Two years in Canada and counting

Toronto - my home of two years now!

In a few days, I will complete two years as a Permanent Resident in Canada. I've said it before - time flies. So am I happy with my choice to leave the US to live here? The answer, with some caveats, is "yes."

Because I moved here for love, not for work, I think its easier for me to be content with my situation here. My love and I share a beautiful home in a fantastic city, and between us we do very well by anybody's measure.

Toronto is a fantastic city, full of culture and diversity, and I take full advantage of it, getting around as much as possible, enjoying free events, site-seeing like a tourist, and creating a routine and memories each day. In the mornings, I walk my love to her office, then I return home where I work (and write my books and this blog). I get out an exercise at some point most days: skating at Harbourfront Centre in the winter, playing hoop at the playgrounds on The Esplanade in the nice weather. Weekends are for chores, grocery shopping at the St. Lawrence Market, catching up on reading, or adventuring around Ontario.

If I had come here for work, I know after two years, I would have a different view of Canada. Frankly, its been hard to find any work in my former field of expertise. I had my share of interviews where the dreaded "how much Canadian experience do you have?" question was raised. Once that comes up, you pretty much know you wont get the gig. But I have continued to find whatever short term opportunities I can here, and have strung them together into a living. I'm sure many immigrants have the same experience. Maybe because I didn't expect the opportunities here to be the same as I had in the US, I'm more accepting of the reality that they are very different.

One area that exceeds expectation is the health care that is available to me. While the facilities are nowhere near the modern level I experienced in Seattle (mind you, a very wealthy US city), they are very good, and best of all, I have access to them when I really need them. This was not the case in the US. I take better care of myself here because its not always an economic decision to do so. That's quite a change for the better.

As I've said before, and this doesn't change - I miss family and friends I've left behind. Being an immigrant can be lonely many days. And there's no counting that phenomenon of change that occurs at home which causes it to become more and more unfamiliar, coupled with the fact that you are in a long process of learning about your new country. Feeling lost between two worlds happens more frequently the longer you are away.

I love Canada. I love Toronto. I love my life here with my love. I am a year away from applying for citizenship, the next step in my immigration journey. Yes, in spite of the challenges, life in Canada is the best life I have had.

Asian Pacific Post - Canada's New Immigration Realities

The past 5 years have seen dramatic and widespread changes to Canada’s entire immigration program, whether it be for Economic Immigration, Family Class Immigration, or Canada’s Humanitarian/Refugee Program.

In recent years, we have seen some pretty quirky legislation such as the “Cracking Down on Crooked Consultants Act” and the “Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act”.

Both of these pieces of legislation, brought in strict new provisions.

Read some of the highlights to changes in Canada’s immigration laws here

The Globe and Mail - Temporary foreign workers flood into Canada as youth can’t find work: Conference Board asks why

The Conference Board of Canada can’t fully answer the question, but it does wonder why Canada is importing so many temporary foreign workers when its own young people can’t find jobs.

In the final piece of a three-part look at the post-crisis labour market, the group cites the fact that the number of temps from outside the country reached almost 340,000 by December of last year, up from 150,000 in 2006.

This, as Canada’s unemployment rate continued to climb, particularly among young people.

The jobless rate stood at 7.1 per cent last December, with some 1.4 million Canadians out of work. Unemployment was far high for the country’s youth, at 14.1 per cent, with more than 400,000 young people without jobs.

Read the article here

"...we recommend looking for other options for a trip that do not include a stop in Canada"

...rotating foreign-service strikes have extended the wait for Canadian visas, to four weeks, six weeks, sometimes more. So the Canadian embassy in Bogota is politely advising people it’s best to stay away.

“All Canadian visa offices around the world are working at reduced capacity and processing times for visa applications are uncertain at the moment. So we recommend looking for other options for a trip that do not include a stop in Canada,” an official in the embassy’s immigration section stated in what appeared to be a rote Spanish-language reply.

Read the Globe and Mail article here

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