ImmigrantChildren.ca Archive

Category: Federal

  • Canadian Council for Refugees on proposed amendments to IRPA

    The Canadian Council on Refugees (CCR) finds fault with proposed amendments to the IRPA tabled by the federal government (as part of the Budget bill, C-50) on March 14/08. In particular, the impact on children with regard to changes in Canada’s obligations to consider humanitarian applications from outside of Canada: From today’s CCR press release:

    “These amendments take away the right to have an application for humanitarian consideration examined, even though this is the only option under the immigration law for many people, including some children seeking to be reunited with their parents,” said Elizabeth McWeeny, President of the Canadian Council for Refugees. “Again and again when we point out gaps in the immigration law, Citizenship and Immigration Canada tells us that humanitarian and compassionate applications are the recourse. What kind of a recourse will it be, if visa officers can simply discard the application without even examining it?”
    The following are two situations where the law does not provide children with a right to family reunification and humanitarian and compassionate applications are the only recourse:

    • Under Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, separated refugee children in Canada cannot apply for family reunification with their parents and siblings who are outside Canada. The only way for these children to be reunited with their parents and siblings is through humanitarian and compassionate consideration.
    • The excluded family member rule (Regulation 117(9)(d)) keeps many children unfairly separated from their parents. The only way for affected families to explain why they should be able to reunite in Canada is through a humanitarian and compassionate application.

    “Canada has an obligation, under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to consider the best interests of the child in any decision taken affecting a child. This obligation is reflected in the provisions in the Act relating to humanitarian and compassionate applications (section 25). With the proposed amendment, visa officers would no longer be required to consider the best interests of the child”.

  • Amendments to IRPA

    Citizenship and Immigration Canada has released a statement about amendments the federal government tabled yesterday to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. From their news release:

    “On March 14, 2008, the Government of Canada introduced legislative amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to modernize the immigration system, to ensure that families are reunited faster and skilled workers arrive sooner.
    “One of the challenges facing our immigration system today is the large number of people waiting in the queue. This is especially a problem in the skilled worker category which makes up most of the backlog.
    “Under the proposed measures, Citizenship and Immigration Canada would have greater flexibility in processing new applications, especially from skilled workers.
    “The legislation is intended to provide greater flexibility in addressing a range of labour market needs. It will not apply to refugees and does not affect our objectives related to family reunification.
    “Ultimately, this will result in reduced wait times and improved service. It will also help manage the growth of the backlog of applications.
    “Once passed, the new measures will apply to applications received on or after February 27, 2008.
    “Those who applied prior to February 27, 2008, will not be subject to the new measures and will be dealt with fairly under the existing rules”.

    What do these amendments mean for children and families? In the FAQ, it says that “the new rules will “allow us to get the people we need” and “allow the Department to select among the new applications and choose those that best meet Canada’s labour market needs”. The FAQs assure Canadians that “The Department will maintain its commitment to the broad objectives of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act—supporting Canada’s economy and competitiveness, family reunification and protecting those in need. The legislative amendments are intended to respond to Canada’s labour market needs. It will not apply to refugees and is not intended to affect our objectives related to family reunification”.
    The FAQ says the federal government will keep Canadian informed about the amendments through postings to the CIC website and the Canada Gazette.
    Here’s the official transcripts from the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. Edited Hansard, Number 067. Friday, March 14, 2008

    Mr. David McGuinty (Ottawa South, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, the government is so desperate to close the door on immigrants that it will ignore the painful mistakes of previous Conservative governments that tried to do the very same thing. Diefenbaker tried to shut out immigrants by capping the system only to abandon his plan a month later because his policies were short-sighted and misguided.
    Why does the minister insist on closing Canada’s doors to the newcomers we desperately need to fuel our labour and population growth even though history shows this is absolutely the wrong approach?
    Hon. Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, CPC): Mr. Speaker, the member opposite is absolutely wrong. In fact, last year this Conservative government welcomed more immigrants to Canada than has been done in almost 100 years.
    Not only are we doing more, we are doing it better. In the family reunification class we have made that a priority and now cases are getting processed 20% to 40% faster than they did under the previous government. We are making great strides in cleaning up the Liberals’ immigration mess.
    Mr. David McGuinty (Ottawa South, Lib.): Some progress, Mr. Speaker. The backlog has increased by 100,000 in 26 months. I would ask the minister to get to work and not by closing the doors on immigrants.
    [Translation] Let us be clear. The Conservatives say that Canada has received 429,000 newcomers, but that number has been falsely inflated by temporary workers and students. Why is the government trying to distract people from its plan to significantly reduce the number of newcomers by fudging the numbers and tooting its own horn about its pathetic record on immigration?
    Hon. Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, CPC): Mr. Speaker, our government has two objectives. The first is to bring more newcomers here to fill jobs and be reunited with their families. The second is to do it faster.
    Let us contrast that with the Liberals’ record on immigration. They ballooned the backlog from 50,000 to 800,000. They took processing times from three to six months to three to six years. They voted against reducing the head tax that they brought in. They voted against launching the foreign credentials referral office. We are fixing the Liberals’ immigration mess.

  • Economic class favoured over family reunification?

    Is the federal government changing immigration policy to favour the economic class of immigrants over family reunification? That’s what the liberal party is charging.
    Due to what’s been reported as a backlog of some 900,000 applicants, immigration minister Diane Finley may soon introduce an amendment to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) to limit the number of immigrants. Critics believe it will also change the focus of the type of immigrants Canada will attract and process.
    Liberal immigration critic and MP for Vaughan, Maurizio Bevilacqua is quoted in the Thursday, March 13/08 National Post: “The Conservatives are shutting the door on immigration because they fail to understand its importance to our labour markets and our nation-building. The lack of resources devoted to this issue shows they are not serious about immigration”.
    Evidence? The story quotes a speech Minister Finley made last November in India, indicating that Canada seeks to attract “the best and the brightest”. But, only last week, the London Free Press reported on a story (A Family Again) about a Somali mother who was reunited with her children after 9 years. A Citizenship and Immigration Canada spokesperson is quoted as saying: “This is fulfilling one of our (goals) — family reunification.”
    Let’s follow this one closely and keep an eye on what’s happening in Ottawa.

  • Institute for Canadian Citizenship

    “No country in the world welcomes more new citizens per capita than Canada”.

    Upon leaving office as Governor-General, Adrienne Clarkson and her husband, John Ralston Saul established the Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC). The ICC seeks to engage Canadians in conversations about citizenship.
    The ICC wants to “bridge the gap between the newly-arrived immigrant and fully engaged citizen“. The goals of the ICC are to:
    • enhance citizenship ceremonies
    • increase awareness of, disseminate information concerning and promote successful
    grassroots immigrant support programs
    • provide forums for national non-partisan information exchanges and discussions on issues
    related to immigration and citizenship
    • analyze and disseminate existing research on issues related to citizenship.
    A sweet little slip of a statement by a seven-year-old at a recent citizenship ceremony is all there is with regard to children. This child’s positive experience likely does not reflect the reality of many children who arrive on Canada’s shores and seek citizenship. The child-as-citizen is an important addition to any discussion of “citizenship” and needs to be more fully addressed in this initiative. To contact the ICC: icc@icc-icc.ca.

  • More funding announcements from the federal government

    Following on a post dated Fri Feb 22/08, more funding announcements from the federal government, including:
    Feb 29/08 “Government of Canada announces funding to help newcomers settle in London, Ontario”.
    March 7/08 “Government of Canada announces funding to help newcomers settle in Toronto“.  This funding was set for the YMCA Korean Community Services and the Korean Canadian Women’s Association KCWA Family and Social Services.
    March 7/08 “Government of Canada announces funding to Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association“.

  • Federal budget, 2008

    The National Post is reporting that today’s federal budget has “something for everyone”, including this – for immigrants:

    “$22-million over two years to modernize and speed up the immigration system. Plans include: ‘changes will be made to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to improve the immigration process. It is not fair for prospective immigrants to wait for years before being considered, and it is not desirable to wait that long for the immigrants the country needs’.”

    Meanwhile, The Globe and Mail is running an op-ed by Perrin Beatty, Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Claire Morris, Association of Universities and Colleges Canada and on what kinds of immigrants Canada needs:

    “Streamlining our immigration process to make Canada a more attractive option for skilled immigrants will be important. However, Canada cannot count on maintaining current levels of immigration of advanced degree-holders to meet future labour market needs. In an increasingly knowledge-based world, competition for highly-educated immigrants is growing in developed nations and emerging economies alike.
    Consequently, more needs to be done to attract the best and the brightest international graduate students who remain critical to fuelling the country’s pipeline of highly qualified personnel”.

    Immigrant children? Not in the op-ed. Not in the budget. To access the budget documents, visit the budget.gc.ca website.

  • CIC & MCI joint call for proposals, Ontario

    Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration (MCI) are seeking proposals to strengthen the role of local and regional communities in serving and integrating immigrants through Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs).
    The overall objective of the call is to identify groups that will coordinate and enhance the current service delivery network (avoiding duplication). Strategic partnerships between service providers and organizations is encouraged.
    The funders objectives are to:

    1. Improve access to, and coordination of, effective services that facilitate immigrant settlement and integration
    2. Improve access to the labour market for immigrants
    3. Strengthen local and regional awareness and capacity to integrate immigrants
    4. Establish or enhance partnerships and participation of multiple stakeholders in planning, and coordinating the delivery of integration services (including settlement, language training, labour market integration), especially current services supported by the federal government through CIC or through MCI.

    For more info, see the page at settlement.org or the MCI web-page.
    2 Deadlines: March 7, 2008 and May 6, 2008.

  • CIC call for proposals, Ontario

    Citizenship and Immigration Canada have issued a call for proposals for projects that enhance or support Immigrant Settlement and Adaptation Program (ISAP) services in Ontario.
    The call is seeking community, local, regional, or provincial projects that focus on:

    • Developing a campaign for the promotion of settlement services and outreach to those in need of settlement services
    • Developing and / or distributing of information products to settlement workers in Ontario
    • The development of and / or dissemination of newcomer information products
    • The development of and implementation of improved program delivery tools
    • The design and delivery of conferences, workshops and other training events for settlement workers
    • Producing studies, reports and recommendations relevant to settlement and integration
    • Other activities or products which will result in improvements to ISAP.

    Deadline is September 1, 2008.
    For more info, see the page at settlement.org.

  • Federal funding announcements galore!

    There have been a rash of funding announcements from the federal government lately, including:
    December 2007
    Dec 17/07 “Minister Finley announces new federal commitments to help newcomers settle in Canada”, which includes a link to a handy at-a-glance chart showing the provincial/territorial breakdown of dollars from 05-06 to 08-09.
    Dec 18/07 “Government of Canada supports Saskatchewan in attracting immigrants to the province”. Included in this announcement was the “Going to Canada” website that provides “links to information and services when planning a temporary stay or making Canada your new home”. The website is available in English and French. Not much info on children.
    January 2008
    Jan 7/08 “Government of Canada announces new funding for research on immigration and diversity”. The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, and Dr. Chad Gaffield, President of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) jointly announced research funding of $7.5 million over five years for Metropolis, the Canadian arm of the international consortium of research centres on immigration and settlement.
    Jan 18/08 “Government of Canada provides funding to help newcomers settle in the Peel region”. The funding will support the Peel Newcomer Strategy Group.
    February 2008
    Feb 1/08 “Government of Canada announces funding to help immigrants settle in Lethbridge“.
    Feb 1/08 “Government of Canada joins partners in launching a Tool Box to help attract immigrants to smaller communities”. The Attracting and Retaining Immigrants: A Tool Box of Ideas for Smaller Centres was developed by the National Working Group on Small Centre Strategies.
    Feb 8/08 “Government of Canada announces funding to help newcomers settle in the city of Toronto“. Included in this announcement, a mention of the Foreign Credentials Referral Office (FCRO), established in 2007 to help support internationally trained individuals in having their credentials assessed, recognzied and to find work in their chosen field.
    Feb 19/08 ” Government of Canada invests to help immigrants settle in St. John’s“. In this announcement, something about/for immigrant children! A 3-day event, entitled Sharing Our Cultures is an annual event held to promote cross-cultural awareness among children and teachers. This year it will be held to coincide with March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
    Feb 20/08 “Government of Canada provides funding to help newcomers settle in Brantford“.
    Feb 20/08 “Government of Canada provides funding to the Learning Enrichment Foundation to help newcomers in Toronto“.
    Feb 21/08 “Government of Canada announces funding to help attract francophone immigrants to New Brunswick“. Funding went to Société des Acadiens et Acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick (SAANB).
    Feb 22/08 “Government of Canada provides funding to help newcomers in North Bay“.

  • Immigration wait times – some dependent children kept waiting

    A Feb 10/08 Canadian Press story reports on liberal MP Jim Karygiannis‘ accusation that wait times to enter Canada for some immigrants are longer than for other immigrants, quoting the story, “depending on where they’re from and what immigration category they fall under”.

    “A dependent child whose file is dealt with by Canadian officials in Beijing, Seoul or Ankara, for instance, has an 80 per cent chance of being processed within four months. But a child’s average wait time is 13 months in Singapore, 19 months in Guatemala and 34 months in Cairo”.

    See the MPs site for more information.