The Globe and Mail - Temporary immigrants mean temporary loyalties

Read Ratana Omidvar's excellent piece on the changing nature of immigration in Canada, from the permanent to the temporary. Her article does a great job of exposing the Harper Government's radical changes to immigration policy, especially in relation to the Family Class and reunification.

Here's a taste:

Impermanence comes at a cost, both for us and those who find themselves in impermanent situations. By focusing on the temporary, we create transience. This discourages temporary residents from integrating into their communities and forming an attachment to Canada. In fact, it encourages the temporary to maintain and develop their loyalties elsewhere. It often separates families, sometimes for years at a time.

For those who eventually come to live in Canada permanently, these interrupted family relations can hinder the adjustment of the children and the family to their new life. And from those who leave, we will bypass the most significant benefits that we currently realize from the second generation, who, studies show, are more likely to attend college or university than their non-immigrant peers and have higher earnings as a result. 

Read the article here

Springtime in Canada

Canada is a big country. And springtime in Canada is as diverse as the country is large. One simple example in today's nationwide weather forecast: In the Yukon, a winter storm warning for snowfall; in the prairies, a rainfall warning; and in the east, high temperatures in the upper 20's, with thunderstorms.

Over the weekend, the Maritimes experienced record snowfall. 

Springtime in Canada.  

The Globe and Mail - More than one-fifth of Canadians are foreign-born: National Household Survey

Sustained levels of immigration over the past two decades have literally changed the face of Canada.

The first report of the 2011 National Household Survey reveals that the percentage of people living in this country who were born someplace else is expanding along with those who consider themselves to be members of a visible minority.

Read the article here

Taking a breather

Hi everyone - just wanted to let you know The Mind is taking a short hiatus in the U.S. for a couple weeks. We'll return with all the usual immigration news, commentary and more once we return. Thanks for your patience - and Go Leafs Go!

South China Morning Post - Chinese numbers in Vancouver, Toronto to double by 2031

The Chinese populations of Vancouver and Toronto are set to double by 2031, helping push whites below 50 per cent of the population in both cities, says a report for Canada's immigration department.

The study, released this week, is titled "A new residential order?". It predicted that the populations in both cities would be more prone to segregate into racial enclaves with time.

Daniel Hiebert, a geographer at the University of British Columbia, concluded his report by saying that the two cities "are likely to have a social geography that is entirely new to Canadian society". He said the degree of racial segregation in both cities would approach that of between blacks and whites in America.

Both cities have a long history of immigrant populations, but it was only in the late 1990s that they developed what Hiebert called "ethnocultural enclaves" and a "new residential order".

Read the article here

Passports - plan ahead

Somehow I thought I was done with the travel document issues, but with a visit to the U.S. coming up, I checked my Passport and what do you know - it expires in a few months! Not only that, but trips I have are scheduled such that I don't have 3-4 weeks to be without the document, which I would be if I mailed it in for renewal.

I need an expedited one.

So, bad planning is going to cost me an extra $60 ($170 total) to renew my U.S. passport. But I'll have it in five days.

I initially, mistakenly thought that I wouldn't only needed my U.S. Passport after I received my Canadian permanent residence card, but actually you need both those items. To enter the U.S. I need the passport and to re-enter Canada they ask for both the passport and the permanent residence card.

So remember, plan ahead and have the documentation you need to cross these ever more vigilant borders of ours.    

The Globe and Mail - Harper vows to reform temporary foreign worker program

But will he give those temporary workers who come here any chance at permanent residence?

Stephen Harper is putting Canadian employers on notice that the temporary foreign worker program has grown too large, forcing Ottawa to bring in new rules to ensure it is only used to fill the country’s most acute labour shortages.

The Prime Minister delivered his stern comments in Calgary, a city where hundreds of employers – from Boston Pizza to driving schools to a local soccer club – have turned to the federal program to fill jobs. Documents obtained by The Globe and Mail reveal that 33,000 organizations from across the country – including big and small businesses, universities and even federal government departments – have successfully applied to use the program in recent years.

Read the rest of the article here

RBC and the Temporary Foreign Workers Program

Erin Weir, an economist with the United Steelworkers of Canada writes in today's Globe and Mail:


An econometric study based on data through 2007 published last year in Canadian Public Policy concludes, “The expansion [of the Temporary Foreign Worker program] in Canada to all low-skill occupations without limit has had an adverse effect on the Canadian labour market.” There is reason to fear that adding more vulnerable workers to weak labour markets since 2008 has further worsened unemployment and undermined wages.

RBC provides a particularly compelling example of why the Temporary Foreign Worker Program must be reined in. It should be limited to areas with demonstrable skill shortages.

Before importing temporary labour, employers should have to meet a much higher burden of proof that they cannot find Canadian workers. Those temporary foreign workers who are admitted should have a clear path to permanent residency and citizenship, so that they can fully contribute to our economy and exercise the same workplace rights as other Canadians.

CBC - RBC scrambles to explain hiring practices to Canadians after CBC report

The Royal Bank of Canada was scrambling to explain its hiring practices to customers Sunday after a CBC report claiming the bank was employing foreign workers to replace Canadian staff prompted a flood of outrage.

RBC replaces Canadian staff with foreign workers

Canada's largest bank (TSX:RY) said it has not hired foreign workers to take over the job functions of current employees, but said it uses outside companies as one of its strategies to improve "operational effectiveness."

Zabeen Hirji, chief human resources officer, said the company is working to find suitable roles for 45 Toronto employees whose jobs are being outsourced.

This is the sort of news that causes average Canadians to oppose legitimate skilled worker class immigration. RBC certainly has some explaining to do - to the country and to the government.

Read the rest of the article here 

Is he a Minister or a Tinker? Kenney keeps messing with immigration programs

(From Yahoo.ca) Canada's newest immigration policy — the Start-up Visa Program — is being lauded by analysts in the United States.

As April 1st, foreign start-up entrepreneurs can apply for immigration if they have a start-up business idea and a funding commitment from a designated Venture Capital Organization or Angel Investor in Canada.

It seems sometimes like this Minister is making things up as he goes along. Economic immigration to Canada is becoming a bit of a shell game. How can we measure performance when the target keeps moving? I pay attention to this subject on a regular basis of course, and I can't even keep up with the changes.

What does that mean to potential immigrants who are attempting to find their way through this confusion?

Kenney's manipulations of the country's immigration programs seem at times designed simply to obfuscate the landscape in such a way as to defer criticism and mask both the intent of policy and the performance of the programs. Rather than enhance the well-known Investor Class programs, Kenney has raised the investment requirement bar there, and added an entirely new class - Start-up, with a bizarre set of core requirements:

• You must demonstrate intermediate knowledge in both English and French
• You must have completed at least one year of Post-Secondary Education
• Receive a minimum funding commitment of $200,000 CDN from a designated Venture Capital Organization (or $75,000 from an approved Angel Investor)

The Canadian government has allotted 2750 statup visas per year for start-up entrepreneurs and their families under this temporary (5-year) program.

Pay close attention to the shell game Kenney is playing with immigration in Canada. If he makes it confusing enough, and expensive enough to participate, no one will want to immigrate here.

Read more about the program   

Read the Yahoo article here