Immigration minister pushes reform as critics decry 'cowardly' attack on asylum seekers

By Tara Carman and And Tobi Cohen, Vancouver Sun; Postmedia News

Proposed changes to Canada's refugee system designed to crack down on "bogus" claimants would save B.C. taxpayers almost $100 million over five years, the federal government claims.

However, the government is planning to achieve those savings by stripping away the rights of vulnerable people who come to this country seeking protection, according to a University of B.C. immigration law professor.

The pending legislation, announced on Thursday by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, aims to process claims from countries deemed "safe" more quickly so that illegitimate refugees are removed within a shorter period of time.

On average, Kenney said it takes 4½ years from the initial claim to remove a failed refugee claimant from the country. The government has said under the new rules that it will take 45 days to process an application from a "safe" country and 216 from other countries, but this does not include the time to removal.

It's expected the move will assist in dealing with a huge spike in claims by Hungary's Roma population. Last year, the number of refugee claims from Hungary nearly doubled, to 4,409.

The legislation also would block claimants from so-called "safe" countries from appealing a negative decision and it would eliminate a committee of experts who would advise the government on which countries to place on that list, which has not been formulated yet.

"Canada's asylum system is bro-ken," Kenney said, after introducing Bill C-31 in the House of Commons on Thursday. "Requirements are needed to ensure the quicker removal of bogus claimants."

The omnibus bill also lumps in legislation that would grant legal authority to collect biometric data - fingerprints and digital photos - from people entering Canada on a visitor visa, work permit or study visa starting next year.

The proposed legislation is expected to save British Columbia $98.7 million over five years as a result of reduced social service expenditures for asylum claimants, specifically for education and social assistance, because claim-ants will now spend less time in the asylum system, Citizenship and Immigration Canada spokesman Remi Lariviere said in a statement.

However, the B.C. ministry of social development, which administers social assistance, said it does not track clients based on refugee or immigrant status.

It would mainly affect refugee claims from the European Union, of which B.C. received 150 last year out of a total of almost 1,200, Lariviere said.

Many of the EU refugee claims come from the Roma population, who face widespread discrimination in many parts of the continent. In one widely reported incident in the Czech Republic in 2009, a two-year-old Roma girl was nearly burned to death when suspected neo-Nazis set fire to the family home.

The vast majority of refugee claim-ants from the EU - between 90 and 95 per cent - withdrew or abandoned their claims last year, Kenney said at a news conference in Ottawa, adding that he believes Canada's generous social benefits represent a significant "pull factor" for such claimants. More-over, people fearing persecution in a country such as Hungary can easily move to one of 26 other EU countries, he said.

However, the ability to move around within the EU is contingent upon employment and refugees fleeing persecution would not be able to gain protection in another country without a job, said UBC law professor Catherine Dauvergne.

"So if you are from a persecuted group - and this really is what our Federal Court has been finding in regard to the Roma - that there are some people that are simply persecuted to the extent that they can't establish a viable life anywhere in Europe."

"Instead of tackling that head on and dealing with it in a very effective way, they've chosen to deal with that in a way that will affect the human rights of individual claimants and that's just cowardly on their part," she said. "How many people is it reasonable for us to send somewhere to be killed? Five per cent? Ten per cent?"

tcarman@vancouversun.com

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Shortage of live-in caregivers leads to ‘nanny poaching’

Nicholas KeungImmigration Reporter

These days, it scares Jodi Kaplan to let her live-in caregiver, Rose Pablico, out of her sight because of the rampant “nanny poaching” across Canada, especially in Greater Toronto.

Since 2010, fewer foreign live-in caregivers have been admitted to Canada, partly due to the declining applications by Canadian families who are now required to pay for all recruitment fees incurred and partly a result of Ottawa’s slower processing and tighter screening.

The shortage of live-in caregivers has been exacerbated since mid-December when the federal government issued 14,000 open work permits to nannies who met the employment hours to apply for permanent residency.

The open work permits allow nannies to work outside of an employer’s home and in the field they choose, and many have since given their two-weeks notice and left their jobs.

“The flood of open work permits has evaporated the local nanny market right across Canada. Nanny poaching is becoming rampant. When nannies arrive from overseas, they are more likely to leave because they know they have five families waiting,” said Manuela Gruber Hersch of the Association of Caregiver and Nanny Agencies Canada.

“It is now a nanny’s market. It will become worse before it will get better.”

The number of live-in caregivers arriving in Canada has plummeted by 40 per cent from its peak of 13,773 in 2007 to just 8,394 in 2010. Currently, average processing time to get an overseas nanny is 15 months, 17 months for the Philippines, the main source country.

Sharon Taylor, owner of Toronto’s Execu-Nannies, a placement agency since 1988, said she has seen shortages before but never to this extent.

“We go for weeks when we don’t have one live-in candidate who just arrives and registers with us,” said Taylor. “Since December, we’ve had a lot of (registered) caregivers calling us to change their status to live-out.”

While Taylor is happy the nannies can move on to their own professional fields and get closer to reuniting with their families after toiling as live-in caregivers for a minimum of two years, she is sorry for her many clients scrambling for help to care for their young children and elderly relatives at home.

Filipina nurse Ruby Primero came to Canada in 2008 as a caregiver but just got her open work permit in December after a year’s delay due to a backlog.

The 40-year-old has returned to school for her Ontario nursing licence — and is eager to have her three sons and husband join her in Toronto soon. “I am now closer to my dream,” she said.

Toronto financial portfolio manager Erika Rubin’s nanny gave her notice in mid-December after she got her open permit. The nanny has been kind enough to stay until a replacement is found, but Rubin said she has had no luck in her search so far.

“I have called a bunch of agencies but they can no longer find girls for me to interview,” said Rubin, mother of a 6-year-old boy and two girls, ages 2 and 9. Her husband also works full time in the financial sector.

“Not only can’t they find me someone local in Canada, there is nobody left for me to interview overseas.”

Ottawa’s new legislation that requires employers be responsible for all of a nanny’s expenses have made it costly for Canadian families, especially in a time of shortage, employers say.

Investments into importing someone from abroad could go down the drain if the nanny is “poached” by another family after arrival, said Carolyn Newman, a vice-president of a creative production company. Her current nanny is expected to get her open permit in a couple months.

“My sister-in-law got her nanny (from abroad), but she left her and moved to Ottawa because it’s closer to her sister,” said Newman, who has two boys, a 5-year-old and an 18-month-old. “If the government is going to eliminate this program, give us a proper national day care strategy.”

Live-out caregivers are not an option, not only because their pay, in the range of $14 and $18 an hour, is much higher than the minimum wage of $10.56 for their live-in counterparts, their hours are also less flexible, especially when care is needed overnight.

The industry group’s Gruber Hersch said the shortage has driven up wages and families who live in sprawling suburban neighbourhoods and have multiple children are left behind as nannies can afford to pick better working conditions.

Kaplan, a single mother with a boy, 13, and girl, 10, said she and her nanny have been approached by strangers in malls and grocery stores near their home in Victoria, B.C., looking for live-in caregivers.

“She has had four serious offers. One even offered her $20 an hour to steal her away. It is a real problem,” said Kaplan, who uses a wheelchair after an accident nine years ago.

“I’m glad she is still with me. But it is only fair that a family that has already paid for the nanny to come get to keep the nanny.”

To safeguard Canadian families’ interests, employers said, the government must put conditions in place that would require a nanny to stay with the employer who brought them here or repay the expenses if they don’t stay for the full term.

“I’m extremely supportive of the women to make sure they are not brought here fraudulently and do not end up in an abusive situation,” said Rubin, the Toronto mother of three. “But they have no obligation to stay for two days, not to mention two years.”

Although the law now stipulates employers pay the recruitment costs, Pura Velasco of Toronto’s Caregivers Action Centre said enforcement is still lacking and many unscrupulous recruiters still charge hefty fees to prospective caregivers to get them here.

Whenever caregivers switch employers, they must re-apply for new labour market opinions and update their work permits, and both processes can take months, said Velasco.

In order to avoid delays in applying for their permanent residency, she said most live-in caregivers do stay with their employers for the full term.

“The shortage of live-in caregivers does not change the power relationship between employers and caregivers. These caregivers still come here on temporary permits and their status is tied to their employers,” said Velasco.

“If employers want to keep their nannies, they must treat them well.”

Meanwhile, the immigration department said it has no plan to make changes to the caregiver program.

“We must keep in mind that the caregivers receiving open work permits have already lived up to their obligations,” said immigration spokesperson Nancy Caron.

“When Canadian employers hire a foreign national through the program, they are aware that the caregiver will become eligible to apply for permanent residence after two years.”