Immigration Canada

Immigration: Ontario seeks more power to pick skilled and moneyed newcomers

Nicholas Keung
Immigration Reporter

Ontario wants more control of immigrant selection in its attempt to wrestle with declining immigration, newcomers’ poor job prospects and unmet labour market needs.

In unveiling the province’s new immigration strategy Monday, Immigration Minister Charles Sousa said Ontario must attract a better-skilled workforce by raising the ratio of economic migrants and expanding the federally imposed quota of “provincial nominees” — immigrants the province has a role in choosing — five-fold, to 5,000 a year by 2014.

“This is a bold new direction for immigration in Ontario. It sets a path so we can attract highly skilled immigrants and investors that we need to fuel economic growth and help build stronger communities,” said Sousa, who will discuss the plan with federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney at a meeting in mid-November.

Ontario has seen its share of immigrants to Canada drop by one-third, from 148,640 in 2001 to 99,000 in 2011. In other provinces, seven out of 10 immigrants settling in other provinces belong to the “economic” class — skilled workers and investors, as opposed to refugees and people reuniting with family members. But “economic” immigrants account for only 52 per cent of newcomers to Ontario.

With a growing knowledge-based economy and decimation of manufacturing jobs, Ontario’s newcomers earned 23.2 per cent less than their Canadian counterparts in 2011 and had a jobless rate of 15.7 per cent.

Yet, Ontario is expected to face a shortage of 364,000 skilled workers by 2025.

Sousa said Ottawa is partially responsible for Ontario’s immigration woes because of the restrictions it has placed on the federal skilled worker program, the main source of the province’s newcomers.

Calling the action plan “critical” to Ontario’s future, Ontario Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Allan O’Dette said he hoped it would reverse the province’s immigration decline and help address its skills gaps.

Kenney declined to comment on the plan. But critics said they were glad to see Queen’s Park “standing up against the Conservative government” for shortchanging Ontario.

Canadian Newcomer Financing: How does one turn a fistful of dollars into a fortune?

English: B.D.C. (Business Development Bank of Canada) Building, downtown Hamilton (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tracy Nesdoly

On one hand there’s the tale of an immigrant neurosurgeon now driving a cab, on the other is the Canadian newcomer who turned a handful of cash and a truck-load of initiative into a business empire.

So how does one turn a fistful of dollars into a fortune? And what help is there for entrepreneurial immigrants with a business idea, and no financing?

There are a slew of organizations offering mentoring and other services to small businesses and startups, including several founded by new Canadians.

Financing, though, is harder to come by.

“It’s hard to start a business as a newcomer.” says Alejandro Monsivais, who came to Canada from Mexico a decade ago and started his food and catering company, Mexicatessen, in 2008. “But I’m not complaining, this is a safe and secure place for business.”

Unable to get a bank loan, he found micro-financing through ACCESS, a community program that offers help to those with good ideas and a willingness to take business training.

But money isn’t easy to come by for most newcomers, says Patricia Rimok, president of ib2ib Immigration Business Network, an organization that helps immigrants find financing and other support.

“There are virtually no systemic or direct support services for business immigrants, and we wanted to fill that gap,” she says.

The lack of financing or access to capital assets is identified as the main barrier to starting a business for new Canadians, according to a December 2011 a study conducted by Maytree, a foundation that offers programs and grants to reduce poverty, and the Metcalf Foundation, which works to end scarcity and build communities.

Newcomers do have some options, but some of them come with a catch.

The Business Development Bank of Canada

The BDC offers financing, venture capital and consulting. It was created to help small and medium sized business in Canada, and while not specifically aimed at immigrants, it does offer support and financing options for aboriginal, female and young entrepreneurs.

The CYBF Newcomer Entrepreneur Program

This was created in 2011 by the Business Development Bank of Canada and the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, a national charitable organization aimed at young people. Under the program, permanent Canadian residents can receive up to $15,000 on the strength of a business idea. The catch? The program is limited to those between the ages of 18 and 34. Applicants must also have lived in Canada fewer than 36 months and be fluent in French or English.

Canada Small Business Financing Program

According to the Maytree and Metcalf report, financing support is available to immigrants via standard bank loans under this program. However, the document also warns that the program has been criticized for having a cumbersome approval process.

The Ontario Self Employment Benefit

This 42-week program, aimed at the general public, offers a business start-up training program with both workshops and one-on-one coaching, and stipend of about $400 a week, some of which must be reinvested in a new business venture. While immigrants are not explicitly excluded, eligibility requirements automatically eliminate many people, including former business owners and newcomers without a work history in Canada.

Micro loans

The ACCESS Community Capital Fund offers micro-loans to those without collateral or credit history who show a commitment to succeed — demonstrated through participation in a business training course, for example — and a strong business plan. The FirstOntario Micro Loan Program, in Hamilton, is a partnership between FirstOntario the Immigrant Women’s Centre, Today’s Family, and the Welcome Inn Community Centre. Applicants must complete a business education program and receive a letter of recommendation from a community partner to be eligible for a loan, starting at $500. If the first loan is repaid, entrepreneurs can then apply for up to $2,500.

So, while finding financing is never easy, it also isn’t impossible. And being an immigrant isn’t necessarily a disadvantage.

“Canada is under-capitalized as a country,” says Ray Cao, who was born in Shanghai but raised in Canada. He has helped start two technology-based companies, which he has both self-funded and financed through venture capital.

“The ability to find financing can depend on the kind of business, then it’s about having a great idea, a great team and great traction,” he says. “That’s the most critical aspect, not where you come from.”

Why immigration limits hurt Canada’s mid-sized cities

VANCOUVER, CANADA - MAY 28: Vancouver Whitecaps fans look on during the MLS game between the Vancouver Whitecaps FC and the New York Red Bulls May 28, 2011 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Vancouver and New York tied 1-1. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

DAVID CAMPBELL

The Globe and Mail

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney recently tweeted the following: “In 2013 we’ll keep immigration levels at ~250,000. The NDP says we should increase immigration by 40 per cent to at least 350,000.What do you think?” He went on to further tweet that 90 per cent of Canadians oppose higher immigration levels.

I wonder if those 90 per cent of Canadians understand just how important immigrants are to population growth across Canada – particularly in the country’s growing mid-sized urban centres?

Historically, the vast majority of immigration into Canada has clustered in the Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) as well as some of the smaller urban centres surrounding Toronto and Vancouver.

In recent years, however, there has been a substantial increase in the annual immigrant levels in mid-sized urban centres that historically relied on inter-provincial migration and natural increases for most of their population gains.

Statistics Canada data estimating the components of annual population growth shows the relative share of immigrant population has been shifting away from Toronto and Vancouver. Between 2002 and 2006, the Toronto CMA attracted 206 immigrants per year for every 10,000 in the overall population. From 2007 to 2011, the average annual immigrant level (per 10,000 population) dropped by 19 per cent to 159 per 10,000. The Vancouver CMA witnessed a 16 per cent decline.

Toronto and Vancouver still attract the most immigrants – by a fairly wide margin – but their share of the total is waning.

Contrast this trend with some of Canada’s fast growing mid-sized urban centres. The Moncton CMA only attracted 8.8 immigrants per 10,000 population on average between 1997 and 2001. Between 2007 and 2011, the average annual number of immigrants had increased to 37.5 per 10,000 population – a 324 per cent increase compared to the 2002-2006 timeframe. As a reward for this boost in foreign-born population, Mr. Kenny closed the local Citizenship and Immigration Canada office in Moncton.

It’s not just Moncton. Using the same time frames for comparison, Saskatoon has witnessed an average annual immigrant per 10,000 population growth rate of 188 per cent. Regina is up 206 per cent. Saint John immigration is up 165 per cent. Trois-Rivières’ relative share of immigrants is also up strongly. While not CMAs, Charlottetown and Fredericton have among the fastest growing immigrant populations in Canada.

During the 2010/2011 year the immigrant population in Canada’s CMAs alone was estimated to have increased by nearly 240,000.

I am told that the Ontario government wants to revert back to the immigration levels it saw back in the early to mid-2000s to boost both its economy and population. The CMAs of Toronto, Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Windsor, Ottawa-Gatineau, Hamilton, Guelph, Kingston, St. Catharines-Niagara, Oshawa, Brantford and Peterborough all witnessed relative declines in their share of new immigrants to Canada in recent years. If Ontario increases its share of newcomers, the rest of the country’s urban centres will suffer.

If the federal government sticks to its guns and holds down immigration levels, the losers could very well be Canada’s mid-sized urban centres – the very communities that have been increasingly relying on immigration to foster population growth and supply labour markets.

One reasons why Mr. Kenny is retrenching on immigration levels is to force chronic users of Employment Insurance back into the year round labour market. But this is a risky gambit. Immigrants are being attracted to cities such as Moncton and Regina because of job opportunities that are not being filled – for whatever reason – by the local population. In addition, most of the chronic use of EI is in rural regions and not the growing urban centres.

While it is appropriate for government and industry to work together to address the skills gaps in the work force, choking off immigration with the expectation that those jobs will be filled by current residents could end up causing more harm than good. There is already some anecdotal evidence in New Brunswick that businesses are losing immigrant workers because of the EI reforms.

Mr. Kenny wants to cap immigration at 250,000 per year. I’m not sure he can achieve that level, keep Ontario happy and assure a steady supply of new immigrants to Canada’s fast growing mid-sized urban centres.

If his immigration cap stifles population growth, the 90 per cent may well end up regretting their position.

David Campbell is the president of Jupia Consultants Inc., an economic development consulting firm based in Moncton, N.B. He is a research fellow with the Canadian Institute for Research on Public Policy and Public Administration at the Université de Moncton. He also authors a daily blog on economic issues in Atlantic Canada, which can be found atwww.davidwcampbell.com.

Open Letter to Canadian Colleges/Universities and Educational Institutions who use International Recruiters to bring Students to Canada

English: Passport Stamp issued by Immigration Canada at Toronto Lester B. Pearson Airport. Category:Passport stamps of Canada (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We are asking Canadian educational institutions to protect international students by encouraging their recruiters to operate within Canadian laws.

As the official body that oversees the regulation of immigration consultants for any immigration matter to Canada, we would encourage all Canadian institutions to be cautious of the type of practices their agents are engaged in.

It has come to our attention that foreign students are often victim of abuse and improper advice. Either they are being coerced into purchasing airline tickets at a higher fee, or they are threatened and intimidated by agents, especially when the students ask for a refund when applications are refused.

At the same time, some schools refuse to accept new students from Authorized Representatives, referring them to Educational Agents who do not follow Canadian law when it comes to providing immigration advice and services. It does not matter whether they are paid for this advice by the student, because they are compensated by the schools for their work, and are covered under the Act and Regulations.

We would like to raise awareness about this issue in light of new Canadian immigration laws that prohibit such kind of activity from unauthorized representatives. According to Immigration Processing Manuals from CIC (IP 9 Section 5.4 “Other Stakeholders”)

Educational agents abroad

Educational agents, who are often engaged by Canadian educational institutions to assist their foreign students, typically charge a fee for their services up to and including sending a signed study permit application to the Canadian embassy.

Under the Regulations, such agents must be authorized representatives if they provide immigration advice or representation to their clients, even if these activities occur prior to the submission of the application.

Similarly, agents who wish to represent students on immigration matters after their student applications have been submitted need to be authorized representatives.

ICCRC's mandate is to fairly and effectively regulate immigration consultants with accountability and transparency, to protect the public interest, to maintain a public list of registered/regulated consultants and to administer a stringent complaint and discipline process to crack down on unauthorized providers of immigration services.

For Further Information Please Contact: info@iccrc-crcic.ca

Moving to a Fast, Flexible Just-in-Time Immigration System

Cic ipn 1 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Toronto, November 2, 2012 — Today, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced that by the end of 2013, Canada’s immigration system will be transformed from one that was plagued by backlogs into one that is fast, flexible, and responsive to the labour market.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) announced today it will admit up to 55,300 persons in the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) category in 2013. Combined with previous actions taken to manage the backlog, this means by the end of 2013 we will be able to process new applications as they are received – a “just in time” system – and aim to process them in less than a year, instead of up to eight years under the old FSWprogram. In addition, CIC expects to clear the FSW applications received to date by the end of 2014, three years earlier than originally expected.

This will allow for the introduction of an Expression of Interest (EOI) system to be put in place for FSW and possibly other economic immigration streams. CIC is moving to a just-in-time system that recruits people with the right skills to meet Canada’s labour market needs, fast tracks their applications, and gets them working in a period of months, instead of years.

“The Government’s number one priority remains the economy and job growth,” said Minister Kenney. “Immigration backlogs are detrimental to our ability to attract the world’s top talent. With the decisive actions we’ve taken to tackle the backlog, we will finally be able to select immigrants who better meet the needs of the Canadian labour market. We will aim to process their applications in less than 12 months.”

The volume of FSW applications has been a longstanding dilemma, since the number of applications received inevitably exceeded the space available within the Immigration Levels Plan each year. As a result, wait times in the FSW program were as high as eight years.

Over the past few years, CIC has taken concrete measures to tackle this problem, including the following:

Under the 2008 Action Plan for Faster Immigration, CIC began to limit FSWapplication intake to priority occupations.
In 2010, the Department added caps to the number of new applications.
In June 2012, the Jobs, Growth and Long-Term Prosperity Act eliminated most of the remaining FSW applications received before February 27, 2008.
In July 2012, CIC issued a temporary pause on new FSW applications, excluding candidates with a qualifying job offer or those applying under the PhD stream.

Taken together, these efforts have dramatically reduced the total number of people waiting in the FSW backlog from a height of 640,000 people in 2008 to approximately 100,000 today, even with new applications received since the 2008 Action Plan.

“By tackling the backlog to make way for a faster, more flexible just-in-time immigration system, newcomers to Canada will be able to fully participate in the economy more quickly,” said Minister Kenney. “Immigration plays a vital role in our country’s long-term prosperity. By improving our economic immigration system, we can ensure that Canada is competitive on the world stage.”

In 2013, CIC plans to admit between 53,500 to 55,300 Federal Skilled Workers, including their spouses and dependants. CIC intends to lift the current pause on FSW applications in 2013, when the new selection criteria are expected to take effect. The final regulatory changes will be available in the Canada Gazette later this year.