Canadian Man Uses iPad As Passport At US Border

By Guardian on January 4, 2012

   

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This article titled “Canadian man passes US border using his iPad” was written by Ben Quinn, for The Guardian on Wednesday 4th January 2012 01.12 UTC

A Canadian man who realised that he had left his passport at home as he approached the US border managed to cross over by using his Apple iPad.

In a novel deployment of the tablet that may have come as a surprise even to the late Steve Jobs, Martin Reisch said that a mildly annoyed US border officer made an exception after he was handed the iPad displaying a scanned copy of the forgotten passport.

Reisch was a half hour from the border between the US and the Canadian province of Quebec when he decided to try to gain entry rather than turn back and make a two-hour trek back home to Montreal to fetch his passport.

He told the officer he was heading to the US to drop off Christmas gifts for his friend’s kids. He said that the true story, the scanned passport and his driver’s license helped him get through last week.

“I thought I’d at least give it a try,” said Reisch, according to reports by the Associated Press.

“He took the iPad into the little border hut. He was in there a good five, six minutes. It seemed like an eternity. When he came back he took a good long pause before wishing me a Merry Christmas.”

US Customs and Border Protection says it only accepts a passport, an enhanced driver’s license or a Nexus pass from Canadian citizens entering at land crossings. The list doesn’t mention facsimiles, like scans and photocopies.

Reisch, 33, said he took a scanned photo of his passport years ago in case it was ever lost or stolen while travelling. He said he also successfully used the passport on his iPad to get through Canadian Customs on the way home later that day.

However, the 33-year-old said he doubted that he would get away with it again and would take his passport next time, although he hopes border officials will eventually make digital identification an official form of travel document.

“I see the future as 100% being able to cross with your identity on a digital device it’s just a matter of time,” he said.

via PSFK: http://www.psfk.com/2012/01/man-passport-ipad.html#ixzz1iYubZKv4

Quebec workplaces least diverse in Canada: study

According to reports in Postmedia newspapers on a study completed by the Association for Canadian Studies(ACS), while Canada as a whole has multicultural workplaces, Quebec had the lowest proportion out of all the provinces.

The National Post reports:

“Seventy-three per cent of Canadians describe their workplace or school as diverse... Sixty per cent of Quebecers work in a multicultural environment, the lowest proportion of any province... Fewer Quebecers work and study in multicultural environments because most of the province's immigrants are concentrated in Montreal, and because the city attracts fewer immigrants than Toronto or Vancouver, (ACS executive director Jack) Jedwab said. Also, Quebec has a lower proportion of cultural minorities in government jobs than other provinces.”

Despite the lack of cultural diversity in the workplace, the Montreal Gazette notes that population numbers from the provincial government’s Institut de la statistique du Québec show “diversity is increasingly becoming the hallmark of 21st-century Quebec.”According to the National Post, Léger Marketing "surveyed 2,345 people online in September and October for the Canadian portion of the poll. The sample size would yield a margin of error of two percentage points, 19 times out of 20." Leger Marketing told OpenFile Montreal that a total of 484 people from Quebec were polled for the study but declined to share the full report with OpenFile, saying it would be made public in the coming weeks.

Population growth in the province is now propelled by immigration and not the birth rate, the Gazette reported. With this trend, diversification in the workplace is bound to increase.

Chart Source: Léger Marketing, ORC International via Association for Canadian studies.

Total complete applications received since July 1, 2011

On July 1, 2011, the eligibility criteria for Federal Skilled Worker applicants changed.

Between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2012, a maximum of 10,000 complete Federal Skilled Worker applications will be considered for processing. Within the 10,000 cap, a maximum of 500 Federal Skilled Worker applications per eligible occupation will be considered for processing within this same time frame.

Starting November 5, 2011, CIC will accept a total of 1,000 applications from international students who have completed at least two years of study towards a PhD and or who graduated from a Canadian PhD program in the 12 months before the date their application is received byCIC. Find out more about eligibility for this category or see the number of applications received to date on this site.

These limits do not apply to applications with an offer of arranged employment (job offer).

Applications received toward the overall cap: 6 205 of 10,000 as of January 3, 2012

Applications received per eligible occupation:

Eligible Occupation (by National Occupational Classification [NOC] code)	Number of Complete Applications Received*
0631 – Restaurant and Food Service Managers	500 (Cap reached)**
0811 – Primary Production Managers (Except Agriculture)	64
1122 – Professional Occupations in Business Services to Management	500 (Cap reached)**
1233 – Insurance Adjusters and Claims Examiners	217
2121 – Biologists and Related Scientists	500 (Cap reached)**
2151 – Architects	309
3111 – Specialist Physicians	447
3112 – General Practitioners and Family Physicians	467
3113 – Dentists	463
3131 – Pharmacists	500 (Cap reached)**
3142 – Physiotherapists	122
3152 – Registered Nurses	500 (Cap reached)**
3215 – Medical Radiation Technologists	33
3222 – Dental Hygienists and Dental Therapists	21
3233 – Licensed Practical Nurses	293
4151 – Psychologists	75
4152 – Social Workers	304
6241 – Chefs	66
6242 – Cooks	159
7215 – Contractors and Supervisors, Carpentry Trades	82
7216 – Contractors and Supervisors, Mechanic Trades	194
7241 – Electricians (Except Industrial and Power System)	83
7242 – Industrial Electricians	97
7251 – Plumbers	22
7265 – Welders and Related Machine Operators	33
7312 – Heavy-Duty Equipment Mechanics	34
7371 – Crane Operators	6
7372 – Drillers and Blasters – Surface Mining, Quarrying and Construction	6
8222 – Supervisors, Oil and Gas Drilling and Service	86

*The number of complete Federal Skilled Worker applications received as of January 3, 2012 is approximate.

**Once the cap has been reached, we can only accept applications for this occupation from people with an existing offer of arranged employment.

Note: Due to the high volume of applications we receive, the CIO cannot review each application for completeness on the same day it arrives at the office. The numbers on this page are updated at least once a week, but these figures are meant as a guide only. There is no guarantee that an application sent in now will fall within the cap by the time it reaches the CIO. We are looking into ways to minimize the effect of this on website updates.

Applications received from PhDapplicants:

Applications received toward the overall cap: 37 of 1,000as of December 28, 2011