Starting over in a new country means new ways to stay healthy

Immigrants are usually healthy when they arrive but soon fall behind. Louisa Taylor reports on efforts to turn around that distressing trend

 

BY LOUISA TAYLOR, OTTAWA CITIZEN FEBRUARY 27, 2012

 

 

Just off Park Avenue in Manhattan, outreach workers in the Mexican consulate give migrants free blood pressure checks and referrals to doctors. At John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, cabbies - most of whom are from South Asia, West Africa and the Caribbean - learn exercise techniques at a health fair in the taxi holding lot. In Ottawa, Chinese seniors gather for exercise and socializing, and the city trains settlement workers to share healthy living messages with new arrivals.

Research suggests that immigrants in many Western countries arrive healthier than the native born population, but their mortality rates rise over time. Innovative programs are trying creative ways to get the prevention message to newcomers.

Josana Tonda is the national coordinator of Ventanillas de Salud, a program that brings medical outreach to more than 50 Mexican consulates in the United States. Mexicans who visit the consulate on East 39th Street in Manhattan can't help but notice a corner of the waiting room filled with posters and pamphlets in Spanish about diabetes, women's health and finding a doctor. Several times a week nurses and outreach workers are there with screening tests, flu vaccines or referrals to clinics.

The Ventanillas de Salud - Windows on Health - program began in two California consulates in 2003 to help Mexican immigrants get access to health care. It now has partnerships with more than 500 local agencies providing services through more than 50 consulates throughout the United States. Discussions are under way about expanding to Canada.

"The majority of our clients are undocumented and uninsured, more men than women, with an average age of 25 to 35," says Tonda. "They are dry cleaners, restaurant workers, house cleaners, and many of them haven't been to a doctor for years except for visits to the ER.

"This is a very mobile population, very hard to reach. But people come here because they need to get documents, so we grab their attention and engage them on a health topic."

Tonda says their research shows the Ventanilla program is reducing emergency room visits by Mexican migrants and increasing the use of preventive services.

"Taking care of yourself is part of being adapted to a place," says Tonda. "We bring them confidence about really connecting to the health-care system."

Tonda says the Mexican government wants to help Mexicans already in the United States put down roots, but there's another motivation as well. "There's always a message of not losing the relationship with communities of origin," says Tonda. "What happens here has an impact there."

Recent immigrants often come from countries where preventive health care was not available, and once they resettle, traditional prevention messages pass them by. As a result, many health agencies have made reaching specific cultural communities a top priority.

In Ontario, the Heart and Stroke Foundation has programs for four: South Asians, First Nations, African and Chinese. Firdaus Ali is the "community mission specialist" in charge of reaching South Asians, whose risk of cardiovascular disease is much higher than the average Caucasian Canadian. Ali organizes health fairs and sends Hindi or Urdu-speaking community ambassadors to Diwali or Eid festivals to talk about tweaking traditional dishes to be heart-healthy. She also works with ethnic media, including Ottawa's Mirch Masala drive-home show on CHIN Radio, to get the word out.

"So far, the knowledge level is there but it hasn't translated into action; that is the biggest challenge," says Ali. "People are aware, 'If I eat a lot of oil or rich meals it will impact my heart.' What is lacking is how we change our lifestyles to be healthy."

In New York, one of the world's most diverse cities, Dr. Francesca Gany was looking for a way to go even further, and she hit on the idea of taxi drivers.

"There are 43,000 cabbies in New York, and most of them are immigrants," says Gany, an immigrant health expert at Memorial-Sloan Kettering Hospital. "Many are driving 12-hour shifts, taking just one day off. When they are so focused on providing money for their families, preventive care falls by the wayside."

Gany's team organized the STEP program, Supporting Taxi Drivers to Exercise through Pedometers, a 12-week program for 74 South Asian taxi drivers. The aim was to lower the drivers' risk of cardiovascular disease by encouraging walk more and change their diets. The program gave the drivers pedometers and sent out weekly phone reminders to walk 12,000 steps a day.

The next phase of the program was STEP On It, a five-day health fair in the holding lot at John F. Kennedy Airport last September. The team set up a tent and offered, among other things, health counselling with on-site doctors, free blood pressure and glucose screenings, stretching classes specific to a driver's aching muscles and a nutrition workshop showing how to make healthier choices on fast food menus. Although many drivers were from Africa and the Caribbean, most were South Asian. Translators were on hand so the team could serve clients in Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, and Urdu.

STEP On IT's co-ordinator, Pavan Gill, says more than 480 drivers used the services over five days, and the team was able to do a 15-minute survey with 400 of them.

"We saw a lot of abnormal blood pressure and glucose tests and were able to refer people for care," says Gill, a Canadian who graduated from the University of Toronto. "We've done follow-ups and it has been really great to see the improvement. The drivers have told us 'You guys saved our lives.'"

Gill believes one of the reasons for the success of Step On It was the focus on providing information and services to immigrants in their environment, in a way that made sense to their lives.

"We said things like, 'Get out of your car and walk the perimeter of the holding lot while you're waiting, park a few blocks away from the restaurant where you're going to pick up food, use the stairs instead of the elevator'." says Gill. "We didn't tell them to get a gym membership, we talked about simple, easy, everyday things."

Settlement workers meet immigrants and refugees soon after their arrival, and help them with housing, jobs, school registration and other services. Health Skills, Health Smart is an Ottawa Public Health program that builds health information into that relationship by giving the settlement workers two-day seminars on nutrition, exercise, shopping, when to see a family doctor, and when to go to hospital.

The program has trained 32 settlement workers at the Catholic Immigration Centre and plans to train another 68 across the city.

"Our staff are now having conversations with people about the importance of Vitamin D, or why going for an annual checkup is important, or why they should use those free blood pressure machines at the pharmacy," says Carl Nicholson, executive director of Catholic Immigration Centre. "They have a much better ability to refer people to the services they need, not to mention our staff get better health practices, too."

Nicholson's agency has an innovative project of its own in the newly renovated basement of its Argyle Street office building, The Wellness Centre for Refugees is a one-stop service for government sponsored refugees, run by staff seconded from Somerset West Community Health Centre.

A team of nurse practitioners, doctors and support staff screen refugees for communicable diseases, provide vaccinations and arrange referrals to primary care physicians. The centre's funding includes $100,000 from the Champlain Local Integrated Health Network, money that Nicholson argues is very well spent.

"We assess the health status of every government-assisted refugee who comes to Ottawa," says Nicholson, adding that the centre sees about 500 clients a year.

"They have a complete workup of their health status and, if we find something wrong with somebody, we set about fixing it. We keep them out of the emergency rooms and we put them through a process of understanding how to keep their health and how to use the health care system."

Other programs focus on the social side of good health, by trying to break down the isolation some immigrants can feel, particularly seniors. Five days a week, the Yet Keen Seniors Day Program hosts 40 to 50 Chinese at the Bronson Centre for exercise, lunch and classes, including calligraphy, Chinese opera, or field trips (they recently went to Gatineau Park to learn how to snowshoe).

"It's a matter of breaking down social isolation," says Yet Keen coordinator Anna Yip. "We focus on healthy and active living as one way to help them stay in their homes and avoid hospitalization."

Another program run out of the Bronson Centre, the Club Casa de Los Abuelos, has similar programming to help Spanish-speaking elders stay active.

"Our world is becoming increasingly diverse and mobile, cities are receiving immigrants that have never had any before," says Gany. "It's not one-size-fits-all. We really have to think about who we're seeing and develop services that meet their needs."

SATURDAY

New Canadians, old assumptions: The challenge to Canada's health care system.

MONDAY

Reaching Out: Bringing health to newcomers.

TUESDAY

Health Delayed: Campaign against the three-month wait for OHIP.

ONLINE

See videos, slide shows, graphics and links to more information at ottawacitizen.com/ unhealthywelcome

ABOUT THIS SERIES

In 2011, the Citizen's Louisa Taylor won a fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research that allowed her to research and write about immigrant health in Nepal, India, the United States and Canada.

"In my work I often hear about the 'healthy immigrant effect,'" says Taylor. "The idea that newcomers get sicker when they move here seems like an alarming trend in a country built on immigration. This fellowship was my chance to find out what we know about it and what it means for health care."

Unhealthy Welcome runs in the Citizen until Tuesday.

ltaylor@ottawacitizen.com

Twitter.com/louisataylorCIT

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

Read more:http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/Starting+over+country+means+ways+stay+healthy/6213452/story.html#ixzz1nahdh0Fa

Canada cracking down on 'passport babies

BY NATALIE STECHYSON, POSTMEDIA NEWS FEBRUARY 26, 2012

 

 

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A file photo of a Canadian passport.

Photograph by: Photo handout , Calgary Herald

Citizenship and Immigration Canada is poised to crack down on so-called “passport babies” or “birth tourism” — the practice of travelling to Canada to give birth so that child can have Canadian citizenship — as a media report out of China reveals a ring of consultants that coach pregnant women to do exactly that.

“We are aware of crooked consultants who encourage pregnant women to illegally travel to Canada to give birth and gain access to Canada’s considerable benefits,” Citizenship and Immigration spokeswoman Candice Malcolm told Postmedia News on Sunday.

“We condemn the practice of circumventing our laws to game the system, leaving Canadians taxpayers with the bill. This is unfair and not right.”

The government will introduce changes to the citizenship laws in the next year, Malcolm said.

An investigation by a Hong Kong newspaper found that bogus “consultants” are teaching Chinese women how to hide their pregnancies and how to apply for Canadian visitor or student visas.

For a fee, the pregnant women are instructed to wear dark clothing when crossing the border, not to pack any baby belongings and to lay low until they go into labour, at which point they should rush to the nearest hospital, according to newspaper Apple Daily.

On Friday, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told CBC’s Power and Politics that this kind of fraud has been a problem for some time but that it’s difficult to get a handle on the numbers.

“By definition the hospitals don’t ask. You know, when the birth certificate is issued no one is asking what was the immigration status of their parents. So, there is no statistical register of this,” Kenney said.

Canada and the U.S. are the only two countries in the developed world that have an automatic inheritance of citizenship if you’re born on their soil, Kenney said. He told CBC that he’s asked his department to look at options for change.

“The idea is that we don’t want to encourage birth tourism or what some people call passport babies,” Kenney said.

“And maybe our citizenship laws are rooted in a time when people couldn’t fly over here, fly in and out so quickly, so easily. I think maybe there’s a need to modernize our approach.”

Kasra Nejatian, Kenney’s press secretary, condemned the birth tourism practice in an interview with the Chinese news agency Ming Pao, stressing that the behaviour is unfair to Canadians.

On Feb. 16 the Conservative government introduced sweeping legislation aimed at cracking down on bogus refugees, particularly Europeans whose claims, the Tories say, are generally considered to be unfounded.

"Canada’s asylum system is broken," Kenney said after tabling Bill C-31 in the House of Commons.

The new omnibus bill will deport so-called “bogus” refugee claimants quicker, clamp down on human smugglers and require certain visa holders to turn over biometric data.

Billed as an improvement to the Balanced Refugee Reform Act adopted during the previous minority Parliament but not yet implemented, the new legislation effectively reintroduces contentious elements that were omitted so the Tories could reach a consensus with the opposition.

The Protecting Canada’s Immigration Act, introduced by Kenney, also swallows the government’s human smuggling bill tabled in June and moves forward on a biometrics plan a Commons committee only recently sat down to consider.

nstechyson@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/natstechyson

© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

Canadian Employers failing to embrace diversity policies in the work place.

A new study suggests that, despite their good intentions, Canadian employers have been slow to embrace diversity policies in the workplace.

The study, commissioned by the Progress Career Planning Institute (PCPI) is being released just as new census figures are expected to show a sharp decline in immigration in Ontario that could affect the province’s economy.

The study focused on mid-career immigrants with six to 15 years experience in the workplace. It found fewer than half were working in companies that have policies welcoming new Canadians.

The full study will be released at the 9^th Annual Internationally Educated Professionals Conference hosted by PCPI and funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. This is the largest networking event of its kind – bringing together over 120 business leaders and over 1,000 internationally educated professionals from 100 countries to share their experience and strategies in helping newcomers succeed in Canada’s workforce.

According to the Conference Board of Canada, Canada loses anywhere from $3 to 5 billion annually by not hiring the thousands of internationally trained professionals who come to Canada.

Quebec, Canada to accept record number of immigrants in 2012

Quebec unveiled their immigration plan for 2012 this week, stating the province will continue to grant a record numbers of visas to immigrants, despite complaints that it's not doing enough to integrate newcomers, many of whom don't speak French.

Latest news

• 24 February 2012 Canadian government to offer loans to immigrant professionals
• 24 February 2012 Canadian Immigration introduces new citizenship documentation
• 21 February 2012 Canada launches tourism campaign and opens tourism centre in China
• 15 February 2012 Canada seeks 300 skilled Irish workers to immigrate to Saskatchewan

Immigration Minister Kathleen Weil announced Tuesday that Quebec would let in between 51,200 and 53,800 new arrivals in 2012 with the same number of immigrants expected in 2013 and 2014.

"The idea is to seek diversity," she told reporters, adding Quebec companies can gain a competitive edge by attracting people with different backgrounds speaking different languages.

About 18,900 of those arriving next year are expected to be unable to speak French.

A study released last month, conducted by Montreal's Institute for Research on Public Policy, shows that Canadian citizens still welcome newcomers immigrating toCanada. According to the report, about 58 percent of people questioned in Canada support the current levels of immigration. Additionally, Atlantic Canada, Quebec and the Prairies surpassed the rest of Canada with their support for immigration and are above the country average with more than 62 percent support.

Opponents of the immigration increase believe they should stop admitting large numbers of immigrants until they can be better integrated into the French majority. 

Weil disagreed with capping immigration numbers and noted that having people with a diversity of backgrounds speaking different languages can give Quebec companies a competitive edge.

According to the 2012 Immigration Plan, immigrants with skilled worker visas will also take jobs left vacant; Canada's aging population means fewer Canadians in the workforce. Additionally, the government will work to increase the level of knowledge of French among applicants for skilled worker visa category.

Under the Canada-Quebec Accord on Immigration, Quebec establishes its own immigration requirements. However, Citizenship and Immigration Canada make the final decision on whether or not to grant the visa.

Weil said that the government will continue to seek immigrants who speak French already and make an effort to teach those who do not while integrating them into Quebec. She aims to have 65 percent who can already speak French when they arrive.

Winners of "Canada's Best Diversity Employers" for 2012 Announced

ORONTO, ONTARIO, Feb 21, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- The winners of this year's Canada's Best Diversity Employers competition, sponsored by BMO Financial Group, were announced today, recognizing 50 organizations that lead the nation in creating diverse and inclusive workplaces.

Each year, the editorial team at Canada's Top 100 Employers reviews the top employer pool to identify the leading organizations that have developed a wide range of initiatives, including programs for: women, visible minorities, persons with disabilities, aboriginal peoples, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) peoples.

"We are seeing a significant expansion in the range of inclusiveness initiatives that leading employers offer," says Richard Yerema, Managing Editor of the Canada's Top 100 Employers project at Mediacorp Canada Inc., which oversees the selection process. "Employers with well-established diversity programs are moving beyond the groups that traditionally have been covered."

"As a founding partner of the competition, it's our hope that we can encourage all Canadian organizations to be Diversity Champions," said Lynn Roger, Senior Vice President, Talent Strategies and Executive Resourcing at BMO Financial Group. "It's encouraging to see that employers are working harder to see Canadians' talents instead of their differences, and accept their credentials instead of hiding behind preconceptions. In the end, all of us in our business community must work to ensure that all Canadians get the opportunity to prove themselves. Only through their participation and success will the barriers fall away.

"Through our own deep experience we know that diversity and inclusion is a 'must have' that leads to stronger corporate performance, more successful and engaged employees, and the delivery of relevant products, services and advice to our customers. BMO has been developing innovative diversity programs since 1989. Our Pre-Employment Training program for people with disabilities and the Ron Jamieson Aboriginal Scholarship and Internship program are just two very successful examples of how we reach out to groups that are under-represented in Canada's workforce. Finding new and innovative ways to help integrate Canadians and their skills into our operations is just the way we do things - it's how we help all of our employees reach their full potential," added Ms. Roger.

"The diversity conversation is changing," says Trevor Wilson, President of TWI Inc., the consulting firm that pioneered a diversity measurement methodology called The Equity Continuum and a founding partner of the competition. "Employers are realizing that inclusiveness starts with the individual, and extends beyond designated groups - real diversity initiatives aim to optimize the human capital each of us brings to an organization, based on our own unique backgrounds, abilities and life experiences."

About BMO Financial Group

Established in 1817 as Bank of Montreal, BMO Financial Group is a highly diversified North American financial services organization. With total assets of $501 billion as at October 31, 2011 under IFRS, and more than 47,000 employees, BMO Financial Group provides a broad range of retail banking, wealth management and investment banking products and solutions.

BMO Financial Group funds the costs of managing the competition and, as a sponsor, is not considered for the award. BMO and TWI did not take part in the selection of winners. Mediacorp editors do this on the basis of the applications reviewed.

The editors' full reasons for why each of the 2012 winners was selected can be found at: http://CanadasTop100.com/diversity .

In alphabetical order:

        
        Agrium Inc.                             Newalta Corporation
        Amex Canada Inc.                        Northwestel Inc.
        BC Hydro                                Ontario Public Service
        Boeing Canada Operations Limited        Ottawa, City of
        Bombardier Aerospace                    Public Works and Government Services
                                                Canada
        Business Development Bank of Canada     Saskatchewan Government Insurance
        Cameco Corporation                      Saskatoon, City of
        Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce      SaskPower
        Capital District Health Authority       SaskTel
        Centre for Addiction and Mental Health  Seneca College of Applied Arts &
                                                Technology
        Corus Entertainment Inc.                Shell Canada Limited
        Deloitte & Touche LLP                   Stantec Consulting Ltd.
        Ernst & Young LLP                       Statistics Canada
        Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP              Stikeman Elliott LLP
        Health Canada-Sante Canada              TD Bank Group
        Hewlett-Packard Canada Co.              Telus Corporation
        Home Depot Canada, The                  TransCanada Corporation
        Human Resources & Skills Develop.       University of British Columbia
        Canada
        Information Services Corporation / ISC  University of Toronto
        Jazz Aviation LP                        University of Victoria
        KPMG LLP                                Vancouver, City of
        Loblaw Companies Limited                Workers' Compensation Board of
                                                Manitoba
        Manitoba Hydro                          Xerox Canada Inc.
        Manitoba, Government of                 YMCA of Greater Toronto
        Mount Sinai Hospital
        National Bank Financial Group
        
        

        
        Contacts:
        For Media Inquiries:
        Canada's Top 100 Employers
        Tony Meehan, Publisher
        (416) 964-6069 x9179
        
        BMO Financial Group
        Ralph Marranca, Director, Media & Public Relations
        (416) 867-3996
        
        TWI Inc.
        Trevor Wilson, President
        (416) 368-1968 x400
        

Canadian boarding schools target international students in emerging markets

Nicholas KeungImmigration Reporter

Last October, admission officials from 11 Canadian boarding schools conducted a tri-city promotional tour in Turkey.

Although such tours are not new in an increasingly competitive market for international students, the group has achieved something they never had individually.

Led by the Canadian Accredited Independent Schools (CAIS), the group was on TV morning shows and radio, creating a buzz among Turkish media about the prospects of studying and boarding in Canada.

“That was some amazing PR,” says Kathy LaBranche, admissions director of the 146-year-oldTrinity College School, which has 260 boarding students and is known for its small-town feel in Port Hope. “This was the first of its kind for us in an emerging market.”

Over five days, the 11-school group visited Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, meeting government officials, school principals, parents, prospective students and education recruitment agents.

The Canadian officials no longer just tagged along with their colleagues in public schools or competitors from the United States, the U.K. or Australia — they were the stars of this tour.

It was part of a campaign by 28 of CAIS’s 93 schools to raise awareness of the Canadian boarding schools brand and create a stronger presence in the ever-changing market for international students.

Anne-Marie Kee, CAIS executive director, says boarding enrolment across the country dropped by 10 per cent from 2008 to 2009. In response, its boarding schools came together for a “collaborative marketing initiative” that involves research, relationship building, marketing and recruitment.

International recruitment is a crucial component of the plan, since 49 per cent of Canada’s boarding school population is international.

CAIS marketing research identified nine emerging markets: Brazil, Colombia, India, Nigeria, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, Venezuela and Vietnam.

“We can do much better together than individually when we try to go into these new markets,” says Kee.

Guy McLean, principal of Oakville’s Appleby College, says trying to break into an emerging market is expensive and difficult, with high costs in advertising, travel and receptions, but no guarantee of returns.

“Going in as a group gives you the marketing clout. There is also the credibility and professional management that come with it,” says McLean, whose school just celebrated its centenary anniversary.

Nicknamed the “Road Warrior,” Sarah Milligan, CAIS boarding schools outreach director, is charged with coordinating the overseas promotional efforts.

In addition to the tour to Turkey, Milligan, a graduate of St. Catherines’ Ridley College, has also visited Russia, Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam and the U.S.

With a 40-kilogram display case in tow — carrying a roll-up banner, poles, maple leaf candies, an iPad for slide shows about CAIS schools and other materials — Milligan has joined different circuits to promote Canada’s new boarding school brand.

This fall, 18 CAIS boarding schools will invite recruitment agents from around the world to visit their campuses, to help them assist parents of prospective students to make the best choice for their children.

“We, at CAIS, deliver the main message about our products. Our schools do the retail. Our agents overseas are part of that as well,” Milligan explains.

“If the agents know what the food is like in the dining hall, what the people and dormitory are like, they can do a better job in translating that experience to parents.”

As part of the branding initiative, CAIS has launched a new internet portal to give prospective students easy access to boarding opportunities in Canada.

LaBranche says the Internet has become an integral part of the marketing scheme and many schools are using social media to build an online presence.

“We try to have pictures, blogs and videos on the website. The idea is to let people get a live feel of the community,” she says.

Peer-to-peer dialogues could be one effective way to reach out to potential students and CAIS plans to have a contest for boarding students to encourage them to share their experience.

Although the joint recruitment tours and website will help diversify the outreach, nothing can replace the old-school word-of-mouth marketing through alumni around the world.

Upper Canada College admissions director Struan Robertson has been doing school fairs and small-group meetings for 15 years. He has been to 15 countries since September to recruit students.

“It’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack. You meet a lot of people but they may not fit your school profile,” says Robertson, whose school has 88 boarders. “You get a lot of ‘nos’ but you also get into good conversation when they show interest in your school, come to visit you and apply.”

The overseas marketing is just the first step, as CAIS also plans to reach out to Canadian students to consider boarding as an option to enrich their learning experience.

Conservatives mull changes to citizenship rules for babies born on Canadian soil

It's one of the oldest immigration tricks in the book: get pregnant, fly to another country, have your baby, and voila - you've got immigrant ties to said country.

It even happens in Canada.

According to the Toronto Sun, Ottawa has discovered a number of unscrupulousimmigration consultants in Hong Kong, who are coaching wealthy Chinese mainlanders about how to keep their pregnancies hidden while entering Canada on student or visitor visas.

"Avoid any baby or maternity items in luggage, wear dark clothing going through customs to look slimmer, and arrive in Canada no later than in the seventh month of pregnancy are among the tips given," notes the article.

Once here, the women go into hiding until they are due to give birth and then go to a hospital to deliver the baby. And, because all babies born in Canada are considered citizens, they could return later in life as a student, for example, and sponsor their parents under family reunification.

Immigration minister Jason Kenney admits his department isn't sure how widespread the problem is but is considering citizenship law changes to prevent so-called anchor babies from automatically becoming citizens.

"We don't want people to get the idea that citizenship is a way to get a passport of convenience, that Canada is a country to be exploited," he told the Sun.

Toronto based immigration attorney Michael Niren says he doesn't think anchor babies are a "growing problem" and that changing the citizenship rules would be like "throwing the baby out with the bath water."

"Kenney is on a mission to clean up the immigration system from Refugee cases to Citizenship claims. Yes there are many broken aspects of our immigration system but I think he is going way to far here," Niren told Yahoo! Canada News.

"The solution is not to terminate this method for citizenship all together.  Free societies like Canada have always granted citizenship to those born on their soil. This, in my view, should be a right not a privilege.

"[Instead of changing the law,] I think more careful screening of applicants to Canada should be conducted. In some cases, medicals are required which would reveal pregnancies.  Sometimes the government gets ahead of itself and forgets that we are still a democracy."

(CP Photo)

Pagination

Canadians to ease rules allowing Americans entry

• rticle by: DOUG SMITH , Star Tribune 
• Updated: February 25, 2012 - 4:02 PM

Past convictions for certain offenses, such as drunken driving, will no longer be a stumbling block.

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After years of turning back Americans with drunken-driving and other misdemeanor convictions, Canadian border officials are about to relax their entry restrictions.

The move, which begins March 1, should prevent many hunters, anglers and other tourists heading to Canada from being rejected at the border when officials discover a single DWI or other misdemeanor on their records. Thousands of Americans, including many Minnesotans, have been snared by the increase in border security in recent years.

But the changes won't apply to those with multiple convictions or more serious offenses.

As issue for Americans is that drunken driving is a felony in Canada, while a single offense here often is a misdemeanor.

Canadian tourism industry officials say the tightened border restrictions have resulted in thousands of American customers being turned away at the border, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars in revenue.

"We've had hundreds of customers turned around," said Gene Halley, who runs Halley's Camps, a fishing lodge-outpost business in the Kenora, Ontario, area. "The recession hasn't hurt as much as the border crossing issue."

Often if one member of a group gets rejected at the border because of an old criminal offense, the entire group calls off the trip.

"We call them $6,000 vehicles -- if one gets turned around, the whole group goes home,'' said Mike Loewen, executive director of a regional tourist council that represents more than 200 resorts, lodges and outfitters in northwestern Ontario, a prime destination for Minnesota anglers.

"The restrictions have cost millions of dollars just in northwestern Ontario over the years," said Loewen. "People are being turned away who shouldn't be. We're not saying let criminals in, but someone who made a minor indiscretion years ago shouldn't be prevented from coming here to fish."

It was the Canadian tourism industry's continued pressure on their government that led Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to develop the new policy, which begins Thursday. Under it, people with one minor conviction can get a free Temporary Resident Permit (TRP) to enter Canada. Previously, obtaining that permit was a lengthy, costly process.

Americans with convictions still would have to go through a "rehabilitation" process to permanently clear their record, but the TRP would prevent their rejection at the border.

A key unanswered question is whether the permit will give an American essentially one "free pass" into Canada, or whether the pass would be good for a certain period of time.

The government has yet to release the details, but a spokesperson said in a written response to questions from the Star Tribune: "It aims to facilitate the entry of those who are currently inadmissible for certain offenses, such as where the individual has served no jail time and there is no evidence of repeat behavior."

The policy apparently will apply to a DWI, if it is the only conviction on a person's record.

Loewen and other Canadian tourism officials were recently briefed about the coming changes. Though they, too, are awaiting details, they are encouraged the changes will benefit them and their American customers.

"We're hoping it's a large step in the right direction," said Halley.

Attorney Satveer Chaudhary of Fridley, a former state senator, works on immigration issues and has helped clients jump through the legal hoops necessary to enter Canada.

"I have dozens of clients either turned away or know they can't get into Canada," he said.

"I have a client who was going with a group of friends to Winnipeg for a softball tournament. He had a prior DWI from years before, and was denied entry. He spent the weekend at Pembina, N.D., waiting for his friends to return to pick him up."

For those with criminal records, the procedures to overcome inadmissibility to Canada are complex. See the Canadian government's explanations at www.startribune.com/a1086.

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