Reflections from the USA

In just over a month I will mark two full years since my immigration to Canada from the US. It really is confounding, how quickly time flies. I am currently back in "the old country", visiting family and friends in Seattle, and having a good time of it.

What I notice when I come back home (yes, it will always be home too) are a couple things. First off, life goes on without me. No matter all the emotion I built into leaving, almost like dying; the truth is that people adjust, get on with their lives, and don't miss you nearly as much as you think they should! I always make an effort to let people know when I'll be back in town, and it still saddens me, how few make an effort to make time to see me during my brief visits. But its okay - I'm getting used to a different set of expectations.

The other thing I notice is very environmental. Toronto and Seattle are both cities on bodies of water: for Toronto, it's Lake Ontario; for Seattle, it's Elliot Bay, but there is a distinctly different feel. The difference is due to the salt air in Seattle. A little geography: Elliot Bay is a salt-water bay on Puget Sound, which is connected via the Strait of Juan De Fuca to the mighty Pacific Ocean. The salt air from these bodies is ever present, and the feel and smell of the air is distinct from the brine of Lake Ontario. When I come back, the air is something I miss a lot.

If you're an immigrant, please share some of your observations. I know from letters I receive that many people benefit from our shared experiences.

One  more thing I notice, is that after I time here, I want to get back home to my Love - and that is Toronto. I'm happy there, and so grateful Canada welcomed me.

Happy Canada Day!

I've been in the US traveling the last week, and without an internet connection, so forgive my lateness in wishing all my readers a Happy Canada Day! I hope permanent residents like myself are celebrating in appreciation of the country that welcomed them; new citizens in recognition of those that came before them; and native Canadians in a simple show of love of country.

To celebrate Canada Day 2013, CIC held over 30 special citizenship ceremonies in communities across Canada. These ceremonies welcome new citizens and highlight the rights and responsibilities of Canadian citizens. Citizenship judges highlighted our heritage as a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy.

CIC has granted Canadian citizenship to nearly 200,000 new citizens each year at almost 2,000 citizenship ceremonies across the country.

I hope in a couple years to be a part of one of these ceremonies.

Happy Canada Day everyone!

Summer travels

This mind is now on our regular summer hiatus - travel and vacations call! Check back soon for news and commentary - and enjoy the nice weather too!

CIC News - Canadian Citizenship Applicants Face Long Delays, Reforms Underway

According to recent statistics, individuals who are eligible for Canadian citizenship today may not become citizens in time to vote in the 2015 federal election. Delays in application processing, which range from 21 to 29 months, have left over 24,000 individuals waiting to take the final step in their journey to becoming Canadian.

Since 2006, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) says that an increase in Canadian permanent residents has led to a 30% increase in demand for Canadian citizenship. Without sufficient resources to process this growing demand, significant backlogs have formed. While the government is taking steps to ensure that processing times are reduced, change has been slow for those already waiting in the queue.

Sound familiar? Increased demand, staffing issues, growing backlogs? Minister Kenney and the Harper Government can't say they didn't see this coming.

One of their solutions to the backlog is to make citizenship actually take longer and make it more expensive for permanent residents. The expense and delay are a two-fold tool: proving your fluency in one of Canada's official languages now requires a third-party test (starting at $150.00 CAD if you can't prove your fluency by other means); the delay comes because you have to pass this test before you can apply. Should you fail the citizenship knowledge test, the delay you will experience comes in scheduling a make-up test. Previously, a citizenship judge would determine whether those who did not pass the Canadian knowledge test were still eligible for citizenship. Adding time and expense to any process are sure methods of creating attrition. The Harper Government plays this card well.

Read the article here

Jerk that knee - Harper government passes new regulations on temporary foreign workers

From The Globe and Mail:

Federal officials will have the right to walk into Canadian workplaces without a warrant as part of a tightening of the controversial foreign temporary workers program.

Changes to immigration and refugee protection regulations, published just days ago, give Human Resources and Skills Development Canada officials or Citizenship and Immigration Canada officers the right to walk in on businesses as part of a random audit or because they suspect fraud.

Upon entering a property, officials will have wide powers of investigation. They will be able to “examine anything on the premises,” question employers and staff, request documents, use photocopiers to copy records, and take photographs or make video and audio recordings.

Read all about it here

Frances Wooley - ‘Visible minority:’ A misleading concept that ought to be retired

In Canada, anyone who considers themself neither white nor aboriginal is classified by the government, for a number of purposes, as a visible minority. It is an artificial concept that has become unnecessary and counterproductive.

Ultimately, the dividing line is arbitrary. For example, Arabic people from North Africa and the Middle East are counted as “white” in the U.S. Census. Yet anyone who ticks the Arab box on Canada’s National Household Survey is counted as a visible minority – unless they tick both the white box and the Arab box. Then they’re white.

Read the Globe and Mail column here

MacLeans online - Why the world’s best and brightest struggle to find jobs in Canada

See the feature here

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