide guidance and support.

"We need to work with the Atlantic provinces. They have benefited from this program. I don't want to be too critical of the program."

Ontario missing benefits of ‘nominee’ immigrants, report says

Nicholas KeungImmigration Reporter

Ontario is lagging behind in reaping the benefits of a program that brings in skilled immigrants more quickly and more successfully, a new government report shows.

A review of the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), which allows provinces to select their own immigrants based on local economic needs, found that 80 per cent of the selected immigrants are employed in the first year — most of them in their area of expertise. The program fast-tracks immigrants with the right skills, bringing them to Canada in less than a year.

Their average income, depending on province, ranges from $29,600 to $41,700 in the first year, and rises to between $35,200 and $45,100 after three years.

Although newcomers selected through the standard federal skilled immigrant program have a similar employment rate initially, they lag behind the provincial nominees by a full 10 per cent after three years. About 87 per cent of the federal skilled immigrants are employed then, compared with 97 per cent among the nominees.

The federal immigrants tend to earn less than the provincial nominees for the first three years, but do catch up and surpass them after five years.

“PNP has grown a great deal, representing 20 per cent of the total economic class immigration in 2009,” says the Citizenship and Immigration Canada report released Thursday.

“For some provinces, such as Manitoba, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan, the program is the primary vehicle through which they attract immigrants to their province.”

Ontario doesn’t benefit to the same extent, even though it’s still Canada’s top destination for immigrants with almost 120,000 — or 42 per cent of all immigrants — settling here in 2010.

The province was a late-comer to the program, launching its own nominee procedure only in 2007. Between 2005 and 2009, only 1,247 — or 1.2 per cent of the total nominees — came to Ontario.

Ontario Immigration Minister Charles Sousa said the evaluation report “does not fully capture our high retention rates or the high calibre of PNP immigrants coming to Ontario. This is because they used data predominantly from the years before our program was fully up and running.”

Sousa pointed out that the province’s nominee target of 1,000 is set by Ottawa and “has been unilaterally frozen for this year.”

“This is just another reason why Ontario needs a stronger say on immigration selection, to ensure we have the right immigration mix that continues to support our economic prosperity,” he said.

But the highly touted program isn’t without problems.

Thanks to the pre-screening done by the provinces, immigrants coming in through PNP get approved at a rate of 96 per cent, compared with just 50 per cent under the usual federal application program.

But the report raises concerns over the lack of “systematic collection and reporting” of program information and the need for a “strong emphasis on program integrity.”

Serious allegations of corruption and mismanagement have been raised about the program in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

“There are differing levels of rigour applied by provinces and territories when confirming applicants’ adherence to eligibility criteria and, as a result, fraud and misuse can occur,” said the report, which surveyed federal and provincial officials and external groups representing unions, employers and immigrant nominees.

“But the general perception was that it was no more likely that there would be fraud (mainly related to jobs) on PNP applications than on any other economic program applications.”

The report calls for the establishment of minimum language standards for all nominees and stronger links between their occupations and specific local labour market needs. It also recommends a monitoring and reporting mechanism to boost the program’s accountability and integrity.