C-24 Citizenship Act Committee Hearings – 5 May

2014/05/06 2 Comments

As there was no real press coverage of Committee hearings 5 May, watched the video and the following summary may be of interest.

Like many committee hearings, an element of Kabuki theatre with the Government asking questions of witnesses in favour of their approach to revocation while the opposition asking questions of those opposed to revocation and a number of other provisions.

On the Government “side,” there was Canadian Israel Jewish Advocacy (CIJA), Alliance of Canadian Terror Victims Foundation and the Foundation for Defence of Democracies (FDD); “for” the opposition, the Inter-Clinic Immigration Working Group and the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers.

CIJA supported most aspects of the proposed changes, including increased residency, language and knowledge requirements, the intent to reside, and the revocation provisions. Given that the possible impact of the Israel’s law of return, given all Jews the right to Israeli residency and citizenship, subject to an application process, Fogal spent considerable time stating that the dual national distinction did not apply to the right to having another citizenship but only to those who exercise that right. He did, however, note the need for some process improvements, particularly the need in any terror-related convictions in foreign countries to be subject to a test that they were equivalent to Canadian practice and fairness.

Alliance of Canadian Terror Victims Foundation (ACTVF) and the Foundation for Defence of Democracies also support the Government’s revocation proposals (see earlier opinion piece by Sheryl Saperia The case for revoking citizenship – National Post). Both argue that the fundamental social contract makes revocation appropriate in such extreme cases of terrorism, war crimes and the like.

Saperia of FDD noted the need for some process improvements (tighter drafting of connection to Canada for terrorist activities and, like CIJA, the need to have explicit criteria for determining the equivalence of foreign to Canadian convictions). On dual nationals, she said that in cases where other countries do not allow for renunciation, the Minister could have discretion to decided on the degree of connectedness to the foreign country. She also emphasized the need for more preventative anti-radicalization measures, noting the RCMP high-risk traveller program (RCMP set to tackle extremism at home with program to curb radicalization of Canadian youth), as well as requiring those applying for passports to make some sort of commitment to not engage in such activity.

For Alliance founder Maureen Basnicki, it is intensely personal, given she is a 9/11 widow, and believes that:

Therefore, if Canada allows a convicted terrorist to retain the Canadian citizenship, Canada is in effect saying “we accept the terrorist act as part of the fabric of life in Canada”.

But we also allow murderers and sex offenders to stay in Canada, as unfortunately they too are part of the fabric of society.

All three did not acknowledge that dual nationality does not only apply to naturalized Canadians. One can be born in Canada and yet have dual nationality. And if such a person is born and educated in Canada, is  “outsourcing” the problem, without accepting responsibility. And I suspect that the distinction made between the legal right to another citizenship, without taking it up, is a distinction that may not be applied equally to all communities, combined with the reverse onus of proof.

On the opposition “side”, the Inter-Clinic Immigration Working Group focussed on the situations of some of the more vulnerable refugees, and recommended keeping existing residency requirements (3 of 4 years), some exemptions for the knowledge and language requirements, testing language at end of process, maintaining right of Court appeal, reversal of proposed fee increases, no power to strip dual nationals of Canadian citizenship, and ensure intent to reside provision is not grounds for misrepresentation given that situations change.

Audrey Macklin of CARL focussed on the intent to reside and revocation provisions. On the former, their reading is that the law is written so that this could be grounds for citizenship revocation on grounds of fraud or misrepresentation. On revocation, CARL focussed on the constitutionality, noting that Charter rights cannot be violated as punishment, and that the social contract argument is not supported by jurisprudence. The distinction between “mono” and dual Canadian citizens is also likely not Charter compliant. She also raised a number of procedural rights (e.g., retroactively, reverse onus of proof) as areas of concern.

Questioning by MPs was largely predictable. Government MPs asked questions of “their side” as did opposition MPs, both trying to buttress their own positions.

One of the more interesting questions, however, was by Chungsen Leung (CPC), who went on at some length about how attachment and contribution to Canada could happen when one was abroad, almost questioning the intent to reside provision. The eventual question, directed at CIJA, reverted back to the obvious examples of citizens of convenience (e.g., 2006 Lebanese evacuation), with CIJA maintaining that being the real aim of the provision. But then drafting should be tighter so as not to cast to broad a net on Canadians that may move abroad for valid work, study or family reasons.

Ted Opitz (CPC) was poorly briefed in arguing that many countries have the same approach to revocation as proposed by the Government and that a previous Liberal government had ended revocation for treason. CARL corrected him on the former point (only UK currently has this approach, Australia is considering) and it was under Diefenbaker, two generations ago, that Canada stopped revoking citizenship from dual citizens.

And a bit of an interesting debate between Saperia and Basnicki with Macklin of CARL on whether the world would think better of Canada if we revoked citizenship or not. For Saperia and Basnicki, this was viewed as a strong signal worldwide that Canada did not tolerate such activity; Macklin argued the contrary that “outsourcing” our problem would signal that Canada does not take responsibility for the activities of its citizens. A philosophical divide.

Links (where available) are below. One note of frustration, the Parliamentary website, apart from posting agenda and the video link, does not appear to be posting briefs or transcripts, making it harder for those who wish to follow the discussions. A related frustration is that a number of organizations to not post their briefs and statements on their websites automatically or respond to requests for copies. I will update this list as the briefs and statements become available.

Inter-Clinic Immigration Working Group

Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs – CIJA (link not yet posted)

Alliance of Canadian Terror Victims Foundation

Foundation for Defense of Democracies (link not yet posted)

Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (brief)

CARL Press Release: New Citizenship Act Threatens Rights of All Canadians

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Job-vacancy rate plunges as Tories drop Kijiji data – Evidence vs Anecdote

2014/05/06 1 Comment

A reminder that bad and incomplete data can lead to bad policy decisions and arguments, as exemplified by the over-stating of labour shortages and justification for programs like Temporary Foreign Workers.

Employment and Social Development Canada recently revised its Employment Insurance, Monitoring and Assessment report to take out weak data from on-line sites like Kijiji (see earlier post How Kijiji’s data threw off Ottawa’s math on skills shortages – The Globe and Mail):

“There’s isn’t really any good data out there. Online postings are online postings. How well can you clean those up?” he [Mostafa Askari] asked, pointing out the need to avoid double counting jobs or counting jobs that have been filled but were not taken offline. He said the solution would be to give Statistics Canada more money to improve its research on job vacancies, which are based on surveys of employers.

“I think Statscan can definitely provide better data if they have the means to,” he said. “I assume they are obviously under budget constraints as well. So they have to put that as a priority but they won’t do it unless there’s pressure on them to provide that kind of information.”

Job-vacancy rate plunges as Tories drop Kijiji data – The Globe and Mail.

Konrad Yakabuski’s take on the problem with big data and lack of rigour in analysis:

Yet, if Mr. Kenney and his advisers are guilty of anything, it is of falling victim to the same social media hype that has led many data enthusiasts to spurn official statistics as oh-so yesterday. Want to know if the flu is headed your way or the housing market is set to take off? Why, go to Google Trends. Forget the official unemployment rate. Just track “lost my job” on Twitter.

The idea that the trillions of bytes of data we generate on social media are equipping policy-makers with vast new predictive powers is all the rage these days. Official statistics, the kind compiled by bureaucrats through scientifically tested surveys and representative samples, seem to bore the geeks. But they get all hot and bothered at the mere mention of the word algorithm….

This is but one example of how big data can lead to misguided policy. Mr. Kenney’s Kijiji snafu is another. You’d think this would make people cautious. But in our insatiable desire to make sense out of an increasingly complex world, we are turning evermore to big data to sort it out.

The latest trend is “data journalism” with The New York Times and several upstart media outlets hiring an army of twentysomething computer geeks to massage the numbers in order to spot trends, predict elections and provide funky, counterintuitive insights in the vein of Freakonomics.

The problem is that much of what they report is probably wrong, or at least tendentious. The Upshot, The Times feature launched April 22, has come under fire for stories that either read too much into the data or leave too much out. “First-rate analysis requires more than pretty graphs based on opaque manipulations of data unsuited to address the central substantive points,” prominent U.S. political scientist Larry Bartels wrote in response to one piece on Southern politics.

The most common sin in data journalism is making spurious correlations. Just because Google searches of the term “mortgage” have closely tracked Canadian housing sales in the past two years means nothing on its own.

Big data’s noise is drowning out the signal

A final irony, the final report of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Committee on the Public Service comes out at the same time as these news reports, affirming the need for outside information and discounting the value of more objective surveys:

New sources of information and data have shaken up the process of providing advice to government, he [David Emerson] said, and the public service is adapting to accept data from outside Statistics Canada or other traditional sources.

“I think we made some real progress in helping public servants to open up and I think political staff now have access to a lot of that same information, so there are checks and balances that I think are a little sharper-edged than they were perhaps in the past,” he said.

While I don’t disagree with opening up, we also need to learn the lessons from Kijiji jobs data, ensure better quality control and analysis, and strengthen the role of official statistics and Statistics Canada.

PS thinking more about the digital revolution: Emerson

Filed under Government, Public Policy Tagged with , ,

Voting rights restored to Canadians living abroad long-term

2014/05/06 1 Comment

I expect the Government to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court, as it would be consistent with their overall approach to citizenship, anchored more to residency and connection to Canada:

“The [government] essentially argues that allowing non-residents to vote is unfair to resident Canadians because resident Canadians live here and are, on a day-to-day basis, subject to Canada’s laws and live with the consequences of Parliament’s decisions,” Penny wrote.

“I do not find this argument persuasive.”

For one thing, Penny ruled, expats may well be subject to Canadian tax and other laws.

The government, the judge found, had decided some citizens are “not worthy” to vote despite their constitutional right to do so.

“This is not the lawmakers’ decision to make — the Charter makes this decision for us,” Penny wrote.

Expatriate Canadians may or may not follow Canadian issues closely, the vast majority pay no Canadian taxes, mainly follow country of residence laws, and other connections to Canada diminish over time. The five-year rule was a way to capture that reality in one that can be implemented and less subject to interpretation.

Voting rights restored to Canadians living abroad long-term – Politics – CBC News.

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Jonathan Kay: The politics of genocide

2014/05/06 Leave a comment

Jonathan Kay on genocides and the related policies and controversies.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance refers to the Holocaust as “unprecedented” in its thoroughness and industrial approach, but that human suffering and killing is universal, whatever the specifics of the genocide or atrocity. Kay is on the same page; Yad Vashem sessions focus on the stories of individual lives, not just the horror of the numbers:

And herein lies the great paradox of memorializing genocides qua genocides: The whole exercise always is cast as one conducted for the victims and their suffering. Yet by agonizing and fighting over the semantics of genocide, we systematically ignore the way these victims actually die: as individuals full of individual grief and pain and love and loss. Everything else is arid semantics.

Jonathan Kay: The politics of genocide | National Post.

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Survey on Religion, Racism and Intergroup Relations in Canada Shows Differences in Attitudes Among Anglophones, Francophones and Other Groups

2014/05/06 1 Comment

January 2014 survey on religious diversity, racism and intergroup relations by ACS and Canadian Race Relations Foundation. Not much surprising, communities tend to focus on their issues (and socialize more from within) and Québec attitudes towards religious diversity more negative. Racism highlights below:

Almost two in three Canadians (62%) report they are “worried” about a rise in racism. Concerns about racism and discrimination against particular groups such as Muslims, Aboriginal Peoples, immigrants and Jews vary greatly from one group to another.  Members of a particular group appear more concerned about a rise in racism and discrimination directed against their own group. Jews show a relatively high level of concern about racism directed against other groups as well. Francophones also show a higher level of concern except as it relates to anti-Aboriginal sentiment.

Survey on Religion, Racism and Intergroup Relations in Canada Shows Differences in Attitudes Among Anglophones, Francophones and Other Groups – Press Release – Digital Journal.

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Farzana Hassan: Islamic Reform – Daunting But Needed

2014/05/05 Leave a comment

Interesting interview with Farzana Hassan, by the Clarion Project (see Sheema Khan: We can end honour killings, but not with films by anti-Muslim zealots and Film wages ‘interfaith campaign’ against abuse of Muslim women for more information on Clarion):

I see little clerical support for an “Islamic Reformation.” Even educated Muslims believe that Islam is perfect and therefore needs no reformation. Reformist Muslims, on the other hand, repudiate sharia provisions and attempt to understand Islamic belief and practice mainly as metaphor. Traditionalists see them as constituting the fringes of Muslim society, even as heretics.  Few heed their call for an Islamic reformation.

From my experience in dealing with Muslims of various stripes and persuasions, I have come to the conclusion that while there is movement toward and away from Islam, the main body of Muslims has remained largely orthodox due to recognizable inertia in Islamic theology. Muslims who challenge traditional interpretations often end up repudiating Islam, at least intellectually. New converts to Islam, on the other hand, embrace the orthodox view simply because it is the entrenched view. The result is stasis within the community of Muslims across the world.

An Islamic reformation is therefore a daunting task. Mullahs and clerics would have to abandon the literalist approach to Islam in favor of its broad principles, especially when there is a blatant contradiction between the two.

I think there is more diversity within the Muslim community, particularly in North America, than Farzana, and other religions (e.g., Catholicism) have some analogous challenges, but this interview gives her more space and nuance than the limitations of a short op-ed.

Farzana Hassan: Islamic Reform — Daunting But Needed | Clarion Project.

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Tire Review – Embracing Diversity

2014/05/05 Leave a comment

I never thought I would see a tire magazine talking about diversity but makes sense, given the need for differentiated marketing strategies:

“Being diverse opens you up to a whole world of customers, which at the end of the day means more sales,” says Corey Miller, president of Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Miller Tirecraft. “There’s no point in limiting yourself to just 75% of the market; you may as well try to reach 100% of it. There’s a business case to support that it’s more profitable. I truly believe when you’re open and inclusive, the logical result is that you attract more customers.”

Community Tire, based in Phoenix, has undertaken two highly successful marketing campaigns, first one for the LGBT community and subsequently one targeting women.

While both groups actually have much in common from a customer standpoint, CEO Howard Fleischmann Sr. says, “The difference between marketing to the female community and the gay community is if you do a good job with women and they trust you, they’re going to come back. If you do that for someone in the gay community, they’re going to come back but they’re going to bring six of their friends. It’s a very good group of customers to have.”

“Women are loyal customers,” agrees Tania Flynn Warminski, vice president of Hermitage, Pa.-based Flynn’s Tire & Auto Service. “Once they find a professional who they know is knowledgeable, honest and values their business, they will not only be loyal to that business, but they will tell all of their friends about it.”

Tire Review – Embracing Diversity.

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ICYMI: Why a flag has New Zealand in a flap

2014/05/05 Leave a comment

Our flag debate was controversial and divisive at the time. While there is still some nostalgia in some quarters for the red ensign and flying the Union Jack, comment by New Zealand Prime Minister Kay on how it is accepted is correct:

Prime Minister John Key, an avowed monarchist (and a buddy of Prime Minister Stephen Harper), wants a new flag. Last month, he pledged a referendum on the matter if he’s re-elected this fall, which is highly likely.

“Back in 1965, Canada changed its flag from one that, like ours, also had the Union Jack in the corner, and replaced it with the striking symbol of modern Canada that all of us recognize and can identify today,” Mr. Key said last month.

“Fifty years on, I can’t imagine many Canadians would, if asked, choose to go back to the old flag. That flag represented Canada as it was once, rather than as it is now.”

Mr. Key is right about that. Many Canadians will recall the “flag debate” in which former prime minister John Diefenbaker led his Progressive Conservatives in a ferocious and protracted parliamentary battle to preserve the Red Ensign. Mr. Diefenbaker was on the wrong side of history (as he often was, despite today’s Conservative attempts to lionize him). Today, almost no one wants to return to the Red Ensign. Apart from hard-core Quebec secessionists, the red Maple Leaf is liked and admired both in Canada and abroad.

We sometimes had discussions with Minister Kenney’s staff on which flags should be on stage for various events. Their general preference was to have the historic flags as well as the current flag.

Why a flag has New Zealand in a flap – The Globe and Mail.

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ICYMI: How to Get a Job at Google, Part 2 – NYTimes.com

2014/05/05 Leave a comment

Second part on what Google looks for and interesting remark on  liberal arts, citing behavioural economics as an example:

They are “phenomenally important,” he said, especially when you combine them with other disciplines. “Ten years ago behavioral economics was rarely referenced. But [then] you apply social science to economics and suddenly there’s this whole new field. I think a lot about how the most interesting things are happening at the intersection of two fields. To pursue that, you need expertise in both fields. You have to understand economics and psychology or statistics and physics [and] bring them together. You need some people who are holistic thinkers and have liberal arts backgrounds and some who are deep functional experts. Building that balance is hard, but that’s where you end up building great societies, great organizations.”

Steve Jobs always claimed Apple was at the intersection of liberal arts and technology…

How to Get a Job at Google, Part 2 – NYTimes.com.

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More on Temporary Foreign Workers

2014/05/03 Leave a comment

Some of the more interesting commentary on the TFW program from both the right and left following Minister Kenney’s suspension of the program for the fast food sector pending review (I suspect officials and staffers are scrambling). McDonald’s has also suspended the program given the damage to its brand and has its own internal review.

Starting with Martin Collacott:

One solution that has been suggested to reduce their vulnerability is to provide them with a clear path to permanent residency, so they do not have to worry about losing their status in this country. This, however, is not a solution that is in the interests of Canadians. Allowing low-skilled workers to remain here on a permanent basis is what immigration experts have described as “importing poverty” — because these workers can then bring in family members who will consume far more in public services than they pay in taxes. They would be likely to form a new underclass of impoverished Canadians.

Yet another factor that has to be considered in connection with the TFW program is that many who come here would like to stay permanently because of the much higher wages available in Canada than in their home countries. There is a distinct possibility, therefore, that many will choose to stay here illegally when their contracts expire — which would create another series of problems for Canada.

Canadians are well aware that there are already large numbers of people in the country who are unemployed and prepared to work for reasonable wages. These include unemployed youth, aboriginals, recent immigrants and people laid off from the manufacturing industry. Public opinion is, therefore, increasingly in favour of a drastic reduction in the temporary foreign worker program. The sooner the government takes action on this, the better.

Martin Collacott: Time to end Canada’s temporary foreign worker program | National Post.

The more left-wing approach, by Rick Salutin of the Star:

In an especially misanthropic Globe column, Margaret Wente rejects that model because “it amounts to importing poverty.” Sorry but that’s what built Canada. “We” imported poverty and gave it a chance to mutate. What does she think the poor are? They’re human, for starters. They have dreams and motivation — with a little encouragement. And energy, often far beyond the rest of us. Without it, many would never have survived.

She says, “Canada’s immigration policy is the most successful in the world because we select people with a lot of skills and education — not ditchdiggers and hotel maids.” But that’s exactly who we brought in: ditchdiggers and hotel maids. Their kids, with the benefits of decent schools, are now teachers, artists, bankers, hockey players. She’s ticked about letting Filipina nannies apply for citizenship because they don’t “move up the income ladder.” Well, uptitle nanny to early childhood educator, improve the pay, include benefits and see what follows. And by the way, who says ditchdiggers and nannies aren’t skilled? You try it.

And what’s preventing people like nannies from doing better? Temporary foreign workers, that’s who. They have no stake in the country and are insecure, so they work for less. If they were immigrants and not TFWs, they wouldn’t do that. This policy isn’t a law of nature that you can’t repeal, or an innate instinct among “true” Canadians. Come to think of it, that’s what I meant to write about before I got exasperated by Wente’s column.

Temporary foreign workers a global phenomenon: Salutin

Tim Harper focuses on the International Experience Canada program, one that encourages Canadian youth to work abroad:

Less than a decade ago, 21,656 Canadian youth travelled abroad while 30,467 foreign youth worked here. Today, fewer than 18,000 Canadians are working abroad, but there are more than 58,000 foreign workers here.
Cape Breton Liberal MP Rodger Cuzner told the Commons this week that, under the program, there were 753 Polish workers in this country and four Canadians in Poland. There are more than 300 Croatian workers here, but there are two Canadians working in Croatia.

For Conservatives, cheap foreign labour trumps Canadian youth: Tim Harper

Doug Saunders similarly argues for more immigrants, less temporary workers:

But, as an important new study of temporary-worker caregivers by the Institute for Research on Public Policy shows, its temporary nature has also created a huge social and economic problem. Between this and the other temporary programs, there are now hundreds of thousands of people who live full-time in Canada and have deepening ties here, but are unable to form any legal connection to our country’s economy or society.

In at least one respect, the caregivers are better off than the 65,000 skilled, unskilled and agricultural workers who come in “temporarily” each year (and now number more than 300,000): Since 2010, the nannies have been allowed to apply for permanent residence after completing 24 months of work over a period of up to four years.

That, at a minimum, needs to be done for all temporary workers. If there is one lesson from the world’s half-century experience with “guest” immigration, it is that nothing is worse for a country than having a large number of unaccompanied individuals living in its borders with no ability to form family, educational or economic ties – and thus to invest in their communities and help build their new country. Whereas permanent immigrants are a net gain, temporary ones do nothing for our development and often harm their lives.

Foreign workers won’t be temporary if we make them permanent

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